Happy New Year!
Elder Curichimba and I had an incredible week and an awesome Christmas!
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| Our sweet Christmas Tree. Yes it is 2 dimensional but, hey, its the thought that counts. |
To celebrate Christmas, we bought rice, beans, and tamales and went to a very poor part of our area, a sector we had never visited before.
On the 23rd, Elder Curichimba and I went from house to house of our ward members and neighbors singing Christmas carols and giving Christmas cookies to people, and then inviting them to come sing with us at different houses. Christmas caroling definitely isn't a thing here so we had a lot of people that were really surprised and pleased that someone thought to come visit them and sing a Christmas hymn and give them a Christmas cookie. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day sharing Christmas messages with families in our area and reminding people of the true meaning of Christmas.
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| Start of our Caroling mission... Just 2 Elders, some cookies, and lots of Christmas cheer. |
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| Our lights on our house. We are never there, but that doesn't mean we can't brighten up someone's night! |
On Christmas Eve we ate at 3 members houses and dodged as many explosions as we could. At 12 pm, it was like the world literally was just exploding. Everyone blew up everything they could get their hands on. How else would you celebrate Christmas?!
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| Christmas Morning in Honduras! Thanks to family and friends from home that sent great notes-- and a personalized stocking from the awesome Relief Society sisters! |
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| My Breakfast on Christmas Morning, with all 5 food groups except for candy corn and syrup. |
I have a pretty awesome family and it was super nice to get to talk to them for a bit. If you haven't tried talking to my family, you should definitely try it sometime!
It definitely is a sacrifice to be here and not building Legos from the new Lord of the Rings Lego with my little brother in our PJs but it is worth it to spend a Christmas dedicating all that I have to the Lord and feeling of that special spirit that comes from giving to others.
Miracle of the week: Saturday was a pretty difficult day. Three of our investigators with baptismal dates changed their mind, and pretty much all of our citas (appointments/lessons) for that day fell through. At 7pm, we went to a member's house to go with her to a cita with a neighbor family that we had contacted a few days before. The family, however, wasn't there. We returned to the member's house, and decided we could go contacting together to visit some of her other neighbors. As she got ready to go, I noticed her Book of Mormon open on the table and started reading in Doctrine & Covenants 31, where the book was open. The chapter is a revelation that Joseph Smith received directed to a man named Thomas B. Marsh that was about to go and serve his mission, leaving behind family, friends, and everything else, to consecrate a bit of time to the building of God's Kingdom. It was like reading a message directly from the Lord to me, especially being away from my family for Christmas and having all the difficulties I was having. My heart was really touched, and as I offered the prayer before we left the house, I felt the spirit sooooooo strong and couldn't even say anything. With tears in my eyes I just expressed my gratitude for the challenges we had had that day and asked that we would be led to people that were prepared to hear this message and needed it in their lives. We headed out the door, and this member sister just went reference crazy. She practically dragged us from house to house to house presenting us as missionaries of Jesus Christ and bearing her testimony about the importance of our message. We put appointments left and right and this week will visit these new families with the faith that our humble prayer in a time of trial was answered, that these people really need to hear what we have to say, and that they will have desires to find out for themselves the truth of our message. I went to bed that night so, so grateful for yet another gentle reminder from a loving Heavenly Father that I am not alone in this work. I know that I am not a perfect missionary, but that God has put me here for a reason.
These three verses in the Doctrine & Covenants 31 really moved me:
3 Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation.
4 You shall declare the things which have been revealed to my servant, Joseph Smith, Jun. You shall begin to preach from this time forth, yea, to reap in the field which is white already to be burned.
5 Therefore, thrust in your sickle with all your soul, and your sins are forgiven you, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back, for the laborer is worthy of his hire.
I am so blessed to be a missionary of the Lord and to declare the things that have been revealed to prophets in these latter days. I will wait patiently for my sheaves to come, and will try to labor with all my soul in this work, for while I am not a perfect missionary, I am worthy of my hire and I can do this work with his help. As the chapter ends, Be faithful unto the end, and lo, I am with you. These words are not of man nor of men, but of me, even Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, by the will of the Father. Amen.
The message that we are sharing is not of man or of men, but of Christ, who is with me as long as I am faithful. I know that those who sincerely ask in prayer to know if this message is of men or is of God will receive an answer. I am so grateful for my Savior who came to earth to suffer for me and am so grateful for this experience and this Christmas message that I received from up above.
Have a happy New Year! Don't forget to set goals!
Love,
Elder Moffitt
The day after Christmas, on my 6 month mission anniversary, I got called to go downtown to Immigration and get my residency officialized (along with the other awesome American missionaries that came in my group to Honduras)! Now I am a legit temporary citizen of Honduras!!!
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| Stopped by the cathedral in downtown San Pedro. |
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Dear Adam, Feliz Navidad! We were so glad to receive your email. Your Christmas experience sounds a little different down there but it seemed like a happy experience! Very glad. We love to hear from you and really appreciate the photos. Pictures are worth thousands of words. We get a better visualization of your life in Honduras! Hope you get this message. G'pa and I have been busy and we get so tired so easily. We have undecorated and have been working in the garage to store Christmas decorations until next year. We have too much stuff. Meanwhile, we send our love and encouragement to you and wish you much happiness. (Stanford lost to Michigan State at the Rosebowl. Chelsea and Sydney attended the parade and the game!!) Take care.
ReplyDeleteG'ma Kay