It's Christmas!

Oppenlanderssssss,

Merry Christmas!!! Can you believe it is already Christmas Eve?? I cannot. We are at a member’s house right now e-mailing, so I will let them know you say thanks ;)  I am feeling like a dream! Got rid of that 36 hour bug action, and they ended up only pulling one tooth out and I sent it to Jackie hahaha! It’s super ugly. And I don’t know how the dentist "missed" me needing to get my tooth out. The one came in totally crooked! You'll see when I get home. And before I forget, y’all need to call Renaissance Dental in Tuscaloosa. They say we still haven’t paid for the crown. So call them and see what’s up, please. Sister May is all on my grill about it. But I didn’t even swell up when they pulled my one tooth out. It was no big deal; Elder Yogoh was super disappointed that there wasn’t that much action. And that is good that President Holzapfel had some good things to say about me haha. That is a lot better than him being all, "I’m sorry that you are the parents of the Elder Oppenlander" haha. So that is good.

Lauren definitely needed that de-frizz action in her hair. Her hair is always all over the place haha. Mine needs it, too. I’m so used to the moist air over here that now whenever it gets less than like 70 percent humidity I dry out. I’m worried about coming home and just being all ashy! But no big deal, ashy is what’s cool nowadays.

Sounds like you had a great Sunday yesterday. Got to see a bunch of people and Kyle is already back from his mission?! Did you see him? Does he seem any different?  Give me the deets mom.... And I have only been to the Melting Pot once in my life. And it was pretty good. We are going to have to go there as well when I get home. I love food so much! That sounds so good right now. And everyone here asks what Christmas traditions we did back home, and I always love telling them about the Christmas present game. That is seriously what makes Christmas, Christmas. I miss that thing so much. I bet the cousins will love to get the shirt and tie dollar. And I did get the package! Gracias for that! I put the presents under the tree and I’m patiently waiting to open them. When I was sick, I was in an opening mood and opened up everything to try to make myself feel better haha. So all the other stuff got opened right quick. And when do you think my garments will be getting here? I’m super excited about those for some reason. Probably because the ones I’m wearing are grey hahaha.

And what’s up with the Bangarts getting all sick!!!?? Tell them to cut it out! It’s Christmas! I'll for sure pray for them and I hope that they get better ASAP. That must be nice that Allison’s parents are right there nowadays. And tell Uncle Tony that I haven’t gotten a package from Paige yet. I'll be on the lookout for it, though. And I’ll try to remember to write thank you notes.......I’m horrible at that. Too busy!! I'll put in a golden effort though. :)

Also, I am so excited for the Hawaii trip! And who is your cousin Danny? Why have we never gone fishing up in Alaska before?? Haha. But that sounds like it would be fun and I would get sea sick real good ;) no big deal though, that’s the sacrifice you need to make to have some fun on the ocean.

It’s been a great week though. It’s officially winter and it is super cold, in the thirties during the day and I’m not diggin’ that too much. But if you bundle up, its alright. Still freezing though. We have been able to teach some great people lately and we have 2 new investigators who I am pumped about. One is a 24 year old lady who is married to a member! They just moved into the ward and we had a very spiritual lesson last Thursday and she said she got her answer that the church is true. So she will be getting baptized next month, and we are also teaching a guy who lives next door to the church! He has come in the past and really likes it. I think they will both be getting baptized very soon. Also the ward loves us here! It is amazing! We had a line of people trying to feed us this week and they are cooking us prime rib, crab legs and all that stuff. Went all out for the missionaries haha! It’s funny. Merry Christmas!

Other than that, this week has been another one is the service of God. Being able to help people and learn new things really keeps me happy. Its funny that doing the same thing everyday can be so exciting. I really love everything about missionary work, and I can’t believe that I only have 5 1/2 months left to do it!! I need to step it up haha.  If you get this and have any questions ask ‘em quick because I’ll still be on.

Love y’all and I hope you have a great holiday. Tell the fam I say I love them and thanks for sending the money and the Christmas cards. I enjoyed them! And for skyping, 9 am tomorrow it is! And I will tell the member thanks, and tell Gma thanks for the benjy. Love y’all! Talk to you tomorrow.

Love,

Elder Oppenlander