Elder Spencer Christofferson: Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

ELDER CHRISTOFFERSON'S VIEW

OUR VIEW

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!

I had a fantastic Christmas yesterday and I hope you all did too!! Skyping my family was perfect and I loved being able to see their faces and hear their voices again.

So this week was another normal week but the entire city, including us, was just waiting for Christmas. I think that is how the whole world is the week of Christmas. It helped and hurt us. It helped because we could talk to people about Christmas and then explain the real meaning and that would lead into a lesson. It hurt us because people were so busy this week, or they were out of or leaving town. One also other strange thing was that every day for lunch, the members who we were having lunch with, lived in the farthest parts of the area. Every day lunch was 30+ minutes by foot. It was like Heavenly Father was making us work to deserve Christmas haha!

Wednesday after lunch we went to go visit Patrick. We got there and he let us in and we talked with him normally. The guy is a stud. Our conversation drifted to how sad it is that there is so much evil in the world and how standards that were here even 10 years ago, are now gone. With lucrative music, TV, films, and just in general, he said the evil around us is sad. It was a perfect intro into our lesson. We talked about chastity and the importance of it and of course he already knew what it was and obeys it. He expressed his feelings on the topic and how he knows this is a commandment from God. Yet again I left his house excited but sad because he practically already lives the gospel but is still really hesitant about joining the Church. People have their agency and I guess his is the longer road, but I know he will get there. He will see the truth, the perfectness about this gospel. He will feel the love of Christ, he will know the Book of Mormon is true. He will know the Joseph Smith really was the prophet that God called to restore his gospel. Patrick will gain a testimony just like how all of us can. And once we have one we can add to and strengthen that testimony and knowledge of the Savior. So the Patrick story continues… haha.

Wednesday night we had our last choir practice before the big ward Christmas meeting Friday night. I think I sing better in Portuguese than I do in English haha! Friday night we had the performance. It was so awesome. It was such a spiritual meeting followed by a great dinner. Something about music, especially Christmas music, just brings such a Spirit into the room. It really helped make me feel, for the first time this year, that it was Christmas. Like being here, because it is so different, I hadn't really really felt the Christmas spirit yet. That changed during the meeting we had. So all the next day, Christmas Eve, I was in the true spirit of Christmas.

This week we also taught Elizeo. He was a contact from a few weeks ago and is progressing well. He really likes to learn about the gospel and is intrigued by the Book of Mormon. It reminds me how we can look at the Book with wonder and excitement no matter if we've read it 0 times or 100 times. It truly is a book from God and we have an obligation to read, share, and live by its teachings.

Christmas Day was fantastic! We got up and did normal stuff. We had a HUGE and FANTASTIC lunch at a member’s house. After lunch we went and visited other members at home. Then we had church and after went to do Skype. I told my family that I have never wanted Christmas to pass so fast because I just wanted to get to the night to talk to them. But it was a perfect Christmas that I will sure remember forever.

I love this gospel, I love our Savior Jesus Christ, and I love you all!

Write you all next year!! ;)

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson