Well, It's Christmas, so I
decided to be festive and write in RED or Green possibly. I will probably switch off throughout the letter
because I am so creative. It has been a super good week here in Bridgeton. We
finally have one investigator who is progressing!!! Her name is Carla. She is
de Honduras. At first, we were told that she was a daughter of a member of the
branch. But then we realized that she really isn't, but they claim her as a
daughter so that she won't get
deported. She has been once but came back. I don't really want to
make that journey... That's ok I guess. We will teach her. She is 15 years
old but is really interested. She reads, prays, and has come to church for the
past few weeks! The Spirit is super strong in all of our lessons, so we are
hoping for the best! We have seen miracles in identifying the Spirit. That is SOOO key with
teaching people the Gospel. Enrique, our other investigator, is progressing in
ever way, except that he can't come to church right now. At his work, his boss
took a couple weeks off and so Enrique has to work literally every day except
Christmas through New Years. He has told us that he wants to come to church
though. He is so close. Incredibly close. So close I can't even describe it.
Can I explain it further?
We had a Christmas
Zone Conference where we watched "Ephraim's Rescue." Super cool
movie. Some quotes from it I liked a lot. One lady in the movie says
that he is a holy man. He replies saying that he has so many faults he
can't even count them. She then asks, "How do you manage to do so
much good?" He says, "I try." We can do SOOO much if we will
just put forth the effort to do it. Sometimes we think that we must serve
in an "executive position," like bishop, Stake President, Zone
leader, Assistant, or something like that to make an impact. But that is simply not true. Where we serve
doesn't matter as much as How we serve. Another quote. He said that
the Lord chooses us specifically for individual missions that
we need to accomplish on Earth. He said, "It is our duty to be
willing and worthy." That's all. We need to be worthy to act in the name
of the Lord and willing to do all that He requires of us. Good stuff.
There was also a talent show at the ZC and I performed Homeward Bound. Luckily
the music that y'all sent me with was super easy to play because I was only able
to run through about half of it before I performed it. The Lord made up
the difference ;)
We had a big Christmas
party in our chapel on Saturday. Tons of non-members came. It was awesome, until they let loose their kids
and didn't really care what they were doing. We and another member were
literally spending most of the time downstairs in the church herding the
children making sure they didn't break anything. Nobody else was doing it, and
then we got chastised for not talking to enough people during the activity by members
who were just sitting around doing nothing. Kind of obnoxious, but deal with it I guess. We even still taught
several lessons and got some new people to visit anyway. That's ok.
In Sacrament meeting
yesterday, we had a Christmas program. I sang, "Star of Bethlehem." I
told the branch that it was in English, and that they would just have to bear
with me because I had sang this song every Christmas that I could remember. I
played and sang and the same time. It was super good. Loved it. I love Christmas.
The hearts of people are soft at this time of year. Except for the people that
get mad at us when we say "Merry Christmas" to them. That's when we
switch to "Happy Christmas." Good times.
Christ is our Savior. He
loves us. He was born in Bethlehem and the angel appeared to the Shepherds
announcing His birth. I know this. I am so grateful for it. Reach out to
someone this Christmas. That's one of the most important gifts you can give to
Him. He doesn't really care about the material stuff. It isn't about the
presents. It's about His presence. Love you. Can't wait to see ya in about 48
hours.
-Elder Dial
EDITORS NOTE: WE ARE SOOO EXCITED TO SEE AND TALK WITH ELDER MIKE ON WEDNESDAY!!!! TOTALLY THE HIGHLIGHT OF OUR CHRISTMAS!!!
1. Our little
Christmas room
2. Our Christmas
dinner we had Saturday. I counted 115 people
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