Christmas Greetings!

Merry Christmas!!

It is a cold winter day here In Grand Rapids, Michigan and I hear there is snow in the forecast for Christmas! This was another great week in Grand Rapids even though I didn’t get to spend a lot of time in my area. I was on trade-offs with the district leader on Tuesday and part of Wednesday and so I got to go to downtown Grand Rapids and meet with the people that they are teaching there and I got to be with Elder Dunn who is a missionary who is being trained. It was a lot of fun and he has a great attitude towards the work. I think he is going to be a great missionary. Thursday, we got to see several less active members, a few of them are unable to make it to church because of health issues and so they are always so happy to have us come over. They are amazing and faithful members of the church and they are always so positive when we go over so I always love going over to their houses. Friday I was in Wyoming (the city not the state) with the zone leaders. It was an awesome experience. I got to learn a whole lot from missionaries that have been out for over a year and a half. I was able to learn a ton of things that I will be able to apply to my own missionary work. We got to meet with several people and were jam-packed all day with appointments. Our last appointment of the day was with a guy who had been less active for several years. He told us that we really made the right decision in going on a mission. He said that he had made several mistakes in his life and one of them was not going on a mission and it is something that he really regretted. A mission really teaches you a lot of things and the lessons that you learn out here are something that you can apply for the rest of your life. Saturday I was back in my area and me and Elder Brown got to go door knocking. We knocked on the door of a family that had met with missionaries in the past. They let us in, gave us cookies, and we got to talk to them for over an hour. It was nice to be able to get out of the cold for a while and enjoy talking to some nice people about the gospel and share the “He Is The Gift” video with them! Church yesterday was awesome. They had a Christmas program and they convinced a few of us missionaries to sing in the choir with them. None of us had ever heard the song that we were singing but I think that it all worked out all right. So it was a great day.

So an interesting thing has been happening this week... I have received several letters and a few packages from random people encouraging me and wishing me a Merry Christmas. They have come from Michigan, Utah, Idaho and even Texas. They are from people that have heard about me going on a mission so shortly after joining the church and have been really encouraging!! I'm not completely sure how they heard about me or got my address but it has been really awesome to be receiving so much support by people that don’t even know me.

I think that’s about it for the week. This week is going to be awesome!! We have a few people that are having us over for Christmas and I know that it is going to be a very special holiday with the people that are here in Michigan and to be able to call home! Today Elder Brown and me are going to Frederick Meijer Garden where they have all sorts of Christmas stuff going on and they have a huge horse sculpture that I am going to take a picture in front of for my niece! I will send other pictures from it and other holiday festivities next week!

I hope that you have a great week and a Merry Christmas!! The best gift folks up here are getting is cheap gas. I will include a picture. The lowest I have seen is $1.94!!

Merry Christmas!

Elder Bloskas

P.S. from Kristi Bloskas:  I am adding a couple of photos I received from Cale.