I’m Not Dead 😎

From: Seth Gifford
Date: Mon, Dec 14, 2020 15:42 PM
Subject: I’m not dead 😎

Hello folks! Surprise! I’m alive! 🙌

So here’s the deal: apparently, I have not written a group email for a bit, but in my defense, time moves so quickly here. It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but I guess it’s been like a month? Oops! 😅 Plus, I’ve been SuuUUuUper busy. But, all excuses aside, I’m SO sorry to those of you who like receiving these bad boys in your inbox. Por favor perdóname! 🥺

Well if you accept my apology, I hope y’all are ready for a long one to catch you up to speed. 🏎 Today, I have spent the time to organize everything into sections like I have done in the past, so it is more reader friendly. You are welcome to skip around how ever you’d like. Enjoy 😘

Thanksgiving 🦃 🍗

I hope everyone had a sweet Thanksgiving! Raise your hand if you gained weight 🖐. Yeah that’s probably most of you…Thanksgiving was pretty good for us. We had an extra hour for P-day which was kinda nice. We ended up just hanging out with our district the whole day, playing games and whatnot. It was fun. We played four square in the parking lot until the sun set and it got pretty intense. I called my fam, ate some pie, got some Thanksgiving food from some members (of course it didn’t compare to Thanksgiving food at home, but it was still good!), and we rushed home from the other Elder’s apartment to put on white shirts for the mission wide Zoom meeting. Our mission President, President Adler had just gone through heart surgery with a low survival rate, but he was there and alive and he bore a very powerful testimony of the Savior and gave his gratitude for the miracles he experienced. It was awesome! We then got to watch a bunch of video skits that each zone put together. There were some pretty good ones I’m not gonna lie, but our Zone didn’t make one and I felt pretty lame 😑.

Anyway! The week leading up to Thanksgiving was a wonderful one too. We had the privilege to hear inspired words from our prophet President Russell M. Nelson who received direct revelation for the entire world.🌎 Pretty incredible! He challenged us to express our gratitude and told us that gratitude is a powerful spiritual remedy to the trials of life. I can definitely attest to that! So, if you’re feeling bogged down, start expressing your gratitude and your burdens will feel lighter! Before the event, we made a video for it to get people excited and it turned out pretty good. It was awesome.

Transfers! 🔄

This past transfer was a long one, of 7 weeks. We got the call from our Zone Leaders on Sunday and I wasn’t sure what to expect. We’re received news that I’m still the DL and page admin, but sadly, one of my sons was taken from me. I still have my 2nd son (Elder Zollinger) though. But, Elder Larson went the way of all the earth. In other words, he was transferred to another Zone, speaking English. RIP Elder Larson. On Thursday, we drove to a halfway point between us and the other Elders and said our final goodbye. I totally spaced to give him the posterity tie, a tie that has been passed down from generation to generation in the mission. The goal is for that tie to eventually make it to Mexico. Maybe I’ll give it to him one day, or maybe I will bring to Mexico with me and give it to my next son. Anyway, after Elder Larson left, me and Elder Zollinger set some transfer plans. We wanna get 1 baptism this transfer! We also purged all of the sugar ceral, and junk food left over from Elder Larson by sneaking into the Zone Leader’s apartment and putting it all in their pantry. We left a massive jar of kool aid in their shower. Not sure why, but we had fun. That’s what they get for leaving their apartment unlocked! 👀

Dunkin’ December 🍩

We have meetings with the Zone Leaders, District Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders every Friday, called “LLC” and 2 weeks ago, the STL’s and Zone leaders introduced an initiative for this month called “Dunkin’ December” to get people super hyped up to baptize. We’re having challenges each week for the whole zone and whoever wins gets donuts! 🍩🍩🍩 Hence the name “Dunkin'”. But I knew about all of it beforehand, so I could make a hype video for when they introduced the initiative to the everyone. It was a ton of fun to make and it turned out really well. Luckily, the zone loved it 🙏

Almost Caught the Rona 😷

We almost got covid last week. We were teaching a member who had it (none of us knew at the time) and were with him for about an hour. We were worried we would have to put our whole district into quarantine, but luckily during the lesson, we were 6 feet away from him and wore our masks the whole time. Our mission nurse cleared us and everything was fine. We just barely dodged that bullet and haven’t gotten any syptoms or anything 👍

Miracle Story 😭

Okay, I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but ever since being here in North Carolina, I haven’t seen a single person in our area actually progress (by that I mean that I haven’t seen anyone be genuinely interested, and ready for the gospel; somone we honestly think could get baptized). But that changed recently! 🙏 We met a woman who has been going through a hard time in her life. I’m not going to share details, but just know that part of it is that she got a very big surgery recently. We have been teaching her, and reading in the Book of Mormon with her, and she has so much faith! She always asks us so many good questions and you can tell that she such a strong desire to learn and come closer to God. In one of our lessons, she told us how she doesn’t understand everything yet, but how she knows what we are telling her is from God. She was so nervous before her surgery, but we gave her a Book of Mormon and testified about how it can bring her peace. She brought it with her when she got surgery and later told us that her fear was replaced with peace and felt God with her. It was so wonderful to hear how she is already experiencing the blessings of the gospel. The Spirit was so strong and I can honestly say I understood everything she said. It was a gift of tongues miracle. I almost cried. But, she is progressing little by little, and we’re planning on inviting her to be baptized soon! We’re excited and we hope things keep working out! 🙏

Interesting Things 🤔

We got a mini Christmas tree for our apartment to spice things up, and my mom sent me some lights (thanks Mom 😊). I was dared to nair my legs so I did and will never do it again. Our heater broke and so for a bit we had to use the oven to heat the house, but now our heater apparently works? I rode a bike for the first time in a while and did some sweet wheelies, but the tires didn’t have a lot of traction because they weren’t pumped up enough so it slid out from under me and I made Elder Raymond’s day by biffing it on the curb. Last but not least, our car tire has a slow leak in it and we have been having to put air in it every day until we get it replaced. But air isn’t free here! 🙄

Conclusion ❤

To conclude, I want everyone to know that you’re loved, by a loving Father in Heaven who’s watching out for you, and cares for you so much! Don’t ever ever forget that! The best way we can feel that love is by using the Atonement of Jesus Christ and through Christlike service. So, if you need a little bit of love, go spread the love to those around you. Keep moving forward. Keep fighting. Keep doing your best and don’t give up. I love you all!

-Elder Gifford

Pictures: