Merry Christmas one and all!
This week has been a different one, but in good ways!
I was on exchanges with Elder Lund (one of the Zone Leaders who's from Ephraim, Utah) from Wednesday to Saturday morning and learned a lot and had some great experiences. His companion, Elder Spampinato from California, went with Elder MacTavish and took the stress of preparing a baptism off my shoulders. I went to Elder Lund's area, Cashmere (where our chapel is), and got to be in a car for three days! It was especially great because it was rainy almost every day. Over the couple of days I learned a lot about what a powerful tool the Book of Mormon is. A lot of people who don't know what the Book of Mormon is, or how wonderful it is, are quite opposed to it. But once we are able to explain what it is and that it's not a "replacement" to the Bible, people love it! Certain people may not want to hear the lessons from us missionaries, but if we can get them to at least start reading the Book of Mormon, they'll eventually realize "I want to hear what those missionaries have to say!"
The biggest news this week was the baptism on Friday! Violah and Mako were baptized Friday night by Elder MacTavish and then confirmed a member of the Church on Sunday by the both of us. Rudo hasn't decided to get baptized yet, for reasons we're not exactly sure of, but we hope she will decide to within the next couple of weeks because she still is coming to church and loves it. We also hope to start teaching the Dad, Kaibos, pretty soon because he's now done with "Uni" (University) for a while now and should have a lot more free time. I hope so much that he will listen to us, because if he joined the Church, his family could become so much stronger and progress so much more. Because this Gospel is all about families and having Kaibos join, the Mapurangas will be an amazing addition to the family of the Church!
My plans for Christmas are basically to sleep in until 8:00 (that's President Jolliffe's gift to us), open all of my packages, and then I think we're going over to the Fesolaii's house for a big Christmas lunch. And I will most likely be calling from there (which will be 40 minutes). The rest of the day that isn't too planned is to visit some of our investigators who need a friend on Christmas and visit some other ward members who have invited us over.
But I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas! I love this time of year so much because of it's emphasis on people needing to remember Christ. And I've noticed that it has in some ways made people more keen on hearing our message because of it. I've always loved Christmas, but so far, this month has been particularly special because I've been brought so much closer to Christ and have thought about Him so much more, as I should, and am so glad we have a holiday to celebrate Him and all that He has done for us. I'm so grateful for Him and I know He lives! I know that because of Christ, our Savior, we can all be forgiven of our sins, and one day return to live with Him and our families. And I'm so grateful to be a member, and particularly a missionary, of His church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know this Church is true, and I'm so grateful to be a missionary and have the privilege of sharing such a wonderful message with the people of New Zealand.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I hope it's the best!
By the way, I'm sooooooooo happy about your job Dad! That's very wonderful and very relieving I'm sure. And congratulations to Melissa with BYU-Idaho! Cheeeeehoo!
Well I gotta go, but I hope you all the very best!
Just remember:
"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay
Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night!
Have a wonderful week!
TALK to you soon!
TALK to you soon!
Love,
Elder David John Rowe
No comments:
Post a Comment