Thursday, January 2, 2014

"I now realize that the joy of this life is found in the hope of what and who we can become."

Woowww, hard to believe this will be my second to last letter here in 2013! 

Congrats to the Allen Eagles for pulling off the repeat! Thats really great I bet Allen will start getting some big time fame now, back to back in 5A Texas football is a big deal! 

It also warmed my heart to see the family all reunited fixing up the Christmas tree and what not, I remember those being some good times! Thanks dad for alll the great pictures you have sent me in my mission.

Okay this will be brief but I have got to get something in before our chat on Thursday! Here in Popayan things have been getting very festive... I mean really festive. Colombians love to party. This week there was just a ton of what are called novenas, and that is basically a Catholic tradition where they celebrate nine days leading up to Christmas. A lot of appointments fell through this past week due to this lovely tradition... but we are still keeping on! 

As for our investigators, it has been a tough week. A lot of our appointments have fallen due to the parties but we did the best we could with what we were able to do. Finding ways to take advantage of all the free time we had was a fun experience. I have learned a ton of how to use time wisely in the mission, although the time in the mission passes by so fast, we have a ton of time during the day and you can get so much done if you are just diligent in how you work. 

We did teach a lesson to Andres who has just let his girlfriend move in again. We felt really bad because he was progressing so well and he is just so ready to be a great member of the church. Well you could just see that he had lost a little bit of the light of the Gospel. We did have a great lesson though and taught him about how keeping the commandments are the only way we will gain the faith necessary to withstand the trials that await us in life.

However our convert Mabel and her sister are still going great. Progressing super fast, remind me to share an experience we had with them in the Skype call this Thursday! 

We are also working with a ton of others that were basically put on hold due to vacations and what not, but cant wait for things to normal out a little bit after this week!

This Christmas has been something really special because I feel so much different than I did last Christmas. Last Chrsitmas was a little harder to keep the thoughts about home out of my head and focus on what I was here to do. I feel like knowing that I will never experience a Christmas like this one ever again has helped me realize that the Spirit of Christmas can only be felt if the Spirit of Christ is also felt. 

As like so many other things I have realized in the mission, I feel that sacrificing everything has made me realize everything I had to gain in life. The Gospel of Jesus Christ gives us the opportunity to become a little bit better every day, as we give a little bit more of ourselves every day. I now realize that the joy of this life is found in the hope of what and who we can become. That is why it was important that the Savior was born and so this Christmas I am focusing as best I can in this Work!

Thanks for everything and talk to you on Thursday at 2 o clock my time!!!

Have your questions ready and please please have patience with my English :)


Elder Eliason

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