Almost Christmas

It's nearly Christmas, and I really need to get caught up on this blog. Last week was a little disappointing for us and for Eric. They changed his preparation day to Tuesday again, but he didn't know about it far enough in advance to let us know. As a result, he didn't get any e-mail and we didn't have a chance to ask him any questions. This was kind of important this week, because we need to work out details for webcam communication on Christmas. For some reason, everyone seems to think it's important to work that out. To make matters worse, this week his P-day was on Monday, and he didn't think he'd be able to send e-mail at all. So, we've been stressing. Well, at least I have.

I spent the last week installing a webcam on our computer, downloading skype and windows live messenger and ... etc. trying to anticipate how he might need to communicate with us. I am a webcam neophyte, so this is not easy for me. Eric is about as experienced at it as I am, so we'll probably be stumbling around on Christmas hoping to see and hear each other. I sent him the best instructions I could, but wasn't sure he would even get them.

It turns out he did get them, because somewhat unexpectedly we received an e-mail from him this morning, the entire text of which was:

"I only have a few minutes to write this week. I'll webcam ya probably at about 2-4ish my time here. I'll try to follow your instructions and use skype or yahoo i think. Much love, gotta go to work."

So now we wait for Christmas day and hope it all works out. I guess it means I'll have to make sure I'm up by 8am or I could miss the call. Probably won't be a problem.

There was other news in last week's e-mail that I haven't reported on yet. Olushola is struggling a little, and Jing Yuan is still too busy with exams to meet with the missionaries. Win, on the other hand, came to church again and is reading the Book of Mormon and planning to be baptised on December 27th. Hopefully nothing will interfere with that. Eric very much enjoys meeting with him.

Eric continues to be excited for Christmas. He received a very nice Christmas card from a Chinese church member. At least Elder Chan said it was very nice, since he had to translate it. They have a Christmas tree made up of 3 pieces of wood with a piece of tinsel and one strand of lights. It even has 2 presents under it (an English Book of Mormon and a Chinese Book of Mormon). Hopefully by now there will be more presents under it, since he told us he had 2 packages (including ours) waiting for him at the office.

Preparation day was changed to Monday this week, as I mentioned earlier. That's because all the missionaries were spending the day at a military base doing all kinds of cool things. I'm not exactly sure what cool things you could find to do on a military base, but Eric seemed excited about it. Hopefully he won't enlist while he's there.

Finally, Eric had this request, which I am honoring:

"Maybe you could do one thing for me. You could write on the blog: Thanks to all of my friends and family who have been sending letters and saying prayers for the missionary work. I am very thankful for all of their support. I think I've written back to everyone who has written me but I just want to tell everyone thanks and Merry Christmas."

We feel the same way he does. We are very appreciative of all those who have shown an interest in Eric's missionary experiences, those who read this blog, those who write or send packages to Eric, and those who offer prayers on his behalf. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed and joyous new year.