I am thinking about what happened this week and I am completely in awe on how everything worked out. President Carlson left last week and was gone for the entire week. He needed an operation so he went to SLC to get it down and has yet to return. As he was gone, he wanted us to hold our own Mission Leadership Council with the six Zone Leaders. The Sisters were not invited. Too much too handle without President. It turned relatively great. I wanted to make it a council and not a direct instruction so I did a complete study on how to hold a good council. We actually discussed some good things that would benefit the mission and have since implemented them. And there were no mutinies so I found it rather successful.
We also had a Christmas Party for the mission that Elder Verdoni and I were in charge of. I remembered an activity Tyelar Eggers held with the youth when he returned from his mission called the Carnival of Life. I thought that it would be fun to do at the Christmas party so we had to get everything set up for that. Carnival Games, food, drinks, we had to get the chairs to the mission home. It was so much work. Luckily, I learned the Beauty of Delegation and having other people do jobs. We were able to string everything together and it worked out beautifully. Maybe I can tell you a little bit about it on Friday.
Something legendary happened today at the Party. President and Sister Carlson own two Crocodiles in their compound. One of the senior missionaries thought it would be a shame to have a Christmas Party and not bring a gift for the Crocodiles. (They are sorta named. People call them Ben and Jerry. I like Luke and Leia). The Senior missionary thought bringing two live Chickens to throw into their den would be a great gift. So we got it ok'd, bought the chickens, broke the wings so they couldn't fly and through them in one by one to watch. It was awesome! The first chicken was stupid and jumped in the water to escape... Failed. The second one was smart. Both crocodiles were in the water and it came right to the edge. One croc striked but barely missed. The chicken never went to the edge again. It was so smart that one of the members at the party took a long stick and pushed it to the edge. Once it got to the edge, the Croc didn't miss twice. It was great for all 50 elders in the mission to watch. Gotta love Christmas!
But all went well. Proselyting is alright. We have a sad situation where an investigator in Doe Community got really sick and is being operated on at the hospital. The wife ran into us today in town and just broke down sobbing in front of us. Our hearts broke. She was so afraid for her husband. The doctors sent her to go buy medicine which cost her 200 U.S. That's money that they don't have. Please keep Peter in your prayers for him to receive a speedy recovery and Finda so that her heart and mind may find peace in this situation.
Well, I love you all and hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas!
Love
Elder Treadway
