Contention

Well, she was a very merry Christmas that's for sure! Thanks to all who sent me a thing or two for Christmas, it was a blessing for me; but more importantly, thank you for your efforts to serve and care for those around you. I've truly been blessed by each of your examples of love.

This week I was studying a wonderful general Conference talk by Marvin J. Ashton, which says "Where contention prevails, there can be no united effort in any purposeful direction." As we enter into a new year, may we ponder the following questions while setting new goals. 

Is there contention between me and my acquaintances?

Is there contention between me and my family?

Is there contention between me and myself?

As Elder Ashton said, we can't accomplish or even begin our newfound desires of we have contention clouding our path. If we truly have the intent to make personal progress, I believe it's worth the thought of healing said contention in order to find greater strength and power to change. But how do we do so? 

A quote from the apostolic document, The Living Christ, can answer such a question. "He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come." When our path becomes darkened, what better place to turn than the perfect path provided by our Savior. When we follow Him and his plan, we truly will find happiness. The light of His life will dispel the contention, and we will be able to become that which the Savior desires of us. His will provides perfect direction. 

If we do anything this coming year, may it be a greater desire to align ourselves with the mind and desire of Him who is mighty to save, even Jesus Christ.

This has been an incredibly enjoyable week!

One of the highlights of the week was taking our good friend Jerome, a recent convert, to a lesson with Marcus. They are both in their latter years, so it ended up being a solid hour of those two bantering back and forth, trying to one up each other on their life experience. I'm not sure either of them came out on top of that one. 

I guess I should mention that we had transfers this last week as well, but I'm still here in Liberty with Elder James. We're doing really well with each other and our work is really picking up. The Sisters who were double covering in our ward got transferred, so we took over all the people they were teaching. That has really helped our work pick up but definitely doesn't fill all our time. 

As we all know, this is the week of Christmas (we even have a baby tree up) but amongst all the noise and craziness of the time of year, it's wonderful to be able to worship the Savior and His birth. It was special to attend church and enjoy a wonderful Christmas program, but most importantly, partake of the Sacrament and receive a greater abundance of His spirit. 

I hope each of you has a wonderful Christmas...

Feliz Navidad!  

Let It Snow

Well, the winter is officially upon us! Yesterday we had the first snow of the year (other than on Halloween), and we only got a measly six inches. Luckily for us, that means we got to park the car and walk! It felt really great to be out hitting the pavement for a few hours.

The work continuously presses onward, and we are marching closer and closer to Christmas day. With that time approaching, I'd invite you all to check out the video I posted on Facebook and enjoy the touching story of the Nativity.

I know, like those ancient wise men, that no gift, no work, no deed could do anything to repay the price that Christ has paid for me and each and every one of us. But even though we can't do much, what we can do is love and serve those around us, focusing on doing as the Savior would if He were here.  

Well, it's been another week!

Somehow I wish I could find more ways to make these emails more interesting, but sometimes missionary work all seems to blend together. A few exciting events from the week included being able to attend a baptism, go to the temple, and got trapped into a bashing session. Sometimes you just can't trust people.

All in all, time is passing well, but the work is definitely difficult. I'm having to learn to work with a whole new type of people, and boy does that raise new challenges. Through it all, there are always little miracles that happen whether it be finding someone right before heading in, having someone text back unexpectedly, or having Moses (our investigator from the Congo) come to sacrament meeting!

Well, the work presses on and so will I!

Actually Thanksgiving

Somehow I didn't quite realize that Thanksgiving already hadn't happened last week, but we did have an eventful Thanksgiving!

It started off being your typical morning; wake up, get ready, that sorta thing, but then, after a few hours of straight responsibility type stuff, we get a call. About ten minutes before our dinner, a family called and told us one of our ward members was in Kansas ICU and that they'd like us to give her a blessing. So we hop in the car, whip over to dinner, and then tell the family feeding us that we're heading off to Kansas. Off we go, half an hour to Kansas, spend half an hour looking for the family, and finally meet them in the hospital.

After a couple minutes, they bring us back into ICU, and boy, that was something else. I've never seen so many people so close to the other side. 

Because of her condition, we weren't able to do the normal blessing procedures, but instead we each took a hand. I was the voice for the blessing.

It was one of the most interesting blessings I've ever given, but the spirit was very present. Afterward Elder James said that he knew some of the words that I would say during the blessing. 

In the end, we left and ate dinner for an hour or so and then went to meet Jerome to give him a blessing too. He'd had a nasty cough, and immediately after the blessing, he stopped coughing for the rest of the visit.

The following morning we woke up to a text letting us know that the lady in the ICU had passed away.

All in all, it was a great week, and I came to see how real the priesthood really is, and how important it is to always be prepared to use it. I love this great work, and the service I'm able to provide to my God and my fellowman!