Week 20

My first full week with Elder Stanger has come and gone a lot quicker than I thought it would. The work has been going really well, and we've been able to have a lot of lessons with people as we've gotten used to working together.


MONDAY, I got to know a lot of the new missionaries in the zone and had some fun with all of them. Closer to the end of p-day, I opened up a package from my family, which had a bunch of letters from people back home and some festive ties to wear during December. I really enjoyed reading all the letters and just being able to see how everyone back home is doing. When we got back to finding for the last part of the day, I was actually really surprised that we found somebody to talk with right away. We had a pretty good talk with him and got his number so we could meet with him after holidays, which I say is a success.


TUESDAY, we were stuck inside for a while because of weekly planning and other studies. But once we got back out to finding, we started finding people to teach right away. I guess the Christmas spirit is making people more open to hearing a message about Christ. Once the day came to an end, one of the other missionaries asked the zone a bit of an odd question for everyone. They asked, "What Dumb-dumb flavor would your companion be and why?" It wasn't something I was ever expecting to hear, but it got some good laughs from everyone.


WEDNESDAY was pretty good, just like Tuesday, because of all the people we were able to talk to. We've found that just walking around on some of the trails early in the morning is a really good way to meet new people.


THURSDAY, we had a really cool drop-in lesson with a less active member who was wanting to start coming back to church. It was really cool to just hear how the spirit was working on him and how he was understanding the importance of going to church regularly.


FRIDAY, we had a really great District council on obedience and how we are blessed as we strive for faithful obedience. Afterwards, we had lunch as a zone which really helped me get to know everyone a bit better. Once that was all finished up, our day turned into a lot of back-to-back service projects with us helping a member put away some sheets of wood and then going to help someone pack their moving truck. By the end of the day, I was dead tired but had enough energy to watch one of my zone leaders get a haircut on our balcony.


SATURDAY started off pretty funny with us talking with a door-to-door salesman who thought that we were selling solar. It got a good laugh out of all of us, and he even told us that people who come back from missions and go into door-to-door sales usually make the most money.


SUNDAY, we heard a really awesome talk on the Book of Mormon and the power it has to change lives and attitudes. After we finished up with church and our studies for the day, we had a Christmas lesson with our ward mission leader and his wife, just talking about how Christmas is all about loving one another and God's greatest gift to us, His Son, Jesus Christ.


One of the funniest things I learned in the last week is that the translation of the 3 Wisemen into Spanish is the 3 wizard kings, apparently. The thought I'd like to share this week is going to be a seasonally appropriate Christmas scripture. In Luke chapter 2 verses 15 and 16, it says, "15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger." I really love how it says, "And they came with haste," just showing how important it was to them to see their Savior as soon as they could. Sometimes, we can all be a bit casual with our relationship to Christ, but as we go with haste towards him in all we do, we will be strengthened in our spirits. Happy CHRISTmas, everyone!


1- ZL getting a haircut
2- Would you let us teach you a lesson
3- Service
4- Nice sunset
5- Elf




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