Persian Thanksgiving!

So this week was Thanksgiving up here in the good ol Santa Monica! I had 3 dinners with members and we got left overs from all 3 of them so in all, I think I've had probably 8 or 9 plates of Thanksgiving food and desserts to last a lifetime. And yes, there is still some in the fridge, to say the least, we bought basically just fruit at the store this week. HA! It was really a great blessing to spend Thanksgiving with such great people from the ward, it was definitely VERY different, but I'm grateful that they invited us over and we made some good memories and food times. 

Yes, it is getting quite cold here. I'd say on average its in the 70s, but the coastal breeze KILLS me. Its not my favorite, but sweaters are always a good time so. Also, our apartment does have a heater, but we still wake up every morning freezing. We live in an apartment that is like a literal cabin across the street from the church, which is 5 minutes from the temple. Also, some of you have asked if I play the piano, guitar, bass at all.. not really. BUT, EVERYONE in the ward thinks I'm a musical genius, and I don't know why.. its kinda of creepy. I play occasionally on p-days but its mostly just hymns cause thats all I got.. Maybe some hymn arrangement sheet music for Christmas? #spiritualjams

Also, I had the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting with Elder Ross, he goes home in 2 weeks. It was super cool and I'm glad I had the chance to prepare and speak in the Westwood 1st ward. Persians? Here in the Farsi program, there has been 17 total baptisms in 2 years, since it started on Nov 13, 2013. I would say that there are 6 solid ones, a few who have moved away and a few less-actives. They all LOVE the Farsi Elders, its just a matter of getting some of them to church and such. But, its awesome! Speaking of coming to church, we had a new investigator come to church this week! 

Farsi Missionaries

So we teach free English classes here twice a week and one of our buds, Farhad has been coming for a while and know we are getting him excited about the gospel! We had a sweet lesson about the sacrament and church, and also what it means to be a missionary on Saturday after English class and then he came to church on Sunday, although his cologne made our ward mission leader burst into an allergic reaction we are pretty sure.. HAha...

We also met this super nice girl Nikoo on Saturday! She is a student at SMC (Santa Monica College). Anyway, the Visitors Center is having a concert, musical performance every night in December and there was a special one last night and we really wanted to get someone there, but weren't finding anyone. Then we thought of Nikoo, called her and she was super interested! She ended up bringing her mom and they loved it! It was super cool, they felt the Spirit, even if they didn't know it, and we are super excited to met Nikoo again this week and talk to her more. 

Pas, this week was super good! We are loving the work and loving our time here in LA! BOOM! 

I love you all soo much! Man shoma ra doost daram! Va man midanam k ein kelisaw dorostast!