Happy January!

Dear Family!

Well to say the least, it has been getting pretty cold this week. On Sunday when we left for our Branch Council the temperatures were reading 3 Below zero. Regardless of that we made it to church and I'm pretty sure they had the AC on, but that's okay. Since our last few weeks in the branch President Johnson told me at interview I would most likely be leaving. This didn't halt the work at all.

Monday night, before P-day actually ended, we had an appointment with a Festival of Lights referral. When we knocked on her door, she answered and let us in with no hesitation. She is from Burma but has pretty great English and reads it well. She was overjoyed to see that we were from the church. She had us sit on her couch and her and two of her younger sisters came and sat down to listen to what we had to say. That was a pretty neat experience. We had received some pamphlets in Burmese from the mission office so they were able to read it in English and we left one in their language for them. 

Wednesday I went down on exchange with the Glen Burnie 2 Elders. I got down into the area with Elder George who is just finishing his training and let him lead the area. We had a pretty great day that started at the hospital so he could have some warts removed. After we had gotten out finding we were in a neighborhood that was private and this guy got pretty mad at us "Soliciting" we tried to explain it to him but he cussed us out and slammed his door. With even more determination we knocked the next door. The previous guy came out and yelled some choice words and we ended up being asked to leave. The lady from the main office who asked us to leave knew we had every right to be sharing the gospel. She just had to ask us because we are guessing that guy called and complained.

Thursday as we went out to go check on a referral, she wasn't home. As we were walking down to the home Elder Guzzle noticed a little antique shop that was there. We walked inside and ended up teaching the owner of the Store. His name is Morris. As we had walked in I noticed a well used bible on his desk open. We got into conversation with him and ended up giving these Thai boys bibles and talking with Morris about the gospel. He said he isn't very religious because he doesn't like how the religions of the world go at each other. He was pretty reluctant to read the Book of Mormon and said he would stop if he found anything that contradicted what his Bible says. That was pretty neat to go in and end up needing to be there.

Saturday we were sitting inside during our studies and it started to Snow! At first it was little flurries but eventually picked up and we got an inch or so. The Assistants sent out a message to everyone saying to stay off the roads but to keep proselyting. We used the bus as our transportation and ended up getting to see Saul and then Jackie. It was pretty sad when we weren't able to get in with Saul, he told us he was moving to California and they were in the process of packing. They aren't really fans of the cold he said. We still had a great day and were able to get out and share the gospel even though Maryland was frozen over.

Sunday at church since transfers are coming up the members were in a state ready to just say goodbye to me. Even though we won't find out what will happen with transfers until tonight, we are expecting that I'll leave. It truly has been a pleasure to serve in this Branch because I have been able to play the piano. It really let my skills improve so I enjoyed the experience.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Love, 

Elder Bentley