Que es la mejor época del año no es así, un tiempo de regocijo y recordar a Cristo! As soon as we hit December the whole CCM has been moving in Noche Buenos, also known as Pointsettas! And they are absolutely everywhere! It reminds me of home at Poinsetta Park! Christmas music is everywhere, and ever hymn we ever sing is a Christmas song (except for called to serve, which we sing daily). It is so great! I have the date that I am flying to Chile! It is Monday the 16 of December and I fly out at 7:25 in the noche. the times seems to go by fast but day to day is still taking forever, maybe it is the interesting foods for meals or the daily struggle to learn Spanish that makes the days all blend into one giant day! Oh another fun fact, I am actually not serving the full two years. Everyone that is going to a BYU school is returning on october 20 (or at least that is the day it says we are to be released) so that we can return in time for school registration.
Over the past week I have been able to be privileged to hear many great talks for the general authorities. Starting on Thanksgiving day we were privileged to hear from Russel M Nelson. He spoke of growing up to be men through the wisdom of the Lord. The first step to growing up is you have realize that you must decrease yourself to increase others. Pride is the childish of all traits in oneself. Many times of pride are bad, like in oneself, and in your past choices. But not all pride is bad, pride in your family name, and towards your ancestors is a good type of pride, family moving all the way back to having pride in your God. Once you begin to decrease yourself and stop trying to teach the gospel from the knowledge you know and let God administer what is needed to be taught through you.
Which leads into another talk given by our CCM President, President Carl Pratt. He spoke on the gift of the Holy Ghost. Everyone has the ability to feel the spirit of the Lord, and we have the ability to invite the spirit for others. And once anyone receives the Holy Ghost they accept the admonition to continuously invite and re invite the spirit into our lives.
And on this last Tuesday, due to the giant snow storm in Provo, gotta love that Utah weather. So we had an old broadcast from President Bednar and he spoke of becoming a Preach My Gospel missionary. In other words we must change ourselves to be the example of Jesus Christ that we want to teach others about. Bednar also taught us that we must treasure the doctrine we teach and have because how can we ourselves come unto Christ is we do not have our own knowledge of how precious his words are. Once we have converted ourselves, through the gran teacher, the Holy Ghost missionaries will be able to teach all things. Again Elder Bednar also told us we had to decrease ourselves to increase ourselves. As Elder Bednar concluded his talk he told us this ¨You can do this,¨the Savior has done more, and he knows that we are able to do all things. All of the Apostles pray for not only the missionaries but all the members daily. Every part of the growth and sustainability of the church is through the members and missionaries.
I listened to a great talk one day while on my free time. It is a talk by Jefferey R. Holland called Broken Things to Mend. it speaks of all the hardships and though who are poor in spirit, to have more expereinces with Christ and to not be afraid of what is to come, but to have a Hope for what we know will be our day of great Joy where all of our hardships will be made light. Much thanks to a quote from Sister Bertha,
“When life is hard, remember - we are not the first to ask, 'Is there no other way?”
― Jeffrey R. Holland
The times here are great and the learning is wonderful. I know it will not be as simple out in the field but I´m grateful for the gracious walls of the CCM, it is a sweet escape from the outside world. It is amazing how gracious the people of Mexico are and the whole latin culture in general. Everyone loves everyone. The work is joyious. One thing I am trying to memorize before the field is the Christmas story of the sheppards, or as I like to call it Linus´s story.
Lucus 2:8-14
8 Y había pastores en la misma región, que velaban y guardaban las vigilias de la noche sobre sus rebaños.
9 Y he aquí, se les presentó un ángel del Señor, y la gloria del Señor los rodeó de resplandor; y tuvieron gran temor.
10 Pero el ángel les dijo: No temáis, porque he aquí os doy nuevas de gran gozo, que serán para todo el pueblo:
11 que os ha nacido hoy, en la ciudad de David, un aSalvador, que es CRISTO el Señor.
12 Y esto os servirá de aseñal: Hallaréis al niño envuelto en pañales, acostado en un pesebre.
13 Y repentinamente apareció con el ángel una multitud de las huestes celestiales, que alababan a Dios y decían:
14 ¡Gloria a Dios en las alturas, y en la tierra apaz, buena voluntad para con los hombres!
I love everyone and miss everyone! In closing I would like to talk about something I came to realize when I was reading about the miracle of Peter walking out to Jesus on the water. Peter having had faith in the Lord at Jesus’ invitation, Peter “walked on the water, to go to Jesus.” (Matt. 14:29.) Yet his faith failed due to the hard and great winds of the sea, and the Lord reached to rescue the Peter. ¨One sees a powerful spirit with seeds of perfect faith taking its first weak steps. Before criticizing Peter for his incomplete faith, perhaps we should take a few steps on water¨(DR. RICHARD LLOYD ANDERSON) We just have to have enough faith to make it in this life, so that Jesus can catch us and bring us to safety. I can´t wait to return home and tell of all the great stories I shall make!
Elder Siaosi
So the following pictures are of: one of our district leaders (who is on the lds.org website as a model) he is on the right row, 4 down, me in front of the muscle man, and and me in front of a manger.
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