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| Saying Goodbye to Elder Mancillas! It was so sad! He was with me in my first area! The time has FLOWN! |
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| Popo looks pretty sick here in Metepec! |
So my Dads questions. 1) I have an absolutely ILL Christmas tie which
features Santa....wait for it.....golfing. BOOM. I'll wear it on
Christmas so that you can all see it when we skype...well those of you
in my family. (rules are rules). 2) The sacrament meeting before
Christmas was a normal one. Here they dont really change anything but
luckily the Stake of Atlixco was putting on a concert and so we were
able to go to that on Sunday night! (more on that in a moment). 3) We
had our "Christmas Conference" on Friday this week and it was really
good! (Again, more on that to come haha). And 4) Honestly, last
Christmas, i wasnt too happy to be on the mission during Christmas, but
this Christmas season has been great. Im just so much more excited to
share the gospel with people. Like the "He is the Gift" video is a GREAT
way to teach people aboud Christ and I LOVE talking about how true it
is that he really was the first gift we ever recieved on Christmas. He
is the gift, and if we accept him as such, he will become a part of our
lives, and we will feel his infinite love. I just have loved focusing on
that and his life during this time of the year. Its seriously been
GREAT. A once in a lifetime experience.
Alrightttt well where do i start. Things are good here in Metepec.
Elder K is an excellent missionary and we are working very,
very....VERY hard here in this area! haha we have just been absoluetly
exhausted at the end of the days we have been having and we are already
starting to see the results with less actives, new investigators, and we
might even put some baptismal dates this week! So things are awesome.
Elder K's just got such a great desire to work! One you can only
find in new missionaries, so this last change, i couldnt have asked for
better! Soooo with that being said, lets hit the highlights.
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| This is Elder Tippetts. He is a great man and will be a great leader in this mission. |
On Friday we had our "Christmas Concert". It was our zone (the
zone Atlixco) combined with......none other than the zone of IZUCAR!
haha so it was greattttt to see all the guys i left behind when i had
emergency changes. There are some GREAT upcoming leaders in these
Elders. We will be leaving the mission in good hands. So the conference
started off with a presentation by President Stellmon. President shared
some scenes from the movie "A Christmas Carol" and was comparing them to
our lives here on the mission with our investigators. It was
great....but i of course made sure that all the Elders within a 5 seat
radius around me knew that the best version of this movie was made by
the Muppetts. Ba humbug indeed. But it was good none the less and
several other fans of the Muppetts shared in my misery. Then the zone
leaders split us into groups and we played some little games they had
prepared. They were pretty good, and then we had a white elephant gift
exchange! It was a riot haha but the thing over-all was a nice break to
remember that we are celebrating the true meaning of Christmas....but
theres always some time for fun. So that was fun. I also had to bare my
testimony casue im leaving before the next Zone Conference...(Yikes!) so
that was kinda nerve racking haha but it went well and i hope i left
the Elders and Sisters with something. Then we left Atlixco at like 3 to
come back to Metepec....and we went to our ward Christmas activity!
haha yahhh not many lessons shared on Friday butt we did have a ton of
investigators show up!! And i got to perform 2 different songs. One of
them featuring a violinist int he ward also. It was beautiful (if i do
say so myself) and it turned out to be a great success!
Alright, then on Saturday we had a great lesson with a less active
in the ward. He has had some strong problems with ward leaders and
hasnt been to church in over a year. He told us that he knows the church
is perfect but the members arent and that he had heard all the things
we were going to tell him. He said that he wasnt going to church no
matter what we told him. I was really trying to have the spirit help me
know what to say becasue he still has such a strong testimony of all the
other aspects of the church. So i was impressed in that moment, to talk
about the love of God for him. The trust God has placed in him to have
him in such a tough ward situation and that fact that he can, in this
unique position that he has, decide whether he would like to be a
problem or a solution. There are soo many less actives here and being in
the club with them is simply causing another problem. But if he chooses
to help us in bringing others back to church, and help build the
testimony of those who have lost belief, then he can be a solution and a
huge help to us. I told him that God needs him on our side, and we need
him on our side. He showed up to church on Sunday and this Thursday we
are going to visit less actives with him. God is a God of miracles.
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| The Christmas Concert at 8 oclock!! PACKED! |
So then on Sunday night we went to Atlixco and set up the lights
and scenes for the Christmas Concert they had there called "Cien voces
de Navidad" or in English 100 voices of Christmas. So on the bus on the
way over, i was thinking about the Christmas spirit, and i felt the
prompting to tell all the people on the bus about the
concert....obviously not an impression i get everyday haha but i kinda
didnt want to. Not really scared, just nervous.............And then i
was like....oh wait....i only have 4 more weeks to do
this......YOLO!!!!!!!! So i stood up at the front of the bus and
introduced myself. I explained about the church and the concert and
invited them all to attend. They were all pretty impressed and about 14
people on the bus accepted the invitation to go. So we got to the church
and started waiting cause we were 2 hours early to help setup. And i
was like....well there are pleanty of missionaries helping set up....but
whos contacting people?! Again, FOUR MORE WEEKS PEOPLE!! So me and
Elder Kidder got 200 "He is the Gift" cards....and we started
contacting. We got to formally explain the message and invite 200 people
to the concert that night! It was great! And then we contacted all the
stores ont the street and invited them too. Then while the first session
of the concert was going on at 6, we started inviting people to the
session at 8 and i decided what the heck, lets get back on some buses!!
haha So we got on about 20 buses as they passed, asked the driver to let
us announce soemthing (it happens alot here, and it means we didnt have
to pay the ride) and gave the introduction about the concert and about
the message we have and invited all of them too! We seriously must have
handed out at LEAST 950 invitations to the concert that night. It felt
great to be out there really working as a missionary. The sister
missionaries attending the table with pamphlets were writting down the
address of the church and the hour of the concert on contacting cards
cause we ran out of invitations!! And although there werent a TON of
people at the 6 oclock session, the 8 oclock session was packed full. It
was great. The program was beautiful and i KNOW that people felt the
spirit. Plus i got to see a bunch of people from my old ward in
Independencia! Its just such a great time to be a missionary!!! So it
was an EXCELENT week.
Soo for the spiritual thought this week comes from Alma 42. In this
chapter Alma is speaking to his son Corianton and the lessons he teaches
him are spot on for us in our day. In verses 19-22 it reads:
"19 Now, if there was no law given—if a man murdered he should die—would he be afraid he would die if he should murder?
20 And also, if there was no law given against sin men would not be afraid to sin.
21
And if there was no law given, if men sinned what could justice do, or
mercy either, for they would have no claim upon the creature?
22 But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth..."
I love this part! Because it explains that we have to have a law
that comes with a punishment so that we are compelled to keep the law by
our own free will! And it also talks about how when a punishment is
affixed, that then there is granted a repentance! It explains it even
better here in verse 30:
"30 O my son, I desire that ye should
deny the justice of God no more. Do not endeavor to excuse yourself in
the least point because of your sins, by denying the justice of God; but
do you let the justice of God, and his mercy, and his long-suffering
have full sway in your heart; and let it bring you down to the dust in
humility.
I feel
like when we think about the justice of God, we are instantly thinking
negatively. WE have heard so much about how the justice of God will come
down upon us and condemn us...but we dont understand why that is
necessary. When we stop excusing ourselves and admit that we have
sinned, we allow the justice of God to come upon us. And when we do
that, we are automatically entitled to the mercy of God. We are
automatically entitled to his long-suffering. And we are automatically
entitled to that repentance that with which we can make ourselves clean
again!! What a marvilous plan it is! When we let it have full sway in
our hearts it will bring us down in humility so that we are made
partakers of that great redeeming sacrifice given by our savior. I love
my savior. He suffered for me and all the sins i have committed. And
even though i am not deserving of such a great and infinite love, He
freely gives it to me. I am so grateful for Him, especially at this time
of year. So humble yourselves. Be partakers of the gift our Heavenly
Father has given us. HE IS THE GIFT. Accept the gift and let it change
your life.
Merry Christmas Everyone. We have hope.
Elder Josh Hamm
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