Week 13, 12/25/2017

Hi, how are ya? 

So Happy Christmas! It's very different to celebrate Christmas when you are on your mission. It's probably easier for me than other missionaries because I'm the youngest in my family and so I've had less and less of my family home for Christmas every year. But it was different to open yellow Amazon envelopes under a 4-foot-tall, fake tree while my companion was assembling his new mini basketball hoop in the other room.  

Me modeling the incredible Christmas Ewok PJ's
that arrived in one of those amazing yellow packages!

For Christmas Eve church was only like one hour long as compared to the usual three. And rather than the usual meeting, this one was far more musical. For the close of the Wakefield meeting we sang Silent Night, but instead of being accompanied by the piano or organ the second counselor in the bishopric, brother Thurgood, played the acoustic guitar. It sounded great. 

Over the past few days, the members have given us so much food. I feel bad but some of it might go bad before we get the chance to eat it. We had to get very creative to fit all of it in our cabinets.

We went to a member’s house for brunch, and they gave us huge stockings full of lotion, toothbrushes, and a bunch of other survival stuff. They also gave us each a quiet spot in their basement to Skype our families. (As a missionary the only communication you get with your family is your weekly email day, and a Skype call on Christmas and Mother's Day.) I was expecting me, my mom, one of my sisters, or someone to cry during our call but it was actually really good. I didn't cry until the end when I said a family prayer. It was the good kind of crying. 

Story Time

A— was born into a half Jewish half Christian family. From a very young age, he had an affinity for religion, especially Christianity. When he was in elementary school he would get teased for having his locker and binders covered in pictures of Jesus.

A long time passed and A— decided he wanted to turn his life around. He began to refocus on religion. But when he did this more questions came up. He didn't understand why God would let there be so many different churches that teach different things? If God loves us so much then why are people being tortured for eternity for not believing in Jesus? Why would we have a family on earth if we weren't going to be with them in the afterlife?

A— stayed a strong member of the Catholic Church, but he began going to other churches as well searching for the truth. A—  felt that all the churches couldn't be completely true, but there must be one fully true church on the earth. He went to so many churches but none of them felt right.

He was feeling rather discouraged until one day he was on YouTube and he saw an advertisement that said: "Did you know that Christ ministered in America?" He thought it was an interesting thought so he clicked on it. It took him to a Mormon website. He saw a button that said: talk to missionaries. He clicked it and started asking them questions about rumors he'd heard about the Mormon Church. He was amazed to see that they had reasonable answers to all the rumors. 

He went to bed that night and had a dream about meeting the LDS missionaries in person. He was very surprised when he woke up. He hardly ever had dreams and he never had dreams about any of the other churches he was looking into. So he started doing more research and came up with more questions about the Church. The next night he had a dream about going to the LDS temple. So he continued to do even more research. Over the next two weeks, he had ten dreams about the LDS church. He came to the conclusion that it was a sign.

He got in contact with the local missionaries and within a few days had them come to his house. He began with a whole new set of questions and was once again amazed to see that they had answers to all of them. They set up a return appointment and left him with a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet to read.

A—  noticed that when he read the Book of Mormon and even when he read the small pamphlets that the missionaries gave him a calming feeling would come over him. (A— became an avid pamphlet collector.) One night when he was reading the Book of Mormon he decided to pray and ask God if Joseph Smith was a true prophet. When he did this he got an overwhelming feeling of joy and began to cry.

Christmas dinner with a generous member family
who sent this photo to my Mom to cheer up her holidays.

He kept taking lessons from the missionaries and came to fall in love with the church. Eventually, he started going the young single adult ward and taking lessons from their missionaries. He started telling his entire family about the church and how happy it makes him.

On Saturday, December 23rd A— was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Stay safe and have a very happy Christmas. 

From the ghost of Christmas past  -Eli