I have been reading emails in an email group that I belong to called missionary mom's. This is a great informative email group. They also have a part of it for military mom's and returned missionaries. I can't tell you how much I have learned from these emails. It is amazing how much you really don't know and it is a wealth of information. I have found out that one of the problems with the international missionaries is getting emails back and forth if they have picture attachments. Who would have figured. So I have set up an online account that Alex can drop pictures into once he gets to Albania and we can see the pictures.
Alex is doing well this week. He is telling me that they are doing tracking while they are in the MTC and the people that they go tracking to are supposed to fill out comment cards to see how well they are doing. Alex tells me that he gets all really good comments and the people love him. That doesn't surprise me at all. They are going to a returned missionary as well. The returned missionary is really helping them a lot if they get stuck on the language or that type of thing. I think it is great that the church has so many resources to help these missionaries while they are in the MTC. Each letter I receive I can tell his testimony is growing stronger. One of the things that was on the memory card was some video of Alex talking to us. He has grown so much it is unbelievable. One of the things that he has said to us is that he knows that my dad is with him all the time and that if he gets stuck on a word it was my dad that has helped him out. The other videos was some of the elder's in his group that were introducing themselves to us. It was fun to watch these videos of the other elders.
Alex told us again that he didn't want anything for Christmas. He is living by the spirit and as a family we aren't going to have an extravagant Christmas either. We want to have the same opportunity that Alex is having and have the true meaning of Christmas this year. So we aren't spending a lot of money and we are going to do spiritual things this week to make sure that we are bringing the true meaning of Christmas into our home. I think it is so easy to forget why we celebrate Christmas. I am so proud of what alex is doing. There isn't really too much to report while he is still in the MTC because everything pretty much stays the same. He did say that Sister Dalton came and she spoke to them about the gifts that they have and he said that was a great devotional.
I will have more to write once he get's to Albania which is coming up quick. He did say that when they are talking to people on the street it is custom to put your arms around the person that you are talking to even if you don't know them well and so that will be different for him. He also said that the mission president is wanting the missionaries to work with the kids as well and he is excited because they will be able to play soccer with the kids and Alex loves soccer. He leaves the MTC on January 4th and so we should be able to talk to him when he gets to the airport. I will have my phone with me so I don't miss the call. I'm sure it will be early because his flight leaves out of Salt Lake at 8:30 and goes to JFK and then from there they have an all night flight into Austria and then over to Albania. So we are looking forward to talking with Alex then. They don't call from the MTC because there are just too many elders in the MTC.
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