The Christmas program and Mathew the skateboarder

Hello, How are you guys doing? Hopefully great as we approach Christmas this week, it's always a fun and exciting time. It's probably a little odd getting two emails from me almost right after each other haha, but it was a good and busy weekend. Friday and Saturday were essentially the same because we were biking everywhere to invite as many people to our Christmas service as we could haha. One of our members voluntarily created a bunch of flyers for us to give to those we're teaching, so we were excited and hoping the physical invitation would help remind everyone to come to church. On Friday, we went up to the north part of our area, invited a few people, and talked with one of the sisters of our ward up there, and after chatting a bit, we gave her a flyer for the program so that she could invite a couple of her friends that we've been teaching. We also called another sister in the ward to invite a couple of her friends too (who we've been teaching as well), got some dinner, and went around the neighborhood close to the church building for the rest of the evening. While in that neighborhood, we randomly ran into a couple kids (late middle school/early high school age) that were calling out for us. They thought we were two other guys, but we ended up chatting with the older one, Matthew. He's a super faithful kid; we said a prayer with him and talked about church and how we go around promoting faith in Jesus Christ, but before we could get any contact information to talk to him again, the other kid called out to him, and they started skating on their skateboards into the horizon. It was pretty random but a good laugh lol. On Saturday, we biked around the other neighborhoods in between our apartment and the church building, but it was shorter than we expected because no one answered lol, so we went to the church building to make some calls and do social media work, and while we were there, the bishop's wife gave us some donuts haha! She was helping out with a blood drive at the building, so that was pretty sweet. We also ran into Matthew and his friends again in the church parking lot and chatted for a few seconds before he skated off again, so that was interesting haha. After dinner, the lesson we had set up that evening fell through, so we went around to the same houses that didn't answer last night. After a while, we stopped at the church again to warm ourselves up and send some reminder texts/calls, and once it was past 8, I eventually decided to swing by Sylvester's before we went home (he only gets home from work after 8pm). Miraculously, we got to his house right when we was getting out of his car (I mean, what are the odds lol); he was totally down to come to church with his grandson, and he said he'd definitely make time that morning to come, so we were pretty excited. By the end of the night, we had directly (or indirectly, through our members) invited nearly 25 people (potentially more if some of them brought their kids too) to the Christmas program, so we were pretty hopeful and excited for the turnout. Sunday was the big day. We got to church for the Christmas program and....none of our invites showed up 🤦‍♂️😂. Not in person nor on zoom. So yeah...that was a bit disappointing lol. We did have a member's husband show up though (we gave them blessings a week or two ago), so that was something, and the Christmas program was awesome, the Spirit was super strong. We then left second hour a bit early to head to the north for a lesson we had set up, and we ran into Matthew again! He and his friend (brother?) came walking out of the church right as we did, which confused the heck out us. They weren't there for the Christmas program; they were at a church next door to ours, but he said he got bored and decided to come to our church, sat in the Sunday school class, and said that he was having a great time in there (absolutely blew mind). But alas, before we could get his information, he yet again skated off into the distance lol. I can't believe we met each day this week but I still wasn't able to actually talk with him and set up a time for us to meet again haha. Anyways, then we biked to the north part of our area again, but the lesson fell through, so we knocked on a couple doors and then biked all the way back to our apartment for another meeting. We then went around various neighborhoods and had some quick power lessons on a couple people's doorsteps. One of the guys we met, Julio, had been taught by missionaries before but said we could come by Tuesday evening since he was busy at the moment. He has a family too, so that should be exciting. It's been a good weekend. It's unfortunate that none of our friends showed up to church haha, but it is what it is, we just keep pushing forward. As we approach Christmas and celebrate the birth and life of Jesus Christ and remember what He's done for us, I invite you all to study Luke 2 in the Bible and 3 Nephi in the Book of Mormon this week (specifically Luke 2:1-21 and 3 Nephi 11:1-17). I wanted to pair these chapters together---the former detailing His birth and the latter His appearance in the Americas after completing His sacrifice for us---because I believe we gain a greater appreciation for His humble birth as we understand His sacrifice and majesty as the Son of God and vice versa. I was studying those chapters as I considered how I would teach who Jesus Christ is to someone who hasn't grown up with a background in which they learned who He was, so I wanted to share that with you guys as well as we celebrate Christmas this weekend. I also wanted to reiterate the invitation from Edler Renlund I shared a couple weeks ago to ask God and obtain a witness and knowledge for yourself that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, this season. It's something that has blessed and continues to bless my life, so I'd love for you guys to obtain that witness too if you haven't already as you read those chapters, ponder them, and ask God, your Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ. I hope you all have a fantastic week and a merry Christmas! -Elder Enger