"Come Unto Him"

Hello Everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. It was great to talk with my family! I miss them dearly and having the opportunity to speak with them, was the best present that I could have asked for. 

This Christmas season, as missionaries, we helped to spread the word of the Light the World initiative.  The LDS church invited everyone and anyone to serve and help those around them. I have seen the wonderful blessings that come from Christ- like service, as well as seeing those blessings in my own family back at home. With all the commercialism and merchandise surrounding Christmas, which seems to get more and more prevalent every year, it was nice to step back and remember the real reason for why we celebrate Christmas.

I love my family so much and I am so grateful for all of you, who sent me something this Christmas. With Christmas, also comes New Year’s Day.  The new beginning of the year fits well with our investigator, Teresa, who will be baptized on January 14th! Yesterday, we found a new investigator, Johnathan, so we are seeing more success here in Susquehanna!

Next week is call-outs, with transfers coming.  There is a strong chance that I could be leaving Susquehanna.  If you are planning on sending me something, wait until next week and I will let you know if I am leaving or not.  I have learned a lot here, with my stay in Susquehanna, and I know I will continue to learn more as time passes. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and the Redeemer of the world.  As we heed his call to "Come unto Him", we will see blessings in our lives and experience more happiness and joy, as we follow Him. I hope you have a great week! 

Mission Conference

Elder Dyer!

Missionary Skit

Opening Presents

Selfie with the family!

Really cool Jesus plaque from the family that had us over on Christmas Day.

Mission journal that I received from President Christensen.

Christmas Eve Brunch with the Wainrights!

Gift card from Uncle Brad and Aunt Tiffany.

Gifts from the Wainright's!

Christmas Eve Dinner at another member's home.

Bro. Wainright states: We are blessed to have these

two great young men in our home for Christmas Eve Brunch.

Merry Christmas!

Hello Everyone!  I hope you had a good week.  This week we did some more service at Habitat and it was fun! We got to play home designer and pretty much rearranged the entire front of the store! After that, from Thursday to Saturday, Elder Coumbs got really sick. We have affectionately dubbed it the Double Dragon virus. We have been in our apartment for most of the week. I have had lots of study time. On a positive note, we had some Docudramas of the Prophets of the restoration and I had no idea how cool and awesome they are! There were so many neat stories and interesting facts, as we learned about the lives of those great men. I'm super grateful for our prophets and the sacrifices that they have made for this gospel! It is truly remarkable! My week was a little slow, but it's ok.

I have felt so much peace and comfort from Heavenly Father this Christmas season. I hope that each of you feel His love and have a Merry Christmas!

We found a cool tree while we were out tracting.

We had freezing rain one day and it froze our whole car!

Merry Christmas from Elder Ainsworth and Elder Coumbs!

She said, “Yes”!!!!!

Hello Everyone!  Hope you had a great week.  It's been super cold over here lately! The humidity makes the cold super intense, so it's been fun. Things are going really well with our investigators! We taught Obeng again and he is super prepared! He invited a friend in the house to sit in on our lesson with him and even answered questions for his friend and defended our beliefs. Super cool! He is going back to Ghana for a long time, to visit his family and won't be back until January 26th.

Teresa came to the ward Christmas party, as well as church. We taught her the Plan of Salvation last night and committed her to be baptized. She said, “Yes”!!!!! On December 31^st, Teresa will be baptized!!! Whoop, Whoop! Super excited! It's gonna be awesome! Keep warm and have a great week!

A ward member made one of Elder Ainsworth's favorite dinners...

Mexican Lasagna!

Ward Christmas Party!  It was super cool!

Felt tree from my mom.  It was too heavy to hang on the wall,

but I had it on long enough to take a picture!

We were Santa's helpers at the Habitat for Humanity Restore!

  

A family in the ward gave us a tree!

We moved all of the ornaments from the felt tree to the real one!

We put up the Christmas Décor!  It was fun trying to set up everything and

I feel like my inner mom came out with setting up the tree!

A text from the Wainright's:

"Your son trying to be suave...before diving into homemade apple pie..haha!"

Bro Wainright posted this picture on Facebook and said,

"We had the great opportunity to have these two great men

in our home tonight for dinner. Love these guys!"

#LIGHTtheWORLD

Hello Everyone!  I hope you have had a great week. Things are going great with my investigators! The Lord's hand has truly been working miracles here. It's been a nice change! Our new investigator, Teresa, came to church yesterday and loved it. She is progressing really well and is loving what she is learning. The ward is doing awesome things to make her feel welcome. We were also able to see the First Presidency Christmas Devotional yesterday with Teresa. I bet you were in tears, kinda like I was with President Eyring’s talk. We also taught Obeng and he is super prepared too! Lots of good things are happening here.

The weather in Maryland has been pretty much the same. It's just cold. But not enough for snow. It rained for 2 days straight last week! I love my new companion. We get along really well and are having a blast serving together! He is a total goof ball. More so than me! So, it's been a good time.

No words can describe the deep profound gratitude that I have for my Father in Heaven right now. I truly see His spirit and influence more than I ever thought would be possible. The conditions of living that I see people live in, melt my heart and make me wish that they would accept the happiness that comes from living a Christ centered life. I love the Light the World program, it's truly been inspired. I hope you find ways to serve others this week!

Thanks Katelynn for the puzzle!

I couldn't help but think of my dad while I ate at Café Rio!

It felt like home, eating here.

I left these in the window of our car. When we came out of the store, a lady was

looking at them and we asked her if she wanted one.  She said, "Yes!"

That was pretty cool!

Text sent to Elder Ainsworth's mom said:

"Your Elder had dinner with us tonight...he was a real

trooper...he had southern cheese grits. :)"