....one of my favorite quotes, President Eyring said "If you are on the right path, it will always be uphill. The Lord is anxious to lead you to the safety of higher ground."

Hey everyone! Well I hope you are all enjoying the Holidays from
wherever you are.
I don't know if finals are still happening but if they are then good
luck to everyone with that lol.
So since I won't be emailing next Monday I gotta cover a lot of
things! I'll email Christmas morning though so no worries. But happy
birthday to Meleah on the 16th and my brother William on the 24th!
What a neat time of the year.
K so my week has been pretty simple. Not a ton happened but Saturday
was an awesome day. We started it off with some service. We demolished
these wardrobes and threw them in the street (how you get rid of them
here) and it was awesome. We ended the day with more service! This
time instead of demolishing wardrobes, we built them! The other Elders
here found this less active family who needed help with them and
luckily we were on our way to their street for an appointment anyways
so it turned out perfect. We could help for like twenty minutes before
our lesson though, but they cancelled on us at the last second so we
could keep helping. It was great. The family made us this chicken and
fries and it was to die for. Elder Howard had me help him with the
last wardrobe while our companions shared the message. We thought it'd
take like 15 minutes since we had already built one before, but we
opened it and it was completely different. Started it at 8:25,
finished at 10:15(curfew is 10 here). So we were really late but we
had the district leader and zone leader with us so we ended up being
fine. But all in all it was a really great day. It was awesome to be
able to feel the Spirit of Christmas through service.
Also that day was the Vigo annual motorcycle parade, where everyone
who owns one dresses up as Santa clause and cruises the streets. I'll
post a video, it was pretty cool. It never ended too, it was 5ever
long. So yeah, great day.

Yesterday we went carroling with the YSA here. We visited this rest home where a member was and sang a bunch of songs and brought
the tears rolling out of those old people's eyes. Lol we invited this
random woman to be in our picture and she was so touched! Hahah she
was ecstatic. After she tried following us home because she didn't
like the rest home lol. It was amazing. We visited another member
who travels a long way to get to church every Sunday and she was
bawling the moment she saw us. Also really strong spirit. The best way
to spread Christmas cheer is how? Singing loud for all to hear!
(@alyssamecham) I testify that that is true.
That's about it for my week! Here's my spiritual thought.
So I've been studying Elder Dallin H. Oaks' talk "Strengthened by the
Atonement." And these are my thoughts about some things he said.
"Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord
deliverereth them out of all."-Psalm 34:19. This reminded me of one of
my favorite quotes, President Eyring said "If you are on the right
path, it will always be uphill. The Lord is anxious to lead you to the
safety of higher ground." We all have afflictions, sufferings,
temptations, tests, etc., but D&C 121:7-8 teaches that if we Endure
them well, we shall be exalted on high and triumph over our foes.
Think of Ammon while he was preaching to the Nephites and he said when
they were about to turn back and the Lord said to go among the
Lamanites and bear afflictions with patience and they would be given
success. So that's what they did and the fruits of their labors were
great. Sometimes the Lord heals an infirmity...but sometimes, in my
opinion more times than not, He gives us the strength and patience to
endure our infirmities. He has descended below all things and is the
only person who knows exactly what we are going through and He wants
to help us so badly because He knows what we need. But we need to do
so willingly and humbly. James 4:10 "Humble yourselves in the sight of
the Lord, and he shall lift you up." After which, these weak things in
our lives are turned into strong points, as Ether 12:27 teaches. (I'm
kind of just bouncing from scripture to scripture now as they pop in
my head, sorry) There's a reason, as missionaries, we ask members who
have had similar trials which they overcame to help us in lessons with
someone suffering similar things. They know what it's like to humble
themselves, and now this thing is so strong in their lives that they
can help others overcome it through Christ as well. But ultimately it
comes down to if we are willing to ask Him. More importantly, if we
are willing to sacrifice our will for His, and act in faith. This was
a lot longer than I anticipated, but I hope somebody got something out
of it.
I know that the Atonement was the single greatest event in the
history of the world. I learn something new every time I study it and
I know we can't even comprehend what actually happened. But as we
strive to know more, we will be strengthened by Christ and have a
deeper testimony of this stunningly accomplished task. During this
Christmas season, I challenge you all to study something about Christ
and get to know Him a little bit better. I promise you'll feel His
love for you as you do so. You will feel something special as you seek
the Spirit of Christmas.
CHRISTMAS=CHRIST MAS. MAS=MORE IN SPANISH. MAS CHRIST. HAVE MÁS
CHRIST THIS CHRISTMAS! <<RT^^
Much love and I'll talk to you on Christmas!

White-less winter, still a Feliz Navidad nonetheless.
Elder Gearig

Ugly sweaters