Jan.10,2011

Dear Mom and Family,

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! Im glad to hear that you had a good new years and that you´re all happy besides the snow. It was a pretty good new years for me but truthfully i dont think i´ve really comprehended yet that its 2011 yet b.c i didnt stay up until midnight to celebrate it. Here they celebrate New years by lighting off a rediculus amount of fireworks at midnight (which actually did wake me up for a second). People here love fireworks. I really dont understand how there are not more forest fires here. We also celebrated new years by eating a lot of Tamales again.

So i have some news. I have another new Companion. I think im going to break a Record. The changes werent suppose to be until next week but i got thrown into emergency changes again. My new companion is Elder Estrada. He is from Honduras and has been in the mission field for 15 months but was actually serving in another mission and just got moved to our mission. He seems like a cool guy and hopefully he will be able to help get more baptisms in the area. Elder Vasquez was pretty sad to leave but figured he would. He just thought not until next week. They called us last night and so he really didnt get much time to say goodbye to any one which is the sad part of emergency changes.

About sister postons uncle. Im not sure if i have met him. And if i have i didnt realize it. I met her uncle in my last area but i´ll have to ask around to see if i can figure out who he is. Did he say what ward he goes to? I really dont need anything from you all besides letters but if i find him i might see if he can send some stuff to you.

I´ve been thinkings alot the last few months about what the Book of Mormon and the restoration through Joseph Smith mean to me. I realized how really important my belief in those two things are to my life. If we through in Gods love, the atonement of Jesus Christ and family to those two things we have the essentials of why i live my life the way i live it. It helps me determine what decisions i make and what things to change. The Book of Mormon and The restoration are so incredibly important to who i am. I was thinking about what my life would mean to me if i didn´t know those things and i really feel that my life would have very little hope. I also was thinking about how if i were wrong i would have wasted alot of time in my life and especially here in the mission. However i know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith really did see God the Father and Jesus Christ in an answer to a simple prayer of faith. And for that reason the mission is been the best way i can spend my time right now and following the gospel and been the most rewarding experience that i can have.

Now much of who we are as member of the church and as a family depend on our testimony of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. That is why as you may have read the book of mormon to finish the year ( im still way behind in finishing) and as you start a new year that you can all (the whole family) ponder and pray about your testimonies of those two things. Then i would ask you to write out your testimony in a letter to me to help strengthen me as a missionary.

I love you all and how for you only to have the best. I pray for you constantly. You are all very very important to me. Always work hard, serve others and enjoy life.

Love,

Elder Vincent

people you can pray for

Eugenio Xon

Ismael

Sister Folgar

Family Urias

Family Lorenzano

Valdemar Castro

and the who san jose pinula area