Tiempo (time)

Went to La Ceiba this week for interviews with Pres. Klein.  He is the best by the way.  He reminded me that we are here not only to invite, but to help the people- Awesome.  
I got a package full of mail, and a new dictionary, which pretty much just made my month.  So amazing!!
Oh, i found out my mission account was hacked by someone in Puerto Rico.  Pray for him please, if he was in so much need that he stole the lords money, he needs blessings and your prayers.

I'm going to answer some frequently asked questions...

I'm teaching a ton of people right now, but its kind of sad, because we have to drop a ton of people too. For example, we were teaching this guy, then we found out he has killed people, so we had to back off him, super sad. 
Everyone has challenges here, not only the really poor, but also the narcos (drug traffickers), we have to drop most of them too. 

Danielito (little stud) is not a member, but the brother of Yelarin (one of my recent converts) he is 5 years old, too young to baptize -____-.

My sister plays the harmonica.

My companion (aka Neymar) is super cool. He is 20, and lives in Rio de Janeiro. Its actually really funny, Everyone calls us Chocolate and Milk (you can figure out why) and together, ChocoSula (brand of chocolate milk here in Hondo).

One really cool story quick: We are teaching this familia Mosquito.  Mosquitos are like native Hondurans but they dont speak Spanish they speak Mosquito which is like a Caribbean island language.  Anyway, they do speak Spanish too, but in one of our lessons, I prayed in Spanish, then the Mom prayed in Mosquito, then My comp prayed in Portuguese, then I prayed again in English. That was really cool. 4 Languages, 1 God.

I've actually been kind of really angry lately, because these people here just wont read!  We give them the restored gospel of Jesus, and they just tell me, Oh... Uhhh I didn't have any time this week, I had to go to Ceiba, uhh, I had to wash a ton of clothes... Ok well, you dont have 5 mins to read a little bit out of the book of mormon, or the pamphlet we gave you?  It might just change your life.  But then what President told me really hit me, dont just invite, but help them too.  So then I started asking what we could do to help, and some of them told me that they cant read.  Which is really sad to me. There are a ton of people who cant read, so now, we are reading with those who can, and teaching those who cant read, how to read.  Its really is a humbling experience.

Anyway thats it except photos
These pics are as follows:
My Comp celebrating after getting investigators to church, pointing towards heaven in thanks.


Goliath.

Tie dye and the house that caught on fire (belongs to Jehovah witnesses).

Con Amor+
Elder Smart
Sent from my iPhone

Ladrones (thieves) and 6 months

Bueno. 

This week has been a trip. 6 months... Dang.

But other than that, my new comp is a stud. He is from Brazil. He is all about work work work, so we are always out and about slingin' the word of God. Its pretty sweet, no puedo mentir (I can’t lie).

But not much has happened this week except for citas (appointments). Seriously. Lo siento (I’m sorry), but its the truth.

We did see this drunk guy pass out. It was like 1 in the afternoon, which is weird because that means he was quenching his thirst all morning... anyway, he’s right next to us, and he’s walking all weird, and we tell him buenas, and he smiles, points at us, then literally falls flat as a board in the gutter. Elder Oliviera and I run over to make sure he is ok, but he’s out cold, so we moved him to the dirt (I say dirt, because grass doesn't exist in Hondo) and told him adios, and left. I dunno.

We had english class on Wednesday that Elder Sheperd and I taught, that was cool as always. Then on Thursday we went on divisions, I was with Elder Guadamuz, which was pretty cool. He only has like 5 weeks left in his mission, so he pretty much has teaching the doctrine down to a science. But we were at one lesson, and we were sitting on this bench that was made out of sticks (better than what we usually have) and all of a sudden, the bench snaps in half. I guess we are just full of the spirit or something... you tell me.

We were supposed to have a baptism this week, but the lady left for Tegucigalpa the day before, so that didn't happen, then she called and said that her family will kick her out of the house if she gets baptized into the ¨mormones church¨. So she said we couldn't come back…which is too bad. 

But, we have other plans coming up. Taught a class on repentance on Sunday to all the investigators in attendance. It went pretty smooth.

Valentines day was a sad one. But then I realized that ya need to forget that stuff to function on the mish. So I figured I'm in a serious relationship with the gospel for 1 and a half more years and then I can deal with mujeres (women).

Oh ya, my mission account got robbed too. Estoy pobre (I’m poor) for now. But its all good. I think I'm disappointed about not being able to buy peanut butter more than anything. It will be fixed in like a week, so its swell in all. There’s always Danielito to cheer me up.... Catrachito.. He is also in my pics from this week.

I appreciate your prayers as I know all the other goonies living here in the jungle book feel that way too.

Todo es bien (all is well)

Con Amor+

Elder Smart

P.S. Here are the answers to what Mom needs to know:

1) how is your health - skin rashes etc. 

I always have rashes. Something new always shows up on my body every day, and I just think to myself...mehhh. Whatever... normal

2) how is your new companion

100 times better. We are killin it. Such a difference. And he doesn't speak much English. About none at all. But that’s fine. I feel way comfortable speaking Spanish, so its chill. He speaks Portuguese too.

3) how are you emotionally 

I’m doing swell. Sometimes I feel quite baggy, but its whatever. Usually only at nights when I pray, cause I pray for you guys, and then it reminds me that, oh dang, I haven't seen them in a while. But I'm good.

Brazil

Hello all. This week has been a swell semana (week).  I can’t lie. It rained all week... Again. but...

Changes were this week, so Elder Vera and Elder Montes left. In exchange, we got Elder Olibeira, My comp, and Elder Sheperd. Elder Olibeira is from Brazil and is my comp. And Elder Shep is the comp of Elder Guadamuz. We all get along really well. The only thing is that my comp has kind of an accent. It’s really cool, and everyone is always talking about us, because we both look like a pair of famous soccer players, apparently, so everyone comes up to us and asks where the next game is. It’s kind of funny, but it’s all good. 

Other than that, guess who I saw in La Ceiba when I was picking up my new comp¿  None other than The Elder Larsen. Ya my comp from the CCM. He is now in the zone next to mine. Wow I haven’t seen him in a while. We’ve both changed so much. It was way cool seeing him again!

Me and Oliveira have been killing it lately, I can’t lie. We have contacting down to like an art. One other thing that all of us are supposed to do in our mission is while we’re out working, to always have a Libro de Mormon in our hand. It really helps a ton, cause you’re like sitting in the bus or getting something from the pulperia (grocery store), and the people see the book, and they always ask, “Hey gringo. What’s that you got there, or like, Hey... What’s that book?” And then we start to tell them about it. It’s really easy, and we place a ton more now, which is what Presidente Klein wants.

Elder Olibeira has this saying that he always says: ¨We can’t look to the left at the pulperia de pecados (store of sins) or to the right a la tienda de tentaciones (shop of temptations). We have to always look straight ahead, to the straight and narrow.¨

I really like that. I’m super stoked for this change and I’m ready to help destroy the adversary.

Oh ya I got a ton of Christmas cards this week!! That was cool. Thanks to you all, you know who you are.

Oh ya, here is a picture of Danielito, the coolest kid in Honduras. I wish I could adopt this little stud or something. 

And a La Ceiba Sunrise.

Thanks for taking an interest in my life here in the Jungle Book.

Con Amor+

Elder Smart

Febrero esta aquí (February is here)

So, not a lot happened this week.

On Tuesday, someone tried to break into our house during the night. He was some drunk guy that just kept trying to open the door (which was locked), so I'm not sure whats up with him, but he didn't get in. We watched him through the window. It was weird. 

On Wednesday we got a sweet new investigator. Her name is Blanca, and she hasn't been baptized in any church, which is extremely unusual in Honduras. She is super cool and really likes us. I have high hopes.

Thursday was divisions with Elder Montes. That went well. He'll probably be changed this week. (cambios (transfers) are this wed). Oh ya I'll probably be changed too, or get a new compañero.

Saturday we played soccer with the youth, like always, and it was super fun.

The only downer of this week, is that after sacrament meeting on Sunday, which was really cool, because some of the less active members bore their testimonies.

Anyway, someone hung them self behind where we hold church (church is still outside).

No one knew who it was, but there is kind of like a field behind where we meet (its pretty big)

So we didn't find out until sacrament meeting was over thank goodness ( it was very sad)

But hey, the plan of salvation is real. Which is exactly what Hermana Blanca is interested in hearing

Then we went to Ceiba today for p day, to hang out with the other missionaries.

Elder Royer is also the other missionary in my pics. He goes home this week. He is a stud. He really killed it out here for his 2. Im going to miss him.

The lord is in all things and I see his work everyday out here in the jungle.

His hand is in all.

Con Amor+

Elder Smarty

Stand in Holy Places

Hello.

This week has been a blast and a half.

It rained...

We had district meeting (just us 4 here in La Masica) but it was really good. We are currently studying chapter 5 in Preach My Gospel, and it is really amazing. I encourage all of you to read about it. It helps me understand why its so important to explain to people why our church is different (Book Of Mormon).

So this week we have been really working hard on contacting all the people from the zone super contacto that we directed here in La Masica. Let me just tell you, Its exactly what we needed. It's amazing to see how many people we dont know in this little pueblo. Amazing.

Anyway, we didn't have mutual this week, because it rained...again. for like the 400th time this week and I was a little sick this week. Im not sure what it was from, but I think that it might be since we get up at like 5 in the morning to go to the gym and work out, and I dont get much sleep. 

However, on Sunday, no one who had a talk showed up, so we each had to prepare a talk in like 5 minutes to give. It was way weird, because I blessed the sacrament, and directed the hymns too. So I literally led the music, immediately sat down, blessed the sacrament, then after sacrament, stood up, led the music, put my hymnbook down, gave my talk, picked up my hymnbook, etc... But it wasn't half bad, since it was raining, there were only like 28 people at church, so it wasn't as awkward as it would have been. 

Oh ya, I had to gave my backpack to a member, so I bought a new one for like 73 limpiras, which is literally the price of a burger at McDonalds. Its a fake Jansport (joy sport) which is pretty awesome, so theres that. 

Sunday, we contacted all day. All day. And all day, Nothing. Every reference, Every house, nothing. Well, we were about to go to dinner, when we decided to make one last call. We called this particular gentleman who seemed really interested. We weren't sure though, because it was a reference from the hermanas (sisters). We weren't sure if he was interested in our message, or just talking to the girls again.

Anyway, we called him, and the first thing he said was that he had prayed earlier that day for the missionaries to contact him again!! Wow, so we said we were free then and he invited us over. We had one of the best lessons ever. He is literally asking the golden questions. About Joseph Smith, The book of mormon, the plan of salvation, and inspiration. It was awesome. He also gave us food (pastelitos)-cupcakes.  And Elder G says that when an investigator gives you food on the first visit, he or she gets baptized... Pretty funny, but I really hope this guy holds firm to his questions and really tries to find and answers because, WE got the answers.

To make things even cooler, I read Alma 26:27 right before I went to bed that night, which just tied everything up perfectly. 

27- Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success. 

We need to have an open heart to those we serve. It's not about the numbers. People are not numbers. It's about the people you teach, not the lessons. And God promises success if you go about your work this way.

Love you all
Con Amor+
Elder Smart

Doing laundry, Central American Style

We all have work

Tiña o algo (ringworm or something)

This week, This week, Where to start.

Well, its rained. Um. we have a pig living in our yard... Not a lot has happened. Things are going a little bit better from last week. Things have settled down. Oh ya, hey I have Ringworm, yay. Dang humidity. Its ok though. 

This week we had Reunion de Zona, where we talked about how to more affectively contact with the Book of Mormon. It was exactly what i needed to hear, and has really helped me in placing Books of Mormon, and retaining first contacts. it was amazing to see how much easier it was to explain to people why we are here, with the Book of Mormon. I know what your thinking... you are a missionary, why aren't you using the Book of Mormon. 

Well, we are, just not for contacting. But that is all changed now. BOM all day, every day, and for everything.

This helped us find our new favorite investigator. her name is Rudi, and she is gold. All her questions are literally the questions that we have all the answers for. All 3 of the first lessons, her questions were perfect for what we were teaching. It was amazing.

Zone p-day was today, and we went to Pico Bonito. We also hiked to this way cool waterfall in the middle of the jungle. This waterfall was so huge, that you could be standing like 150 yards away, and the spray would still hit you. It was amazing. Just another example of the hand of the Lord on the earth. The missionaries are so awesome in my zone, so helpful for every worry, or problem I have. Truly amazing.

One more thing. Shoutout to my favorite sister for this scripture. D&C 68:6 It has helped her, and it definitely was the perfect scripture, exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks ace.

D&C 68:6

6 Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come.

This week has been another strange, average week here in the land of the lost.

But I still know that the lost need to be found, and thats why we are here.

Con Amor+

Élder

Smart

Pues pues pues qué tenemos aquí (well, well, well, what have we here)

 

This week has been Catracho!

Just real quick here is a list of stuff that happened.

-mud facials at a members house

-service cutting again

-washed everything, clothes, ourselves, house, everything in the pila.

-and last, we directed a super contact in our area for all the missionaries in our zone. Thats like 30 people and we contacted all day in La Masica. That was really awesome. We found a mountain of people and I think all the missionaries enjoyed it.

Sorry for the short email this week, its been a trippy one.

Oh one more thing. I just wanna give a shout out to my neighbor (who had a monkey once), you know who you are.

Love you all a ton, and some more.

Con Amor+

Elder Smar

New Year New Me

So first of all, this man with Elder V is blind and deaf. Second of all he lives in Confité...

So we were in Confité for New Years Eve, and then realized that there were no busses on New Years day, so we weren’t able to leave. We stayed an extra day and played soccer and messed around. It was a great time. New Years was just as loco as Christmas, except for more explosions, more crazy and more Catracho.

The next day we had divisions with the ZLs. Elder Larson and Elder Monterosa. Both studs. Elder L is leaving to Hogar on Thursday, and I’m really sad. I really got to know Elder Larson and he’s been a real role model for me. And plus his Spanish is incredible. Anyway that day, we had a mountain of lessons, like more than I’ve ever had in one day. It was so cool. Elder L had so many positive things to say. What a stud. Anyway, he’s the one in my pics covered in flour and soda.

Zone P day was today, and we went to Tela. Beautiful. Qué Hermosa. The beach was beautiful, and we just hung out, played volleyball and some soccer, and then ate at a member’s house.  

I don’t really  have a scripture that I found and that really stood out this week, so I’ll just tell you Alma 32 is all about faith.  

 27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words. 28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

This is usually the scripture I use for our investigators. Necesitamos crecer en nuestra fe, Siempre (we need to grow in our faith, always). 

Man I love being a missionary in Honduras!

Sorry my email is so short this week. It went by really fast.

Con Amor+

Elder Smarty

Merry Christmas, Machine Guns and Happy Birthday Sis!

Man, this week has been such a roller-coaster.  Ups, Downs, todo (everything).

First off it was multi- zone conference on the 23rd, which was a blast. I saw some of the old Hondo group, like E. Tobes and Dakota C’s cousin gave me an influenza shot. Jeje.  We had really good food, and some good lessons. We also watched the San Pedro Sula Este movie on service that our mission made, it’s really awesome.  (This is the link to the video. Andy is in Zona Miramar at about 9:35 minutes into the video. You can see him a couple of times if you watch for his blonde hair and his tall companion wearing a Santa hat.)  

http://youtu.be/SGjKE4CZeyE

Now, Christmas... What a fiesta…so people here celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve more than on the actual day. However, we made Chicken, rice, french fries, and bought some soda from La Ceiba, so we actually had a great feast. 

Then, when the clock struck 12 midnight, chaos blew up in the streets of Hondo. We’re talking kids throwing fireworks at everything that moves, everybody yelling, and cheering, and everyone unloading lead into the air like there’s no tomorrow. Our neighbor, as kind as he is, pulled out his AK and was just unloading clips into the air. Tatatatatatatat. That was wild.

But then, it was Christmas day!!! Which means I got to talk to my family and my best friends and oh what a surprise!  More than the AK for sure. Everyone is so good and awesome. I just love everyone. There is no more to say.

THE 28TH!!! ANNA’s b-day. Man, 15 is way too old, but relax, you’re not 16 yet! Played soccer in the canchita (soccer arena) for mutual, and the whole time I was thinking about my sis. Anna, why couldn’t you like Harry Potter and JRR Tolkien I dunno, say about 4 months ago or something? Amazing right? Stay gold.

Anyway, Christmas in Honduras was just as wild as I expected, but it was also my favorite so far. It was so cool wearing the name Jesus Christ over my heart, on Christ’s day. It really helped me focus on what really happened. Not the parties, food, and festivities, but what our gospel testifies of. Representing Jesus is what I do and what I love.

Even though it rained all day on Christmas, and it wasn’t exactly a ¨White Christmas¨, there was still the white of missionary shirts and ties going about making Christmas more white with the word of God.

That’s all, thanks for all the support, all of you with emails, and letters, I don’t have enough time to explain or thank enough.

Feliz Navidad, and a Happy new year

Con amor+

Elder Smart

PS. Love you mom. This week has been a little rough with my comp. Won’t go into detail, not much time. But I love you and appreciate all you do for me and nuestra familia (our family)

San Pedro Sula ... the big city

So this week has been insane. So to start thing off, I actually got to ride in an elevator this week, what an experience let me tell you.

Oh ya and President Klein gave us root beer. Root beer!!!!

We had to go to the big city this week (San Pedro Sula) because my companion’s residencia expired and we had to go renew it.  While I was there I saw... Elder Criddle ... Again!!!! Whooooo. Stud.

San Pedro Sula is a completely different country than the rest of Honduras. Oh my gosh. People are always on the move, and if you don't watch out, you'll get blasted by a car or bus in the street. Amazing.

Other news I got a haircut. Again 15 limpiras (75 cents). We then were invited to play soccer with the guy who cut our hair (Chiki I think), along with all his old guy friends. That was weird. And none of them would pass to me because I'm a gringo. Whatever. We still won.

We also had a Christmas party in Confité and it was super crazy. I don't even know how to explain it. Stress was being felt by all the missionaries that night. We had like 300 Catrachos (Hondurans) show up. We fed, entertained, cleaned up, and did it all for them.

Pues, (well) here are the stories everyone wants to hear... the pelegroso (hazards) and what not:

So pig is the food to eat here around Christmas, keep this in mind.  I was studying one morning, and there was a pig screaming for some reason right outside my window.  Well is was being slaughtered, like 5 feet away from me.  All of a sudden, 5 or so guys jumped on top of it, to pin it down, then the man with the machete rolled up. He stabbed it in the neck a few times, I won’t go into a ton of detail, because it was graphic. Then they hung it up, threw some boiling water on it, so they could take off the hair, and then the machete guy rolled in again. This time he was hacking and cutting and blood and who knows what else. Chancho (pig).  Sorry for telling you all this but it was so crazy, I had to.

Anyway the other thing was that a couple of days ago, in the middle of the night, we woke up to the sound of footsteps and Spanish outside our room. The lady across the street parks her car next to our house because we have a better barbed wire fence than she does, and I guess she likes that sense of security.  Anyway, these guys in the night, were trying to break in and steal her car, we watched them out of the crack of our window.  One of them we even recognized.  They were all high, so they couldn't get into the car.  They were all super mad, then one of them got  the idea to, instead, steal one of her pigs. And that’s what they did. This all happened about 4 feet from where we were sleeping. But no harm fell upon us. Missionaries.

Nothing else happened, except I heard that Bastille did a remake of the song ´´I just died in your arms tonight¨ by the Cutting Crew........ ok 80’s are still supreme.

I am so thankful for all of your support. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, with joy and peace. We need to remember the story of our lord and savior, and even though we are celebrating his birth, we also need to remember that God gave the first gift, His son, and Christ gave the second.

Always remember

Santa-Santa Catracho!

PS. Its still like 100 degrees here…

Con Amor+

Elder Smarty

We had a great time Skype-ing Andy on Christmas, he looks awesome and was very positive and happy.  He say’s that he loves his mission, and that it is, by far, the “hardest and funnest” thing he has ever done.  He was very thankful for the Christmas cards and emails he received and asked how everyone was doing… going through what he calls the Laird family, the ward family, friend family, family family, missionary friends, etc.

We asked him tons of questions, and thought we’d relay some of them here:

• What will be your dinner plans for Christmas Day?: three PB&J sandwiches for breakfast, a cup-of-soup for lunch, and beans and rice for dinner.  On a side note, they seem to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and all of the missionaries had “P-noche” together.  There was a lot of fireworks last night, fireworks and gun shots.  I heard a machine gun go of off just down next door. I ate all of the candy and stroopwaffles you sent really fast—probably too fast. They tasted awesome! Packages are the best!
• How is your Spanish?:  It’s OK.  They seem to have a lot of slang or short cuts here, and I have a hard time understanding the meaning of those words.  If it’s gospel related and they’re not speaking too fast, I’m fine.  But they always speak fast.  One of the missionaries here is from California but his parents are from Peru so he speaks fluent English and Spanish.  I can understand his Spanish perfectly and we can communicate very well.  He has helped me the most.  One thing I find interesting here, is that they make up names.  They also spell things phonetically (maybe because of literacy)  Even peoples birth names will be made up and then spelled phonetically.  
• What’s the plumbing situation?: we have indoor plumbing, but whenever it rains the water lines get contaminated and the water turns muddy… and it pretty much rains every day.  So quite often we run water in the concrete basin out back, let the dirt settle and then sponge bath.  There are no hot water heaters in the jungle, so it’s always a cold bath or shower.  The toilet is indoors, and usually working.
• Have you gotten very sick?: not really.  I’ve been a little sick a few times, but nothing like you hear about.  Sometimes I forget and use tap water when I fix breakfast or dinner but I haven’t got into trouble. If you only drink a little it isn’t too bad.
• How is the budget?: We are always running out of money, so we decided to do our own laundry and not pay someone to fix dinner.  This should allow us to buy more groceries and maybe even go to a gym and work out.  I get up every morning and do sit-ups and push-ups and curl cans of paint that the landlord has left in the house… but we’d love to go to a gym, at least on p-days.
• How big is the church there in La Masica?: We have about 20 people come to church, and usually we have about 3 investigators each week.  The Bishop lives in another town and usually does not come to church.  I don’t know if he is a bishop of several wards or branches and just comes on rotation, or is just less-active.  It’s not a good situation regardless.  We are still meeting under the awning, out in the open every week.
• How many people are you teaching?:  we currently have 3 people who we are teaching and who are progressing in the gospel.  The two ladies we baptized last week are neighbors to each other and we found them together as we were “contacting” on their street.
• How do you “work” with so much rain?:  we are out every day regardless of the weather.  Sometimes the weather knocks out the electricity, and we aren’t supposed to be in people’s homes in the dark… so if the power goes out we are limited to what we can do.  We have only been confined to the house (because of weather) for 3 days since I’ve been here.
• How are people treating you?:  on the streets some people yell at me and call me names… usually about being white.  As they get to know me they still tease me a little, and like to touch my blonde hair.  But in general, they are so very kind and humble, and I love them very much.
• How are the bugs?:  my ankles are always raw from mosquito bites, for some reason I can’t keep them from biting through my socks. I even used permethrin on my socks but Hermana Martha really scrubs them hard on the washboard so it doesn’t last.
• Is there anything you need?: no, not really, I’m doing fine.  I may buy another pair of shoes.  I can’t keep a dry pair with only two.  I have a fan on them 24/7 but they are still always wet. I also need a Spanish/English dictionary that isn’t “British English” but American English so things translate better.
• Andy’s friend Madie got her mission call to Chicago, Illinois and he didn’t know anything about it. She and Caden came over and told him in person and his reaction was priceless! He is so excited for her and even more excited that she will be speaking Spanish too. He was even more surprised that we kept it a secret from him for the past few weeks. Probably his best Christmas present ever!