The Spirit Of Service

Another week has flown by, and I have not been able to write a whole lot lately. I just lose all my time trying to upload pictures and organize my flash drive so I can view my pictures and listen to music.

To answer a few questions: 

My companion is from Mexico and has just completed one year of his mission. We are staying here for another transfer through Christmas and into the new year. He knows a good amount of English and when we practice Spanish that always makes the difference. 

The money that was sent was used to buy some ties, pants, and shoes. I also have been trying to eat well here and so I use a little bit more money on food. Thanks! 

I love this ward, it has about 40 active members, but quite a few less active members and at least 500 inactive. We don’t know all of them or if they have kids or what... On a good Sunday, we have about a seven percent attendance. However, the members who are active are just great. In our ward, we have been helping to put together a slideshow of all the ward family members.  This includes investigators and what seems like all of Cólon. The hard part is that we can’t seem to get the entire families together for pictures due to time. This task in near impossible as we seem to have an ancient Chinese scroll of names to go through. 

I love Christmas time, everybody is just a little bit happier. However, the only downside is they are so much busier. A lot of people are working overtime right before Christmas to afford gifts. Everybody is just a little stressed out with good intentions, their jobs, money, family, and plans for vacation. With all the running around this time of the year, it is easy to lose track of what is most important.

My leaders here keep talking about remembering to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and I have never realized how real of a problem it is. The spirit of Christmas has been lost in the self-satisfaction of buying gifts. I hope that we can remember the joy of giving and service. 

I encourage you all to feast on the spirit of giving this year. Go out and give a gift to someone in need. One of the best gifts you can give is your time. Find time to talk and serve your family, neighbors, and visit someone in need. There is always somebody that you can personally enlighten (especially needed at this time of year). You will find joy and peace during this stressful time as you uplift others. You will be doing the Lords work and He will bless you for it. 

In Mosiah 2:17 it reads, “When you are in the service of your fellow beings you are only in the service of your God.” It is my hope that you will all be filled with the spirit of service this holiday season.