"Sol" Searching: Monday, November 24, 2014 - "Gobble, Gobble" said the Rice and Beans.

I have a small story to share before I continue. A short story, or we could say, a poem I wrote.

There once was a missionary, in the DR. He wasn't looking too hard,

until he encountered a species of turkey so rare, he thought he'd give to all, so that they could share.

He loaded his gun, a beautiful color blue, and took a shot at it, "phew!"

The turkey fell to the ground, the missionary was incredibly proud.

Now as you all know, the species was rare, and its pretty obvious what he had there

was the rare RICE AND BEAN turkey, no meat, just that.

Thats what the missionary got, and gave "thanks", like a brat.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING. :)

Hopefully you'll all get the poem. Hahah If not I will decode it:

The gun is the book of mormon I carry in my hand each day.

Thanks like a brat, as in I am so sarcasticly happy for the rice and beans I will get on Thursday. Just to let you know, I made this all up on the spot, so it isn't perfect by any means. Haha!

ACTUALLY, to be honest I really do want to give thanks as Thanksgiving is coming up! There is a lot to be thankful for. But I will get to that near the end. I am really grateful for the week we had! Our investigators are coming along great! They are all reading well and are coming to church. This week we had seven investigators at church! It was MAGICAL! haha And Yeni and Nicolas, our star family we have, are starting their papers to go get married. hopefully we'll be seeing that "come to pass" soon. Also, we had one of our investigators, Yeimy, go through her baptismal interview this past Saturday. She passed, so we are looking forward to a baptism this upcoming Saturday! That will be awesome.

We've had a pretty basic week throughout the week. Except it has been raining a lot this week, which it has been so bad that it has been holding us indoors sometimes. It stinks, but you can't work in the rain here. They call it "lluvia de gripe", or "flu rain". Stay in it too long, and you get the flu. The umbrella helps always, but when it's in "Release the Kraken, Flood the DR" mode, we don't go out until it calms down a bit. I don't know if there is a tropical climate change happening, or what, but it is fine to me! It's been cooling it down here. It's a comfortable 80 degrees, but when the rain stops, the humidity jumps to like 120%. Win a little, lose a little. haha

Now, I want to say what I am grateful for. First, I am grateful for my companion. He is awesome, and it is so fun to get to be with him and show him the ropes. He is a really awesome kid, and is always doing whats right. I am also grateful for my mission. My mission has taught me more than I would have ever known. Without my mission, I don't know where I would be right now. Who knows what would have happened to me. I am grateful for the true gospel that was restored by Joseph Smith, and I am grateful that God has allowed my family and I to have known of this gospel since birth. What a blessing it is to be a part of this gospel and to know of the truth of the Works of the Lord. I think when I am mostly grateful for is for the atonement of my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. He sacrified everything, even His own Being, so that I could be here and have the chance to go back and live again with my Father in Heaven. The atonement allows me to be perfectly clean, and I am so grateful that I can renew that sacred covenant that I made with my Father in Heaven through the participation of the Sacrament. Being baptized was one of the best decisions I could have made in my mortal life, because that was the key to all that has come after. I am grateful and I love my parents for the example they set for me, and for always being strong, worthy members of the church. I encourage you all to give thanks this Thanksgiving for all that you have, and I hope that our thanks will be able to continue throughout this Christmas season, and for the rest of our lives. The question that always comes to my mind as I pray, "What are you grateful for?"

I'd like to encourage all of you to share your testimonies of your Lord and Saviour this week. Starting this week, all missionaries throughout the world are sharing new pass along cards for the Christmas season, called "He is the Gift", or in spanish "Él es la Dádiva". We hand them out to everyone we meet and greet, to get them to know that Jesus Christ is the gift during the Christmas season. This was an inspiration from God. I invite you the same way I invite the people we teach here: To share wherever you are, using the hashtag #HeIsTheGift or by sharing that phrase with all that you meet. You could even use the hashtag in spanish, #élesladádiva. However you are able to share to someone that you meet the love you have for your brother and redeemer, Jesus Christ. :)

I love you all so much, and I am super grateful for the love and support that you all give me. May God bless you (Que Dios les bendiga) in all that you do. :) Les quiero mucho!!!! :)

Elder Parker Weiss :)