{Letter #19} Merry Christmas!
Hey y'all! I hope all of you had a very merry Christmas! This week was actually quite uneventful, despite it being Christmas and Christmas Eve! The quick overview of what happened: I got sick, it sleeted, we got stuck inside, there was a Christmas Eve devotional, and it was Christmas!
On Wednesday it was about 20⁰ and windy the entire day. It also happened to be the day that I woke up with a mild fever. So I was just very cold and tired the entire day. We did a bunch of phone calls and definitely tried to keep it pretty low key.
Thursday the weather got COLD with a high of about 15⁰. I was feeling a lot better though, so we were able to go out for most of the day.
At around 6pm, it started sleeting, so the mission president asked us to go back to our apartments and stay there unless it was absolutely necessary to leave. This picture was taken just after the sleet started.
We finished the day up with a bit of facebook work.
When we woke up on Friday nearly six inches of sleet had fallen and the world was encased in ice. This was the view out our apartment window.
Oregon has some of the worst road care I've ever seen and it seemed like they never even treated the roads. Because of this fact, we did not leave the apartment at all on Friday. We made many many phone calls though trying to get in contact with a bunch of our friends that we're teaching.
Saturday was Christmas Eve and it had warmed up enough that the roads were much better and we were finally able to safely leave our apartment. The church parking lot, however, was still an ice skating rink, so that was fun.
Monday was pretty uneventful, we had district council like usual, then the rest of the day was filled with normal missionary stuff. We had a phone call lesson with our friend Robin, we were able to set up a time to stop by and drop off a Book of Mormon to her. It was really good! She seemed excited about coming to church this next Sunday.
And now for my spiritual thought! A verse that stood out to me this week comes from a vision that the prophet Nephi, from the Book of Mormon. After this vision Nephi wrote:
I love the promise this scripture makes, and it also reminds me of President Nelson's (our modern day prophet) most recent general conference talk where he says:
Our Savior can and will bless us as we make and keep our sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father. He will give us the power and strength to face anything that we face. This does not mean that life will be easy. But we will see the Savior's hand strengthening and enabling us to overcome these hard times!
My invitation to all of you is to focus on heavenly covenants this week. Think of what you can do to be more faithful to them. I know that if you do that, you will be blessed with strength!
I love y'all! I hope y'all are doing well! I hope all of you had a great Christmas!
Love,
Elder Goold
PS Can you spy me in this picture?
On Wednesday it was about 20⁰ and windy the entire day. It also happened to be the day that I woke up with a mild fever. So I was just very cold and tired the entire day. We did a bunch of phone calls and definitely tried to keep it pretty low key.
Thursday the weather got COLD with a high of about 15⁰. I was feeling a lot better though, so we were able to go out for most of the day.
When we woke up on Friday nearly six inches of sleet had fallen and the world was encased in ice. This was the view out our apartment window.
Saturday was Christmas Eve and it had warmed up enough that the roads were much better and we were finally able to safely leave our apartment. The church parking lot, however, was still an ice skating rink, so that was fun.
Most of the day was taken up by our mission's Christmas Eve Devotional! That was amazing! President and Sister Haymond talked a lot about Christ, and how His Atonement for us is the reason that we celebrate the Christmas season!
It was a super good devotional. They also made a video of the entire year in the mission, it was cool to see a bunch of those memories that people have!
Christmas day was really good! I got to call my family and go to church. Church was also a really cool Christmas devotional, lots of singers and great talks on Christ. All around just a great way to celebrate Christ!
Christmas day was really good! I got to call my family and go to church. Church was also a really cool Christmas devotional, lots of singers and great talks on Christ. All around just a great way to celebrate Christ!
Monday was pretty uneventful, we had district council like usual, then the rest of the day was filled with normal missionary stuff. We had a phone call lesson with our friend Robin, we were able to set up a time to stop by and drop off a Book of Mormon to her. It was really good! She seemed excited about coming to church this next Sunday.
And now for my spiritual thought! A verse that stood out to me this week comes from a vision that the prophet Nephi, from the Book of Mormon. After this vision Nephi wrote:
"And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory."
(1 Nephi 14:14)
(1 Nephi 14:14)
I love the promise this scripture makes, and it also reminds me of President Nelson's (our modern day prophet) most recent general conference talk where he says:
"My dear brothers and sisters, so many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. Between now and the time He returns “with power and great glory,” He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful"
Our Savior can and will bless us as we make and keep our sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father. He will give us the power and strength to face anything that we face. This does not mean that life will be easy. But we will see the Savior's hand strengthening and enabling us to overcome these hard times!
My invitation to all of you is to focus on heavenly covenants this week. Think of what you can do to be more faithful to them. I know that if you do that, you will be blessed with strength!
I love y'all! I hope y'all are doing well! I hope all of you had a great Christmas!
Love,
Elder Goold
PS Can you spy me in this picture?
Comments
Post a Comment