Week 79…December 8, 2014
- How was your week? What were the highs/lows? This week has been an awesome week. Zone conference was the highlight. You can read all about that in the next question. Another high was the First Presidency Christmas devotional last night. If you missed it, you can watch it here…https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/archive/christmas-devotional/2014/12?cid=HPSU120714557&lang=eng. It was once again pretty awesome. I loved the talks and the stories that were shared. Also, I loved the music. I really liked Sis. Oscarson’s story she shared about the little boys getting the generous amount of candy from her great grandfather. I also liked Elder Christofferson’s story about the little boy, Ethan, in West Jordan, UT. I loved how his family, ward & neighborhood rallied around him to provide him with a week of holidays before he died http://www.ksl.com/?sid=32083427. Ultimately, the message of the devotional was centered around Christ which is the most important thing of Christmas. I liked the 2 stories because giving is far more than receiving at this time of year and President Johnson spent a good chunk of zone conference talking about that idea and how those times are some of the most memorable for him and his family. He said, “As we contemplate the miraculous birth of Christ over the next month, remember that He came for all of us collectively but His message and ministering is very personal. For the troubled, He brings peace. To the lonely, He brings comfort. To those that have sinned and repented, He brings forgiveness. To those who suffer physically, He brings healing & help. No matter what your individual problem is, He has the solution.” A low has probably been just the Christmas season in general. Being around everyone with their family and all that jazz is sometimes hard, but normally I just forget myself and go to work. I just had this realization the other day, when I get home next year we still won’t all be together for Christmas again since Derek will be gone. I can't believe that he turns 18 next week.
- How was your Zone Conference (details)? It was awesome!!!! We definitely felt the spirit of Christmas. We had an awesome training on remembering the true meaning of Christmas and President J implemented something from his mission about being givers this Christmas and looking for opportunities to serve others. We had a fantastic training on the He is the Gift initiative http://www.mormon.org/christmas. It was amazing to see the money, time and energy the church is spending to hasten the work. I can't imagine the costs of printing thousands of pass along cards, YouTube and even the Times Square billboards in NYC. Random fact about the YouTube part…they expected 220 million people would view the ad they had on YouTube. I have determined that the video gets better and better the more you watch it. I watch it thinking how much power music can have on something. So I hope that this Christmas season I can touch someone’s life by sharing the gift. I encourage all that have not watched the video to watch and for those that got the pass along cards in the church magazine…use them and pass them out. Another awesome thing was we got another mission video. This year’s video is awesome. It is way better than last year. I can't wait to be home and show it to you all. The weirdest part of zone conference was the departing testimonies of the missionaries that are leaving. The sisters that came out with me shared their testimonies and now go home in 9 days. I can't believe that I’ve come to that point of my mission. No worries though, I am staying focused and I’m going to make these last 6 months the best they could ever be.
- When are your next interviews with Pres. Johnson? Not sure yet. I would imagine sometime in January.
- What are 5 positive things from the week? Zone conference and I finished the BoM on Tuesday.
- How’s the weather been? Definitely not like yours. We have been cold and wintry. A lot of freezing rain, which leads me to a story. We drove to an exchange on Tuesday in an ice storm. We made it alive and in one piece but the roads were quite slick in some spots and we just had to take it slow.
- Any service opportunities? No, not really. We have helped a few less actives stack some wood.
- Any Christmas activities that you’ve been involved with? The Bellefonte ward Christmas party was on Friday and the 2nd ward's party (my ward) is this coming Friday.
- What’s the area you’re in like at Christmas? They have Christmas lights up all over downtown State College. This weekend Bellefonte is going to have a big Victorian Christmas celebration. However, when I get back to my area next week it will be a ghost town, which is kind of bummer…but whatever. Finals are this week so everyone goes home for the holidays. So meeting with anyone is going to be rough and trying to get around on the bus is going to be a pain because they are on a modified schedule for the holidays L
- Have you been back to State College much? Yeah, we usually spend at least 2 or so days down there each week.
- How are things with you and the comps? Are things working out better with Elder J? Yeah, it goes up and down for him. But I am only here for another week so it will all be back to normal after that.
- How are things with the investigators? We really have not been able to see anyone.
- YL and family? Don't know, she is not responding back to texts so I think I am going to stop by sometime this week.
- L & M? They keep canceling on us. We had 3 lessons set last week but then they canceled. It is deer season right now so he is never home and then work has been busy for both of them.
- Are
you having success with the #sharethegift initiative? Too hard to tell since we just figured out what
it really was at zone conf. But we are handing lots of cards out so
we will see where that takes us. We do have a cool idea though for
all of the missionaries in the State College area. On Friday (the
day we can proselyte on campus) we will hand out a whole bunch of cards
and talk to people about the true meaning of Christmas. It will be
right after finals are over and right before everyone goes home for the
holidays so it should be a good thing.
Hopefully it will be something they can share with their families
over the holidays.
- How are things with your ward? They are going well. Things are starting to get rolling and people are starting to catch the vision of hastening the work.
- Any gut
feelings on transfers? I think I will end up
back in State College again like I was before. I feel like I might
end up training again but I don't really know. I will know what is
going on by next Monday.
- Can we pray for anything specifically? Pray that all may go well with transfers.
Well I thought I would share
this little thought with all of you. So things right now have been kind
of slow and lots of things have been falling through. I keep
asking myself what is going on why is all of this happening and I have some
slightly normal winter blues. So this morning for studies I was reading
all about faith and other topics because I feel like I have been lacking in faith
a bit here and there. Something I read this morning really stood out to
me. It’s the story of Peter walking on
water. I found it kind of helpful and it brought peace to my mind because
the Savior is always there to catch us but it is usually ourselves that cause
the initial sinking. God always has his arms stretched out with mercy and
wants us to walk on water. However,
sometimes we begin to see the storm around us and we doubt ourselves and our
capacity. Faith requires us to trust in the Lord…doubt your doubts, not
your faith.
Well I hope everyone is having
a wonderful holiday season. I invite you all to discover, embrace and
share the gift of Christ this Christmas season.
Love,
Elder Muir #sharethegift
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