Christmas and Skype.

Hi MOMS! 

Merry Merry Christmas!!! Skyping with you guys was the best Christmas present ever. I was having a bit of a hard time being away from you all for Christmas, but as we Skyped I felt I was right at home. Like we were all together again. It was an amazing time and I loved getting to see you all and share back and forth what was going on and how everyone was doing. Afterwards I felt very refreshed and I felt so happy. It did me alot of good to see you all again and share it all with you. It sounds like you guys all had an amazing Christmas together this year, and that everything was in order and like old times. I'm sure it was very nice. 

 

Me and Elder Ormsby.

 

 After we got done Skyping the Bishop's family took us to his sister's house, where we enjoyed the day with them. All four of us missionaries were there and alot of their family. They fed us lunch and we took turns telling stories and they even played some music. We played all kinds of board games and stuff with their kids (they have two daughters our age) and it was so much fun. There was a part when we were all playing cards, and their mom started playing the ukelele in the background, and It felt surreal for a second. I realized it was not Skylar playing, and it was not us playing cards as a family, and I felt a pang of sadness. But I also felt very loved, and these people are the closest thing I have to family here. I am grateful that I was able to have a moment like that, and that we all had such an amazing Christmas. 

Also, Thank you so much for the amazing letters you sent me. It was a great surprise and It made my Christmas morning to get those from you. I can't wait to write mine back to you guys and send them off. It was very thoughtful and one of my favorite gifts. 

My companion and I are getting along very well. He and I are best buds, and It's been a blast trying to help him adjust to the life of a missionary. There's always some rough spots, but he's been powering through and trying to be the best missionary he can be. I'm very blessed to be able to work with someone like him. Someone so new and excited and at the same time, he has lots to teach me. Training is a huge blessing. I hope I get to train again. 

 

Christmas dinner!

 

 As for Rudolph, he seems to be doing well! We're meeting with him on Friday, and we think we have a solution for him. Keep your fingers crossed and pray for him. He's gonna have to make some big changes if he wants to be baptized. He is very quirky. I'll be sure to tell the Pinols that you said hello and thanks. They're wonderful. YAY the girls like their gifts!!! That makes me happy. I hope it was creative. 

I tried sending something to Rachel but there was a problem in shipping and they sent it back to me. I'll be sending it again this week. It'll just be a little late :/ 

I love you very much mom, and I'm so thankful for all you've done for me.

Now I'll tell you about my week! It wasn't too exiting, besides Christmas, which I've already told you all about, but I'll share with you some things I learned from the week. 

This week i did alot of study (naturally) but I've been trying to slowly work through the Book of Mormon, The New Testament, and the Old Testament. It's usually pretty easy to read the New Testament and the Book of Mormon, and write down many many wonderful things I've learned and read, but with the Old Testament it's alot harder to find things that apply to my life write now. It's all about death and judgement and wars and sin and all kind of crazy things. It's some amazing stories, but It's hard for me sometimes to take something spiritual away from it, because of the way it's written and the material in it. But this week I learned something very cool that I wanted to share. As I was reading the Story of David and Saul, and the many difficult events that took place between them in that time, I noticed something about Saul and David. Saul was a king chosen by the Lord, but he fell. Why did he fall? He was annointed. He reigned righteously... but what happened?? I won't tell the whole story, but i figured out that the start of his entire rapid downfall was centered on a commandment that he broke. His pride got ahold of him and he broke a commandment of the Lord to serve his own purposes. It says after that that the Lord rejected Saul and his spirit left him. Just like today. When we break the commandments, the Spirit leaves us. But instead of repenting, Saul justified himself and continued on like it never happened. The spirit of the Lord was not with him anymore and he went further and further into the darkness. 

Contrasted with the darkness of Saul, David's story is much brighter in his earlier days. As I was reading about his adventures trying to keep away from Saul, I kept noticing something. A habit he had developed as he grew strong with the Lord. He was grateful, and had a sure knowledge of God's hand in all things. Every single time something good befell him, or every single time someone did something good for him, he knew who to thank. Everytime he was saved by someone or someone came and helped him when he needed it he always said something along the lines of: "Praise be to the God that sent you to me." I found that very inspiring. He always praised and thanked God for the things in his life even when it wasn't openly apparent that they came from him. I figured I could be a little more like that. This week I'm going to try a little harder to notice little tender mercies and thank God expressly for them. We'll see how it goes! 

This is what happens when you sleep on the train.

Besides that we had the many Christmas parties and what not with the members. It was a great holiday. 

Well I better go. I love you all very much and look forward to next week for the emails!!!! I love you mom. 

-Elder Larson