Getting Ready for the Festival of Lights!

Elder Farley & Elder Tavana

Hey Momma,

Glad to hear Brian is doing well :) Especially since he can stay nearby the Parsons!  That would make me happy!  He is such a stud- it's great to know he is improving quickly on his Spanish too.

This week was pretty fun! We got to see a few members and spent time with our recent converts.  But I would say that one of the highlights was moving a 830lb gun safe and then a couple hours later moving two refrigerators- one of them we didn't even use the dolly and just picked it up and carried it from the basement to the garage!  Haha I guess members tend to ask Tavanā to do service for than other missionaries... I have no idea why ;) haha

The temple has the Festival of Lights like I was telling you before, and the lights are only half way up!  So they are asking us to come help during the week to put up the lights!  That should be awesome besides that fact that it is getting chilly.  I am also glad I am close this year so I can bring members and investigators to come see the lights and the performances.  The DC temple is breathtaking around Christmas at night.  About 100,000 people come inside per year- and that doesn't include all the people who drive up just to see the lights from the outside.

Oh!  I almost forgot!  So for thanksgiving we are going to the Markoff's farm where everyone who attends dresses like Indians or Pilgrims.  And of course, since I actually know Native Americans, I am going to be an Indian :) NM pride! So that is going to be super fun! Can't wait!

We had a conference where Elder Katcher, who spoke in Conference this fall, came and spoke in each zone for half the day.  It was a great experience to meet him and learn from him.  He even did random interviews afterward and Tavanā got picked! Haha he said it was a great experience to talk one-on-one.  The coolest conference however, was with Elder Katcher and all members of each ward council in the mission(plus the missionaries)!  It was a ton of people!  We all got together in our ward council and the conference was interactive.  All the stake presidents were there as well as Elder Gerard, who is the area authority.  It's fun to know all those men from being around President.  Anyway, that was a great experience for me and I feel like it really helped unify the wards.  That's something I feel like makes wards super successful.  If the leadership is unified and works together for a common purpose, then the ward catches on and gets excited to accomplish that same goal or purpose.  It works as missionaries too! When the leaders are good examples and know there purpose, the rest of the mission follows.

I hope the missionary work back home is going great!  Dad is such a hard worker and very dedicated so I know that things must being going good :) I hope that everyone realizes they can be missionaries in their own way.  It's pretty much just being more Christ-like.  For those who are members and have fallen away; we can reach out to them and invite them to spend time with us at church, at home or for any sort of activity.  The same thing goes for those who are not part of our faith.  We can always reach out to our neighbors or friends for all kinds of outings or activities.  All it takes is the faith to ask... The faith to invite.  It's simple and all of us can do it.  Missionaries and non-missionaries alike.

I love this gospel and hope to LIVE this gospel with my whole heart all of my life.  It truly is the only thing in this mortal experience and through the eternities that can bring us lasting happiness that no one can take away.  I know that the gospel I preach is the Lord's, and that it blesses all of God's children.  I love it and I am glad you are a part of it mom, along with Dad and my siblings.  I love and miss you.  Be safe, healthy and happy!

Love your first missionary in the field,

Sean (EF1)

PS Tell Dad thanks for the email :). I love hearing from him- but this week the email is to both of you.  I was trying to do both, but we were around a ton of missionaries today and I can't focus because everyone is talking to me.  So I will still probably train next transfer and it will be a trio for a couple weeks until Tavanā leaves.  Which should be great!  And I didn't get the package yet, but I am excited :) I will probably try to send stuff home before the end of the transfer so my kid doesn't think I am tricky and also so I don't make him homesick! Also, Summers new dog is super awesome!! I want to "squeeze the crap out of her!"(in the words of Summer Postak).