December 20, 2010

Mum,

It has been a roller coaster of a week for the Dereham/Norwich Elders. The best week of my mission by far! Cara and Tasmin Sykes have been baptised :) They have partaken of the tree of life, they have changed the eternal course of their life forever. My joy is so full. Hopefully I will be able to attach a picture :) It was so nice getting into my white clothes. Entering the warm water, and being completely overcome by the warm and peaceful feeling the Spirit brings. Everything went just as planned. I was going to sing Rob's "Saviour Redeemer of my Soul" but I got quite sick last week and therefore I sang "When I am Baptised". It was a little less stressful. The two girls were a little nervous but excited. The Dereham Ward is amazing, and they have been super supportive the whole time. I absolutely love the Dereham Ward. We have gotten so many gifts and cards. They are great. Everyone is happy to have us over and take care of us. Feels great. 

I don't feel like it is Christmas at all. My favourite part of Christmas has always been being with family. Now that that is out of the question... All that seems to hit me is the commercialization. And everyone in the street saying "no" and "I don't have time". It is going to be hard... but I am trying to have a good attitude. We have some good plans for Christmas... It is interesting how much time we get off. I don't know if I'm gonna like it. Hope I can stay focused. On Christmas Eve we work till 3:00 pm. We are then going to go to a American Family for the night, and Elder Young is going to phone his family. Christmas Day... we are going to Billy and Claire Baldock. They are an amazing couple with one kid. We really like them. I love them :) They begged us to stay the whole day... so we are... and I'm very excited to relax all Christmas. Therefore I can call anytime on Christmas day. I will call at 4:00 though. I am going to purchase a calling card and then i'll call pops. If something doesn't work right... you can call me at 4:30 our phone number is 07800614565 and the code for England is 044. So I think all together that's 04407800614565. Too many digits i think. No calling till Christmas. I am not sure if our phone will accept international calls though. Guess we will find out. We get the day after off as well... they call it Boxing Day. We only have to work from 6-9. We get all New Years Day off and half of New Years Eve off. I was disappointed that I have to be asleep for 12:00. But i figured I will still be awake when the big apple ball thingy drops and you can bet your bottom dollar/pound that I will be banging those pots for all they are worth. Listen for them in the US of A. 

So more secular things! Mum, do you have any Christmas music on the computer that I could sing for the Ward Carol Concert on Thursday? If you do will you email them to csidney@tesco.net. danks. ALSOOOOOO!!!! I got the package from Kentucky... but all it was, was a piece of paper saying I had to pay 25£ ($40) in custom fees. It was because the Gift Price was valued over £40. It was very irritating that I had to pay for my present. But now our flat smells nice and the tree is on the wall with my stocking and presents underneath it :) Thank you. You can reimburse my account if you want. It also cost me £100 to send my package to america ;) (hopefully dad falls for it tambam, I could be rich). I haven't received any other letters or packages yet :) Hopefully they will arrive soon. We have a Zone Christmas Conference on Wednesday, with 2 Zones. I am excited for that :) Hope blessed we are to celebrate Christmas with our family. How blessed we all are to have all that we need. Jesus Christ was born to a righteous virgin mother in a manger. So humbly he grew. Having just what he needed. Going about the will of His Father. As we remember this Christmas Season, and prepare for the New Year... let us all go about the will of our Father, by following His commandments and His Son. 

How simple the first Christmas was... and how simple the gospel is and always will be. We are so blessed to know what we need to do to live with our Heavenly Father again. We should never look back. As a missionary Luke 9:59-62 hit me especially hard. Nothing is more important than doing the work of our Eternal Father, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. "Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Jesus has ALWAYS told us what to do... but more importantly he has showed us what to do. Let our actions speak louder than our words this season. Let us do more than say. Work more than wish. The work of our Father will go forth till His purposes areaccomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say... the work is done. I am enveloped in a work so great that it floats above our capacity of understanding. But we can all do as much as we possibly can now. And we will.

 

I love you.

 

Happy Christmas (England is weird)

 

Love,

Elder Krebs

 

P.s. Its cold here. This damp cold goes straight to your bones. Especially when you are finding for 22 hours a week :) My friend in Peru said they try and get 9 hours of finding a week. What wimps :) every mission to their own. He is teaching about triple the lessons we do... but that's not the point. This is the greatest mission in the world. No doubts.