January 6, 2010 Email!

Hi Everybody!
I'm back after much excitement and holiday fun! Betwixt all the fun of the holidays, much has happened! A week ago today I got the stomach flu! I woke up sick at 4 in the morning and was sick until the next morning! It wasn't fun! I had to just stay in the apartment and couldn't do anything! Very lame! On Saturday, we had a baptism for David Solomon! It was incredible! I had the opportunity to give a talk on baptism and perform the ordinance of baptism! There were over 150 people at his baptism! His family is Samoan so it was huge! We had to hold the program in the chapel and tried to cram everyone into the font room to see the baptism! Afterwards, David's aunt gave us leis made out of the Hersheys Nuggets chocolate! In the culture it's just custom to hug and give a kiss on the cheek, so David's aunt put the lei around me and gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek! Those of you who know me can well guess, I turned soooooooo red! haha It was so weird b/c that's not something that normally happens on a mission in Salt Lake! haha After the baptism program, everyone went into the cultural hall/gym and had a huge Samoan feast! We got stuffed! And of course they had us take food home, too! Something else that happened this week was the half transfer! Elder Dyson and 15 other missionaries went home 3 weeks early to be home for Christmas! So I got a new companion! His name is Elder Rohbock! He is also tall and when we go in to teach a lesson, people always comment on how tall we are standing next to each other! Christmas was a blast! We went to Elder Rohbock's last area down in Millcreek to spend the day with him! There were also other missionaries there including Elder Jorgensen from the MTC! It was sweet to be able to chill w/him on Christmas! We had breakfast, opened presents watched PG movies and got to talk to our families! Best Present Ever! My family's still the same! haha On New Years Eve we stayed up and played some sweet cards with the people we stay with! We played stuff like go fish, war, old maid! You know, sweet stuff like that! It was amazing! And then at 12 we got to pop some bubble wrap! Best New Years Eve ever!!! kinda! Anywho, love you all and hope to hear from you soon! Have a great day!
Love Elder Partridge!