12/27/2010

Merry Christmas!

This week was pretty great. We did a lot of fun things. I must admit, it didn´t feel anything like Christmas, but it was still a lot of fun.

Last Tuesday we had a Christmas conference. It was at a place called the Liahona farm with about half the mission. This place was really big, and had a huge Liahona on a tower. I think it was built for church activities. While we were there we had a talent show. Most of the talents were spur of the moment. I ended up singing hallelujah and I´m yours, and I played the guitar when my zone sang "Army of Helaman". It was really neat. We played an upbeat version with a flute, and everyone really liked it. After the talent show we had some free time, and our president let us play soccer, or volleyball, or watch Toy Story 3. I chose Toy Story 3, because I was kind of tired. We had to wake up at 4:30 to get to the conference. The movie was kinda neat in Portuguese. I liked it. After the free time we had a spiritual devotional, talking about taking on the name of Christ, and what that really means. Our mission has been thinking a lot about the difference between believing in Christ and believing in the name of Christ. It's weird to think about, because the scriptures talk about both. Once you know what it means to take the name of Christ, does that change the definition of taking the Lords name in vain? I´m beginning to think that taking the Lords name in vain is very different than saying the Lords name in vain. When you take the Lords name, you´re representing him, and if you take the Lords name in vain, you´re saying your representing him, then doing things that he would never do. It's just interesting stuff for me to think about.

For Christmas my district made a Christmas tree out of a sprite bottle, then put our packages underneath it. I´ll send pictures. We also hung up some lights. In the mission we have a symbol of a wave with an arrow going into it that represents baptism. Thats what the lights are in the shape of. We all did a secret Santa kind of think. We spent 5 reais on a normal present for someone, and 5 reais on a white elephant for someone else. I received a pirated Popeye dvd in Portuguese for my present,and a fake ukelele for my white elephant. I liked it. I opened a package from dad on Christmas morning with cookies and candy and pancake mix and ranch mix. It was really great. I think a couple packages from mom are still in the mail. Christmas was really great though.

I really liked talking to the family. Most of my plans fell through for calling in a members house, or in the church, so I ended up calling on a street payphone. It was kind of annoying when sound cars drove by with advertisements, but I still got to hear everyone talk, and that's what matters most. I love you guys, and I can't wait to talk again for Mother's Day.

Last night Elder Cook and I were in the street looking for contacts, and a lady walked up to us, and said, "Hey, do you want to come to my house and say a prayer with my son?" We said, "Sure!" and went over there. Her son was inactive, and her husband was mentally retarted. We gave the husband a blessing, and talked to the son a little bit. It was neat that she just approached us in the street while we were specifically looking for people to teach. Sometimes the spirit works in weird ways, but I always love it when the spirit makes my job a little bit easier.

I loved hearing everyone's questions in the phone call, but if you have anymore, don´t be afraid to just shoot a quick email. Tell me what you guys got for Christmas :) I know Emma got a kitty and a phone, and Steph tried to tell me about some of hers, but it was hard for me to hear her.

I love you all, and hope you have a Happy New Years.

until next Monday,
Love,
Elder Forsyth