Serving the Lord during the holidays

12/28  This was a wonderful week because we got to celebrate Christmas!! I love Christmas in the mission. Although it is different, there is something sweet about being able to serve the Lord during the holiday season. We found a new family of 7 this week with 5 of them that could be baptized. We just passed by their house one day, and the mother told us she was just leaving, but then invited us back for dinner later. We came back later, and we ate together with their whole family. We then were able to share the new Christmas video, "A Savior Is Born". They are a wonderful family, and so kind to the missionaries. Unfortunately, they are very, very Catholic, and it will take a lot of work get them to the point of baptism, but we are excited to get started with them.

Elder Cook and I continue to work well together. We have discovered that we help one another out really well. When I get stressed out about things not going as we planned, he always helps me calm down, and when he gets distracted, I help him stay focused. We work as a great team. We did have some unfortunate things happen this week. Alejandra, the investigator that we had who was going to get baptized for sure has left Tarragona. Her parents made her move up North. It's been a little hard to recover from that, but I know she will get baptized wherever she goes, and that's all that matters. It doesn't matter if we do it or someone else.

This week I really got a feel for the importance of our Savior Jesus Christ. As I said before, celebrating Christmas in the mission really gives you a chance to focus on the why of Christmas. It allows you to focus on the Savior more. So why is it that we still celebrate the birth of a man after over 2,000 years? We celebrate Christ's birth because He is the one who gave us everything. He literally gave His life for us so that we would not have to suffer for our sins, so long as we accept Him and His gospel. He died for us and rose again from the tomb so that death would have no hold on us. We celebrate His birth because He redeemed us from the fall and saved us from death. I hope we can all focus on the savior not only during the holiday season, but throughout our whole lives.

Gingerbread (cardboard) house making activity with the district 

 

Los Rocha (family Justin spent Christmas with)