Another Great Week

Hello Everyone!

The work is alive and well in Jerusalém! We currently have one set baptismal date for Jan. 22, and we have 3 other people with goal dates: 2 for the 22nd, and 1 for the 29th.

One of these dates is with a great guy named Carlos. We found him when we were knocking doors one night. My comp asked me 'where are we going to contact?' I felt that we should knock on a door, that turned out to be his. His wife Lucy answered, and we set an appointment for Christmas Day (right after talking to the family!) We've had a few visits since then, and he accepted the goal date yesterday. His wife has decided that she likes the Evangelical church she is currently attending, and has decided to not continue listening to our lessons, because she gets confused between the two churches. I think that we'll baptize Carlos, and Lucy and their kids will see how happy he is, and will want in. That's my hope for their family. They have a couple pre-teen to teenage daughters, and a toddler named Isaac. The last few times we visited them, my companion said to me afterwards that 'that was a great/inspired contact.' It's really cool to see how the Lord directs us, and I'm just barely touching the tip of the iceberg at this point.

Thank you for your birthday greetings. My mom told me about them, and I thank you all, even though I couldn't read them directly!

Things are going pretty well with my companion as well. We're still not best friends, but we're working well together, and things are still improving.

I'll have my first Zone Conference (along with an Interview) tomorrow. I'm excited to see what I get to learn. This is going to be really cool, because I know President Brough will speak to us, and possibly one of the area presidency of Central America as well!

But before I close, I have to share a funny experience. First, we were teaching Rosa, our set baptismal date, the other day. My companion was talking about the gospel, and suddenly said: 'Puchika, Hermana, que grande este rata!' (Wow, sister, that's a big rat!) There was a rat behind her going into one of the bedrooms in their house. She called her husband and brother-in-law, and they went into the room. One of them opened the door and threw something out, and she screamed and jumped. We went back to the message, and a couple minutes later we heard *thump* from the other room. After that, her husband came out holding the dead rat by its tail with a napkin and put it outside. After that, we watched Thomas S. Monson's biography, and all was well.

I discovered another cool Spanish-only hymn, that I will translate this week, and send the words of next week. It also has to do with missionary work.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, they are felt here with regularity, and much appreciated, as well as needed.

Thank you. You are awesome. Until next week!

Yours in the faith,
Elder Nicholas Banks