Happy Thanksgiving!

It was a super good week again! Time just speeds by here.  I can't believe it's almost been two months already!  That's 1/12th of my mission!  I don't think I'm ever going to want to go home (sorry Mom)! :)  Thank you sooooo much for the package!  No worries - I shared it.  I shared a lot actually, but then felt bad because it probably took a lot of money to send it over here.  I am saving the rest and it should be safe from the other Elders because I set a Book of Mormon on top of it - so they'll either have to crawl under, over, or around that book to get to it . . . Jeffrey R. Holland anyone?  Haha - I'm such a nerd, sorry!


Speaking of the Book of Mormon - I finished it this week!  Very good book and I recommend it to everyone.  Oh, but I started to keep a study journal that I write in as I read and thoughts come into my head, and it is amazing how much more in depth I get with the scriptures that way.  I should have started that a long time ago, and you should have too.  My testimony of the book is so much stronger than ever before!  I can whip a scripture out of it for just about everything now.


I'm glad to hear about the garden!  I hope it's delicious. I think I'm a little malnourished here because I haven't had vegetables in 6 weeks, but it's all right. You sent a Christmas package already huh!  I'm super excited!  The last one got here in 12 days, so not too shabby!


So . . . M. Russell Ballard came to the DR for a Caribbean area conference and stayed in the MTC building.  He never came and said hi or anything, but we got to watch his conference which was really good.  He was the apostle that set this country apart for missionary work, so he loves it.


Every Sunday, we watch a "video fireside" of past apostles that spoke in Provo, and this week we watched L. Tom Perry.  He spoke in Provo about a week after we left!  I was kinda sad that we missed him - but it's the same message anyways, so no worries.  We also have firesides on Sunday nights, and this past Sunday, a stake choir came to sing for us.  To be completely honest, they sounded pretty bad, but they sang with all their might.  They believed what they were singing and I could see their testimonies in their eyes.  I cried like a baby . . . I can't think of the last time I actually really cried, but that night was just incredible.  My love for the people here grew like 1,000,000,000,000 times!


So, I'm not exactly sure what will happen for Thanksgiving here, but because it's not a national holiday, I'm pretty sure that it's gonna be nothing.  But, I hope it's good back in old AZ!  Watch some football or the Macy's Day Parade, or something for me.  Oh, and stuff your face!  But, remember how the Lord has blessed your life.  It may seem hard to tell from your comfy couches in Gilbert, AZ, but if you came over to the DR, you'd know what I meant.  You are blessed beyond what you know.


I leave on Monday and I'm not sure when my p-day will be in the field, so I figured I'd throw my two cents worth in about Thanksgiving!  Oh, and the Dominicans are already putting up Christmas trees!  Ya, they have them here - all fake, but they have the right idea.  I love you all and I'll talk to you later!


Love,
Elder McBride

Dominican MTC