December 25, 2017 – Week 65! Merry Christmas!

December 29, 2017

Merry Christmas! I hope you are all having a great Christmas today! Celebrate it well with the family and friends and all who are around you, and keep looking for small acts of service for those in need! If you do so, you'll feel a happiness unlike any other in this time of year!

This week we've been sharing #LightTheWorld as much as we could! It's really a great way to show the world Christ's example, and help them to become more like the Savior! For a couple of the days, we delivered baskets of goods to people in need, and it was a great experience! It's great to see the smiles on people's faces as they receive a gift. Giving is one of the great ways to become more like the Savior!

This week we also had our Christmas Lunch during a Multi-Zone conference. We had Angus Beef cheeseburgers (with lettuce!) and then cookies and icecream as some Christmas music played on speakers! It was a great day, and for a second I felt like it was snowing outside as we enjoyed those great big hamburgers. It was kind of President and Sister Larson to set that all up for us. It definitely wasn't necessary, but it was a good little celebration for Christmas! After the meeting, they invited us to contact on the bus ride home from Magdalena, and I was able to contact 4 people. One of the single adults I contacted was going to college, and he was studying for publicity, which has a part of graphic design as well, so we had a good starting point to connect us! We talked for a good 20-25 minutes, and he accepted a visit from the missionaries, and was interested to learn more! It shows that sometimes even though we may be nervous to talk to strangers, it can turn into a good friendship and help us share the gospel (if we do it with the guidance of the spirit of course). If I had one invitation, it would be this. That each of us the next time we take public transportation, try and talk to someone that seems alone, and brighten up their day, and who knows, it may turn into a great sharing opportunity!

I was able to perform a baptismal interview too for a young boy that other Elders were teaching. He was 12 years old, but already had a firm testimony of the gospel and knew a lot! It was great to be able to talk with him and see the brightness in his face and happiness as he talked about how the gospel was helping his family and making great changed in their lives. He's a living testimony showing that it's not necessary for us to know everything for miracles to happen in our lives. With just 3 weeks of gospel experience, the little faith one can have still can move mountains!

My companion was pretty sick to his stomach for the past couple days, but even as he was sick we still were able to work! I can testify that priesthood blessings of health too do work, and that the powers of the Priesthood, restored through Jospeh Smith, are the same powers that God has given to those in times of old. Today these powers are here on the earth, and through faith, many wonderful blessings can be received as well.

In these past couple days, there have been lots of parties outside and preparations for Christmas. The culture is pretty different here. Everyone has parties because it's summer time, and the common food that people eat are Pork, Turkey, Pannetón, and Hot Chocolate (but with real cocoa, so it's more bitter than sweet in my opinion). I got full yesterday because we ate so much food haha. Turkey and mashed potatoes for lunch, and then after the Skype call of my companion, more turkey and apple purée (idk how to spell that in english), and a little vegetable salad. And more hot chocolate and pannetón and peaches, and then we received an entire pannetón to take home. O_O yeah... Crazy... It's cool though because in the night there are so many fireworks, and they were literally right outside our window. We don't have to leave our room to be able to see them. I tried sleeping, but they were so loud that I had to look for a minute. The fireworks will be even crazier on New Year's Eve/Day. It's louder than the 4th of July in the USA, I have to admit that. It's pretty cool!

Today's Christmas. We've had a zone activity, and later I'll be on Skype with my family. Today is a great day to remember Christ, and His birth, and His ministry, and all that He has done for us. Have a great Christmas, and always remember and try to be more like the Savior every day!

Con Mucho Amor (Feliz Navidad!)

Elder Bruner