I have never seen anyone so deathly afraid of the water.

Hey everyone,

It's freezing, and Elder Swanson's license expired. SOOOOOOO... we've been on foot all week. holy cow. I think it hit 7 degrees when we were walking home on thursday night. We surviving pretty well though. I think I had 6 or 7 layers on at one point. And one of our ward mission leaders bought us some cheap boots so we can walk around in the slush.
Transfers are this wednesday, so we think that i'll be transferred out of here. We're not entirely sure yet though. It's just a guess. I dont think I could take another 6 weeks with Elder Swanson though. (he's grumpy in the mornings) My fingers are crossed. I also want an area with sidewalks, because our area has practically none, and we are sometimes walking on semi-major streets. We are going to try and get Elder Swanson a Utah license so we can drive again. We'll see. It may only matter to me for 2 more days.

We had a baptism this Saturday for Cole Carlson. He's a quiet little 8 year old and his family is a little bit less active. Elder Swanson performed the baptism. I have never seen anyone so deathly afraid of the water. He was crying right after his interview because he didnt want to get into the font. It took his family an hour to convince him to get in the water. And when he got in he had a vice grip on Elder Swanson's arm. He was very relieved when it was all done. I had the opportunity to perform the confirmation afterward. I was a little nervous, but I think I did all right.

Work seems to be slowing down a lot this week but we're trying to teach a lot.

Love you all,

Elder Wright

P.s. when you send letters, they have to get to the mission office by saturday, for me to get them on monday because mail gets picked up from the mission office before the mailman delivers the mail.

The President commanded us to watch TV while we were there.

Hey all,

Not much new to report this week. All the days seem to be meshing together. It
has been spectacularly cold though. I haven't been able to feel my toes all
morning. We walk around with 5 or 6 layers on to keep warm. Work has definitely
slowed down during the holiday season, but we are still trying to keep busy. We
picked up a few new investigators, and we have a couple baptisms coming up in
the coming weeks. Transfers are coming up next week on Wednesday so I may or may
not still be around to see them.

I was asked yesterday to perform a baptism for Cole Carlson this Saturday, but I might let
Elder Swanson do it. He hasnt had a chance to personally baptize anyone during the
6 months he's been out. We'll see though.

Last Wednesday was Elder Swanson's birthday. We got a call from our Assistants
to the President that morning and they asked us if we could come to the hospital
for the morning and watch an elder that had gone through surgery. Elder Swanson
was a little disappointed that he would be spending half of his birthday cooped
up in a hospital room, but that all changed when the assistants told us that
president had commanded us to watch TV while we were there. It was a nice little
birthday present to watch some looney toons.

One of our investigators, Jason Pye, is completely ready to be baptized, but he
comes from a baptist family, and he cant find the courage to tell his family.
It's been a little rough the past couple of weeks for us and for him. He knows
exactly what he needs to do and we as missionaries are trying to keep him
progressing, but we're running out of commitments to give him. We hope he will
take the step soon, and we have been praying for him continually.

Love you all,

Elder Wright

PS Thanks for the Recipe(s) I'll use it soon!

PSS I dont need much for Christmas. maybe just some ties and some nice walking
in-soles (size 10 1/2)

PSSS We have lots of Christmas parties, one of which was Nauvoo themed. PICTURE!