Un misionero deseándoles una feliz Navidad

Day: Christmas... Duh

Pushup Count: 202

Feliz Navidad! I'll keep this week's email short because it's Christmas, and not too much happened this last week. Quick highlights:

- My companion and I got super sick for like 5 days, so nothing super interesting happened

- I suffered through two zone conferences sick as a dog 

- We recorded and edited our Spanish music video in three days 

- I ate tacos de lengua (beef tongue) 

- We crashed a bunch of Christmas parties last night 

Thanks everyone for listening to me talk about these music videos for the past month without being able to see them  They are both officially out now, so if you haven't seen them check out our Facebook pages (Hear His Voice & Encontrar a Jesucristo) and give em a like :) I hope you all have an amazing Christmas, love you lots! 

Spiritual Thought:

Remember the Christ in Christmas and remember that He loves you! 

Fotos:

My phone camera is really bad 

Christmas morning breakfast

Pictures with los Gonzalez and Esquer + Baez

Un misionero aquí todavía

Day: one week till Christmas

Pushup Count: 196

Buenas días a todos! Unless it's not morning for you, then you can swap that out. It's been a good week here in Bakes - lots of running around and lots of good work. Here's some highlights:

- I went on another biking exchange, this time with the district leader and had a great time 

- We filmed our Spanish music video, but things did not go as planned so we have to do it again 

- We've had some gorgeous mornings where you can't see down the street due to pollution 

- We filmed another departing testimony video and it was absolutely exhausting 

- We had transfers last Thursday, but nothing really changed for me. Just one Hermana in the district left and a new one came in. It's kinda weird being an SA and just chilling in the same place for transfers on end

- We got an oil change and it took like three hours so that was fun 

- I worked on the audio for our Spanish music video for like 4 hours only to get to the end and realize that what I'd done was absolutely terrible... So I completely restarted a couple days ago and went slower and now it sounds good :) 

- Sunday school yesterday was crazy - people were arguing about homosexuality and the teacher literally started biting his Bible... All in Spanish so i have no idea why, but it was pretty funny 

- Yesterday we got fed carne asada and it was so good

I guess I had a lot less to say than I realized . But oh well, I hope y'all are doing good and that everyone has a good Christmas! 

Spiritual Thought

2 Nephi 19:6 — a scripture that we've been sharing a lot with our friends and members. Each name of Christ has special significance, and we can learn something new from each one. I invite y'all to read that verse and think about what Jesus Christ has done for us. And don't forget that He did it all because he loves you! 

Love, 

Élder Page

Fotos! 

Literally the only picture I have for this week  this was during our music video shoot that didn't work...

Un misionero con sueño

Day: 2 weeks till Christmas

Pushup Count: 190

Buenos días a todos! This week has been one of many siestas because I've been so tired. But still super good :)

- We went to record and shoot our Spanish music video and let me tell ya that was exhausting. I ended up not having time to record the guitar before the singers got there, so they had to sing over my (very) rough draft recording. Once we finally got done with that, it was too late to film, so we had to reschedule that. At this point I'm just praying these videos come out before new years....

- We took the sacrament to a center for neural development that the other Elders cover and it was super touching

- I bought way to much pan dulce at vallarta 

 and then ate it all and regretted it so much that I wasn't even able to eat dinner that night

- The Elders in my quad drank all my orange juice 

- I finally made quinoa

- I got to go to mlc (mission leadership conference), which is where all the zone leaders, aps, and president meet and talk about the mission. Except it turned out to basically just be another zone conference so it felt very pointless and (guess what ) I was nodding off by halfway through 

- We finally had an in person lesson with one of our Facebook finds... it was kinda a weird lesson but we'll see what happens

- A family in the ward threw Elder Ireland a birthday party and invited the other Elders in my quad (who don't speak Spanish). They made us super good food and gave us a bunch of stuff to take home

- People keep giving us fruit 

- We had another baptism! And guess who had to play the piano again! And now the ward chorister knows that I can play so I might be in trouble... But super good baptism, the other companionships in our ward both had a friend get baptized so 

- We had the ward Christmas party and it was amazing. Everyone was at least a half hour late, the food was great, we got to listen to real Christmas music, and there was dancing at the end

So yes, lots of good things happening, just fighting to stay awake during them all. Thanks to everyone who has sent emails and Christmas packages, y'all are awesome! It doesn't really feel like Christmas here, which is probably a good thing, but I'm excited nonetheless. I hope all of you are excited too!

Spiritual Thought:

I shared a quote from Elder Holland's talk "None Were With Him" on Facebook yesterday about how Christ walked alone so that we don't have to. I'd invite y'all to read the talk, it's crazy poderoso. Actually, listen to it, cause Elder Holland's voice makes it so much more powerful.

Mucho amor, 

Élder Page

Fotos!

The Hermanas didn't show up to pday activity so we drew them in

Our crazy fruit pile

Elder Ireland with his cake from the Esquers

(Not) hot chocolate that a member bought us

*The video - dancing at the ward Christmas party... Spanish wards are so much fun 

Un Misionero en un Carro

Day: first pday of diciembre

Pushup Count: 184

Hola a todos! This week was probably the funnest week I've had on my mission so far. I road tripped, biked, and ran my way through the entire thing and I had a blast.

- First off, my comp started feeling better so we've been able to get back to the normal grind 

- I ran like 400 meters decently fast through the park and it was amazing

- We borrowed a guitar from a member, so now we just have one in our apartment  but we're using it for a music video so there is a reason! 

- We went on a road trip! We drove two hours down to Palmdale to record and film a music video for our Facebook page 

- When we got to Palmdale, we realized we didn't have a key to the church, so we got to visit Elder Ireland's old apartment and companion to grab one 

- Recording takes forever! Once I finally got all the mic levels okay, we recorded the piano, but it was stuck up against a wall in the chapel, so it was a nightmare trying to get it to sound half decent. And then after an hour of that, we had to do it all over again with the vocals, which luckily went a little bit smoother

- Thennnn we had to get all the video footage, so we rigged up a TV to play the audio for the singer to follow along with, and I finally got to relax. Elder Reynolds and Hermana Nye just went silly on the recording and we have some beautiful shots

- We got all packed up, grabbed some Chick-fil-A, and then zoomed back home, but we got back really late  luckily I was able to start editing the audio on the drive, because since then we've been super busy 

- The next day, I went on exchanges in a biking area! I felt like a real missionary zooming around the streets of Bakes with my little reflective vest on 

- Turns out biking for 5 hours makes you sore

- We rode around an apartment complex for half an hour trying to find the right number, but there was no pattern so it was insanely hard. But once we found the apartment we set up an appointment, so it paid off

- The exchange was with someone a transfer younger than me, so our Spanish wasn't great, but I got a lot of practice and we got a lot done! 

- We had another really bold lesson with our friend Rosa, and we invited her to pray about a specific date for baptism - hopefully she gets an answer 

- I had tacos for dinner both Saturday and Sunday and I don't see that pattern ending anytime soon

- "I have a clinically small stomach" - Elder Nord

So yeah, it's been a little crazy over here, but it's fun. It's definitely not easy, I'm super tired all the time, but I've kind of accepted that fact. Sometimes life is a grind, but as we look to heaven and try to find the joy in it, we will :) 

Spiritual Thought:

This week has really helped me realize that God has a plan for all of us. There's probably a million reasons that I and every other missionary was sent to the mission we're in, but I was able to see a few of those reasons this week as I worked with some really talented Elders and Sisters on this video. God knows us individually, and he puts us where we need to be. So trust in Him, and never forget how much He loves you!

Love you all! 

Élder Page 

Fotos!

- a couple pictures of the recording process and another of the beautiful Bakersfield skyline