Dec. 16, 2024

Hello everyone, I hope everything is going well back home. 

We had a pretty good week this week. We had to go to Santo Domingo early in the week because I had to do some things for my residency. I had to give blood, pee in a cup, and then get an x-ray too. We got there early before my appointment so we tried to search for some bitilla tops to buy. Bitilla is a game that's like baseball but you play with bottle caps and a broomstick. There are some official more heavy duty caps that are less likely to break and easier to throw. That's what we were looking for but we didn't find any sadly. We went to a water jug company and they gave us some of their caps so we can play. We also have a lot of bottle caps too. I'm prepared for p-days now!

We also had a district council this week on Wednesday where at the end, we got to make a gingerbread house that we got the parts for at zone conference. When we went to make it though, we realized that they didn't give us any icing to put everything together. So we did what any young men/adults would do and ate all the ingredients that we had! It wasn't a super good idea though because we had to go to lunch right after. At lunch, one of our friends named Lisbeth gives us a lot of food every day. I still was able to finish everything somehow though! 

We also got to have a fun Christmas activity as a branch. I was asked to give the spiritual thought, so I talked about Christ and read Luke 2:4-11 when He was born. I think it went decently well. There was some good food and we got to see some of the members have a fun dancing competition. 

Spiritual thought: 

There's a talk by Elder Bednar from this recent General Conference called, In the Space of Not Many Years. I really like the message in this talk. In one part, he said, "We cannot look to and focus upon Jesus Christ as the “mark” if we only see ourselves." I really like this because it shows that we need humility in our lives. It also shows that we need to focus on Jesus Christ and not just our lives and our own personal things. When we focus on Jesus Christ, He can help us feel more joy in our lives and help us to overcome our challenges. If we're humble and look towards His Atoning power in our lives, we can have the strength to overcome. I've seen this a lot in my mission. Whenever I'm having a bad day, I just try to focus on Jesus Christ and the love I know He has for me and it always makes me feel better. I invite you all to try this. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He loves each and every one of us. I know we also have a loving Heavenly Father who loves us perfectly. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Pictures: 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GNjJYxWAf6p2JtcZ9