Merry Christmas to all!!!

Merry Christmas Family, 
(Written 24 December 2015)
 
I'm really excited for the Skype call tomorrow. Just a forewarning, I may not be able to speak English very well... But once I get going, it will all work out well. I'll talk about at what time later in the letter.

Elder Reinoso had an accident with his foot about two months ago and the doctor gave him a steroid shot to help but the pain came back after the shot wore off and he was in a lot of pain. But the doctor tested him again and told him he'd have to rest and use an ankle brace and crutches. He's not super happy about that but he's keeping up the good spirits and thinking positive always. He's a happy guy to be around. I've been learning to keep my cool when there seems to be so many problems at one time and everything has been working out. Things are a bit more difficult to work around when your companion is on crutches. We've had to run some pretty quick errands and so figuring out splits with ward members and other missionaries has been a big help in completing our goals and tasks at hand. If he continues on crutches for another month without improvement, they will send him home to get better. That is the last thing a missionary wants to happen.

I don't know when I'll be able to Skype you tomorrow but my companion is telling me that his mom won't be able to Skype until 8pm. Yes, PM. So I'm hoping the nighttime (about 6:30) will be okay. I like doing it in the morning but at night is fine, as well. We have weekly planning in the morning anyway.

To finish today, I just wanted to share a cool and short experience I had with Lourdes and Karla (and family) the other day. We went to their house to teach the basic lessons again to them (they actually understand more after baptism, I've realized) and Karla has been reading the BoM with her Mom. Karla was at 2 Nephi 2 and her mom had read up til 2 Nephi 10. We decided to teach the Plan of Salvation because 2 Nephi 2... that was a no-brainer for me and my comp as we looked at each other to change lesson plans. We taught the lesson first and Jaime, the dad, was not liking the lesson. But his wife posed him an interesting question that I've often asked myself, "Do you believe that God knows everything?" He couldn't say no, and if he said yes then he would also have to accept the fact that God knew Adam and Even were going to partake of the forbidden fruit. So he didn't like these questions very much but it made him think and start to accept the Plan of Salvation. After we had read the entire chapter in the Book of Mormon (we had made some pauses to explain certain doctrine), Karla says, "Can I give my opinion?" and she started to explain everything beginning from Adam and Eve until the reason we have a Savior, Jesus Christ. She then told her dad, "Dad, it's so simple. Beautifully simple and I know it's true." She was just like a missionary. I find that people understand the lessons better and the scriptures better when they have been given, and live worthily of, the gift and companionship of the Holy Ghost.

Love you all and see you tomorrow night!
Elder Tuft

PS - We might be using Karla's iPhone to talk tomorrow because we haven't been able to find a single member that has a computer with webcam capability. But we'll see what happens. Just plan for after dinner tomorrow.