How is it going?! I am still loving it here in Texas! This week was a great week!
Elder Bruneel and I are having a ball down here! We get along really well together and are very good friends. He is tall and skinny and blonde and loves basketball. We play together on p-days and have become quite the team 😉
We committed a girl named Mauritza to baptism for the 7th of January. It was a very soft commitment so we will see how it goes. She is 20 and has a young baby girl. We have had a few great lessons with her but we need to teach her more.
We have been teaching a couple, Julia and Trinidad. We had a great lesson with them and committed them to come to church and reading more the scriptures and praying. it was crazy because, Elder Bruneel got a random flat tire just before we headed over there, and he hadn’t seen them in weeks. But after he fixed his tire we went over there and they were just getting home! Soon we will extend a baptismal invitation.
So in the laundry mat we met a man named Francisco Santa Cruz. He is one of the most humble people I have ever met. He is in his 50’s and lives alone with his 3 children in a TINY 2 room apartment. He works 14 hour days 6 days a week. When he isn’t working, he is taking his two youngest children to the doctor because they have several diseases and ilnesses. But throughout this, he maintains his good attitude and faith in Christ. We talked to him and have taught him a few times. He said he is willing to do whatever it takes to follow Jesus Christ but doesn’t know how, and he is always thanking God in prayer that we were sent to him. He says he doesn’t know which church to go to. Francisco can’t even read, but I know that he has been prepared to hear the Gospel. Last night we committed him and two of his children who are old enough for baptism on the 14th of January. He is so humble and kind.. even though he has so little. It’s a real example to me. He has such a strong faith in Christ!
We had a mission Christmas conference this week. It was good to see all of our other Missionaries from out in the other areas. We got to listen to GIFFORD NIELSEN!!! he is an area 70.. but he was also a legendary BYU quarterback! we also watched the movie 17 miracles which makes me bawl every time. I love that movie! Anyone who hasn’t seen it really should. It deals with the handcart pioneers and some of the miracles they experienced as they let their hardships bring them closer to Christ.
We have been teaching a man named Leo. He is Mexican, and the president of a fraternity at Texas Southern. He parties a lot, but doesn’t like it and wants to leave that behind. He has been listening to us intently and has invited his friend Rico, an African-American from the same school to listen to us. They always have food and hot chocolate for us and we have great lessons about the Gospel of Christ and the role of the Book of Mormon alongside the Bible and the restoration of Christ’s church. They have lots of questions, and we have been able to answer them. They are reading the Book of Mormon like crazy and they love it! The last time we were teaching them, at the end of the lesson, I don’t know what came over me. I can’t really explain it. I began to testify of the truth of our message in a way that I have never done before. The words that escaped my mouth did so without effort on my part, and the room felt like it was still. There was a fire burning inside of me, and an authority and firmness in my voice that was not my own. I testified that they would each receive the answer of the truth of these things if they would read the book of Mormon and ask their Father in Heaven if it was true. I committed them to doing so. It was a wonderful experience. Leo came to church this Sunday.
We have also committed another man, Jose Villalobos to read the book and pray over it and be baptized on the 7th. He came to church this Sunday as well.
It’s crazy to think I have been out for a over a month! I have learned so much and am working so hard and I am beginning to see the fruits of that in my life and in others’! This mission thing is crazy. It is the best thing that I could be doing right now, I know it. The blessings that I am recieving and that others are receiving are unimaginable. I am growing so much out here!!
I wish all of you a very merry Christmas. Please, remember the true meainng. The family, and the decorations and the presents are all important and good things. But, it is THE present that is most important. The gift of Jesus Christ’s birth, given by our Heavenly Father. That through His birth, there was also a death. And that death is the greatest thing mankind has been given. That He was born to suffer for every one of us. Every one of our sins, and our trials have been suffered for us. Can you think of a greater gift? Wise men knew it.. sheperds knew it.. but the people believed that He was to be a King and a Ruler among them. they did not think that Christ was that King, but oh He was! When they welcomed Him with palm leaves they thought they were welcoming a ruler who would deliver them from the Romans.. little did they know that He had come to deliver them from something much, much more. And as they crucified Him.. little did they know that He had already suffered for them and that although He may not have been the “King of the Jews” He was the King of their souls. I testify that Christ did come to the Earth. His miraculous birth and miraculous death has importance for each of us. May we all remember the meaning of this day and this celebration.
I want to leave y’all with a the words of my favorite Christmas song, although it is a little bit less – known. It is, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”
“I heard the bells on Christmas day,
their old familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet the words repeat
of Peace on Earth, good will to men.I thought how as the day had come,
the belfries of all Christendom
had rolled along th’unbroken song
of Peace on Earth good will to men.And in despair I bowed my head:
‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said
‘For hate is strong and mocks the song
of Peace on Earth, good will to men.’
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
‘God is not dead nor doth he sleep!
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
with Peace on Earth, good will to men.Till, ringing, singing, on its way,
the world revolved from night to day,
a voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
of Peace on Earth, good will to men.”
http://youtu.be/L-EfxNj2oIQ
I can’t listen to, sing, or think about this song without showing tears of emotion. This world is full of despair and hate, but let us all find the good in it.. the good that comes through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How lucky we are to have it! Merry Christmas to all! Love you!
Elder Viitanen