For the past week we have been doing a ton of sharing of the Christmas
message with members and non members alike. The church came out with a
really amazing video called "He is the Gift". It is focused on the
fact that Christ is the center of this holiday, that everything he did
is for us personally and that we can receive peace and comfort in this
life if we believe in him and his words. The video is pretty simple.
No spoken words. Just written and nice music. The message it contains
really brings the spirit and it is so apparent in the homes and in the
eyes of the people. At the end of the video it gives out three
invitations. 1) Discover the gift 2) embrace the gift 3) share the
gift. As we learn what Christ did for us we can apply it each day. He
should be every thing to us. He came here to relieve us from the
stresses of life. Without him there really is nothing. We would be
born and live in our sins forever. Never to return to our father in
heaven. Just think about that for a second. Without this one man you
could never become the amazing person you were meant to be. We are
sons and daughters of God. We have the potential to be great. We just
have to reach out and apply it. Once we do that we have to have the
love for people in order to open our mouths and share it.
Every year around Christmas our mission president organizes a
christmas conference for all of us to go to. It is always a great
event and really brings in the spirit. This year we went down to the
Mesa temple to do a few things. We first went to the visitor center to
learn all about the tools they have there for our investigators and
all the ways we can make the trip a better experience for them. Then
we have a lunch that we provided for ourselves on the temple grounds.
We then went and did a session in the temple with about a quarter of
the mission. They have to break it down or else it is just too much.
The spirit was strong and made for a great time. Then we went to Old
Country Buffet for dinner and headed back to the temple to see the
Christmas lights. We drove around the whole day in a big tour bus and
had a blast the whole time. I am really glad I got to be apart of the
whole thing.
I went on exchanges with in of the missionaries in our zone and he is
in a Spanish ward. So I got to go hangout there all day. We had a
couple of lessons in which I didn't say one word because the whole
things was in SPANISH haha. They kept looking at me and I would have
to say "no habla espanol..." Haha they would all bust up laughing and
call me a gringo and whatnot. It was a super funny and a once in a
lifetime experience. I was laughing the whole time. But oddly enough I
could feel the spirit in their words. Even though I couldn't
understand any of it. It was a testimony builder to me that this church
is true. No matter where you love or what language you speak. This is
Gods church. And He runs it.
For my birthday on Saturday I didn't have any presents to open.... I
mean I did but I was impatient and opened them the day I got them
whenever that was. Haha. It was a good day. I didn't tell all the
people we went to visit because that is just a little awkward and I didn't
want to have that haha. Brother Fullmer from my last area took
me to lunch. We went to the Cheesecake Factory! It was soooo good. I
love it. It was a simple day but really made it great. No more teen
years! Whoop! Whoop! I bet you can't believe that!
Thank you so much for everything. I love you all and hope you have a
great week.
Until next week,
Elder Cole Safford
1. Classic jumping picture. Our house and the assistants to the president
2. Nice proportioned photo of the zone.
3. Elder Allen and I at the temple.
4. Pday basketball group at the Temple
5. The Lemoine household!
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