Elder Perez's Missionary Blog: Christmas is awesome!

Dear Everybody,

It has been quite the week. We said farewell to a beloved missionary, Elder Taylor. His set apart mission is now over, but he still has a mission ahead of him. He served with honor.

Here it is Christmas time. The German tradition of the advent wreath is something that I think we can all learn from. The first four Sundays before Christmas, one lights a candle placed on a wreath. We anticipate the coming of the day when we celebrate the birth of the Savior. The faithful Nephites looked forward to the sign that was promised them, just as many righteous men, those wise men from the east also looked forward to the coming of the promised Messiah. We have been promised that He will come again. May we look forward to that day.

What does it mean to look forward to that day? Whether we are to see the Savior after this life, or we will be priveledged to see His Second Coming, let us to all we can to prepare ourselves. As Alma said, "This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God." We must hold to His commandments and work on our own personal progression. We also have the repsonsibility to help others to prepare themselves by recieving the blessings of the restored Gospel. I know that our Heavenly Father will help you as you seek for opportunities to share with His children. A short story to help to build your faith.

We met a contact on the bus. We were supposed to call her to confirm our appointment last Sunday. When we got home, we realized that the number was verderben, in other words, it did not work. We had written down the number wrong. We tried to go by on where we thought that she lived, but we were unable to find her address. We knew that it would be ok. The Lord helps us to find the people that are prepared. We felt that she was truly someone who had been prepared to recieve our message. We prayed in faith that we would be able to find her again. Then we, knowing that the Lord would take care of the situation, returned to the work.

Two days later as we were on our way home, we were riding the escalator in the central station. Elder Davis suddenly started looking back. As we reached the top of the escalator, I could see that he was trying to see something or someone through the crowd. I asked him what was up. He said that he thought he had just seen her, but he was not sure. I took off down the stairs. "We have to go see, if you think that you saw her!" We ran out into the bus stops. We found her at one of them. She told us that she had waited for our call, but we never did. We explained what had happened. We have an appointment to meet with her this week. There is nothing that the Lord can not do.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. I hope that everyone is doing well.

Kinder Punsch is amazing. Christmas is awesome.

sincerely,

Elder Perez