1st Christmas in Suriname!

Hi and merry christmas everyone!!! I hope everything is going great
for you all and that youre having a great holiday season. We have
plans today with the other missionaries to meet at a members for lunch
and play some games and then once every year we're allowed to see a
movie! hahah i won't lie that's going to feel so weird as a
missionary. But it's legit i promise im not just going rogue out here.
In other news our branch had a big christmas party this past week, it
went great and we had a couple investigators who came and they got to
meet people which is always great. Along with that i was also dragged
into helping a few other missionaries sing a musical number, they knew
i sang in general conference and i guess that just somehow made me
qualified enough to help them with their musical number here, it was a
pretty intense song we did, its from a vocal group called pentatonix,
and while we certainly didn't sing of the same caliber the people
definitely loved it and we got lots of compliments surprisingly! hahah
Elder Dom has been trying to open his gifts early but i keep telling
him he's going to ruin christmas so he seems content to wait these
last three days. 

As a missionary you spend a lot of time just studying, (3-4 hours a day) 

and it's quite easy for someone with an
attention span as short as mine to get bored, despite my best efforts
i will admit that on occasion i get distracted, the good news is i am
now a lethal card thrower. and can throw a regular playing card
probably about 30 yards. it's a feat im quite proud of. Im so jealous
of all the new stuff coming out im going to miss out on! You guys will
have to let me know what's worth and not worth getting! In other news
'R' now has a baptismal date for the middle of january!
unfortunately he has a conflict with work and church so it's been a
struggle trying to get him to come. We have another investigator named
'M' who was in church this last week and i like him a lot. he has
word of wisdom trouble but is a great guy and im hoping we can
continue to make progress with him! 

This christmas is going to be a
bizarre experience for me on thursday but luckily as a missionary i've
taught the true meaning of christmas more than suriname doesn't have
snow (a lot) so comforted by that im certain i can look past the
things im missing out on. there are so many here with so little and i
think thats helped me gain a much greater love and desire to serve
these people. I hope all of you can find someone to serve or help
someone who needs it this christmas! it makes it much more enjoyable.
I love you guys and once again i hope you all have an awesome
christmas!
Elder Carpenter