A Burning in the Bosom (and the oven)

Dear Family,
Well, this week has finally arrived!! I've been waiting so long, and now I will get to talk with you this Thursday!! The bishop is having us over for breakfast, they are planning on making a TON of food for us! Which is very important of course, but not quite as important as talking to your family. I believe that we will be making our calls from there, so you will hear from me sometime between 8 and 11:30-ish, I'm guessing. Oh, and that's Utah time by the way, in case you were wondering. Thanks a ton for the package you sent last week, I really loved everything that was in there. Thanks for those pictures and drawings too, and I don't mind having older photos....as long as I have photos that's all right with me! Those Ensigns are great to have as well, I'm guessing those are for investigators. Speaking of which, we have 3 who are scheduled to be baptized at the beginning of next month. Bernard Taylor and his fiance(they are living apart) Bridget will be baptized on January 3rd. Joey Riddle is scheduled to be baptized the following Saturday, so we are working hard to make sure they are completely ready when that day comes. Oh by the way, I'm in a 3-some here in Hamilton now. Elder Smith, who covered the east side of Hamilton with Elder Durling, was emergency transferred to a new area. So now Elder Durling is with us, and we now cover ALL of Hamilton, so that means more people to teach and more people to visit!! Elder Durling has been in Hamilton as long as I have, so we get along REALLY well! We've had plenty of laughs since he joined us on Friday, which you can imagine I'm very pleased with. President Robbins gave us some ideas for sharing the Christmas spirit with others, and we've given a couple of them a try. One was caroling, which we've done a little bit of and hopefully we will do more this week. The other one we experimented with was baking cookies for investigators and member families. All I can say is that the cookies didn't taste very good, because we burnt them all! You can't give those to people, so we have burnt cookies all over the apartment! Ah, the life of a missionary! It was kind of weird to see my name in the monthly newsletter, but was also cool at the same time! They need to update Elder Wilbur's information, I'm pretty sure he isn't in the MTC right now. Well, did Cal have a good 7th birthday? Of course I wanted to be there, but I'm sure he had a fun time anyway! I wish there was something that I could've sent to him, but I did send him and Ellie some candy and fruit snacks a few weeks ago. Oh and speaking of fruit snacks, Uncle Kent and Aunt Carol sent me a box of Treetops along with some drawings from the kids. THAT was pretty cool and funny at the same time to get that. A big thanks to them for it! Also, give my love and appreciation to the following for their letters, cards, or packages: The Rowley's, The Brownings, The Johnson's, The Farriers, The Heaton's, The Pulsipher's, and The Simpson's. I hope I didn't leave anyone out, but thank EVERYONE fot their love, support, and prayers on my behalf. It is, as always, very wonderful and satisfying to know that so many people are right there for me all the time. It's also great to have that knowledge that the Prophet and the Twelve, and really anyone at the temple is praying for me. Most importantly, it is the greatest blessing to know that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers and that He and His Beloved Son are ALWAYS there for us, and that if we but look to them for anything, the Holy Ghost will show us the way to go. I wish a very Merry Christmas to each and every one of you this season, and also to remember why we celebrate at this time of year. May the knowledge of the Savior's birth burn within us ALWAYS, that we may never forget the author of our salvation! May God Bless You All!!!!
Love,
Elder Isaac Livingston