Wow! Christmas is already over and the new year is juuust around the corner. So many things to celebrate! A couple pretty exciting things... i find out if I'm going to be going outbound next transfer TOMORROW! I'm not sure if I've mentioned outbound before, but for part of my mission I will be serving in another mission in the United States. My mission president decides if he wants to send me out and then they send my mission papers back up to the prophet and apostles and they resassign me somewhere for 3 to 4 1/2 months!!! Crazy,huh? I'm so excited & really nervous at the same time! So, I guess you'll find out where I'm going when I'm already there!!! :D & If I'm even going.. hahah.
CHRISTMAS AT TEMPLE SQUARE IS THE BEST!!!! We celebrated both Christmas Eve and Christmas. We closed all the buildings at 5 and then had two nights where we watched movies, ate, and had activities all planned out for us. AND we got presents!!!! So cool! Overall we watched The Nativity Story, Christmas for a Dollar, and Happy Feet! :) We also had a surprise guest (aka Santa Claus) and caroled for some of the guests at Temple Square for a little bit. We had a blast and my oh my did they feed us well. Our Christmas Presents were all donations from our mission presidency and members of their wards. We got sooo many cute and very useful things.. so amazed and so grateful!! I feel so spoiled!
Nevertheless, talking to my family was the HIGHLIGHT of my entire Christmas experience!!!!!!!!!!! I love you all so much!!! And I honestly sincerely hope that you find some inexpensive tickets to come out next year to pick me up! Don't you forget! Start looking now!!! :D Love you love you love you!!!
Ohhhh and now, wanna know something that made me so upset last night..? This is how disrespectful the world is becoming. Ugh, so you all know how we take the chats from mormon.org, correct? That's where I've met multiple investigators from all over the world... the purpose of that chat is not to waste time. We are there to answer questions while helping people come closer to Jesus Christ. It is not a game, it is not something to make fun of. There are actual people in the world who truly need to find peace and happiness. There is some famous person. Will Smith's son or something like that.. who posted something on a social networking cite to go on mormon.org to ask dumb questions like "How do magnets work" and "If mirrors aren't real than are our eyes real?" to then email responses back to the person in charge to make fun of what we have to say. We had non stop trollers on chat last night and it honestly broke my heart to pieces. I was literally on the verge of tears. Why people don't have better things to do, I'm not exactly sure. But this message is not one to be mocked. It is sad to me how disrespectful others can be to people who try to improve the quality of other peoples lives. It honestly really just reminded me of how I can't expect any less from the world because Christ was not of this world and we are commanded not to be as well. People mocked and made fun of Christ and we can't expect any less as His representatives. I just look forward to the day when we are at judgment seat and those people are apologizing to all those that they hurt. I just wish they knew of the goodness this truly could do to their lives. If they think that is fulfilling, they should try following the Savior -- because honestly, the only true satisfaction they will ever get in their lives is through Him.
We can't let things like that get in the way of our Christmas miracles though, right?! Well, after I had to pray to get negative feelings out of me yesterday night I was going through my area book of people who I could call and I remembered I needed to call a family that I met on Christmas Eve. Which in and of itself was a wonderfully beautiful experience. It was two families, one family that lives and Utah and is currently meeting with missionaries, and than another family visiting from LA. We took them all on a tour (They were all from Guatemala, by the way) and were so excited. So overall it was about 12 people (including children) that we took to the Christus and to the presentation we have on the family, and to the Tabernacle. Ages varied from 4 to 15 to 40s to 70s... the families were adorable. So the family from LA, the dad, Rodolfo, had met with missionaries when he was like 16 or 17 years old in Guatemala but then he lost contact with them and didn't really know where to go from there, they have friends who are members of the church and who have always been really uplifting to them and a great example to follow. It was so much fun taking them through the presentation God's Plan for the Family because it is honestly one of my favorite places to take families through. The entire presentation is focused around a document "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and my favorite line in the whole thing is "Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ." It was so much fun helping the teenagers get a larger perspective of the importance of family and just how the family is the best place to learn about Christ and feel the LOVE that Heavenly Father has for us. Anyways, we all had a really wonderful experience and all became super close by the end. The Aguilar family (The ones in LA) gave us all their information and hugs! SO, yesterday I called the dad and he was telling us how they left so uplifted and inspired to become closer and better as a family. He told me that after they left they kept talking about what a great experience it was. He told me how he was supposed to be calling his nephew in Guatemala today because his nephew is a really active member of our faith! Which made me even more excited. I invited them to meet with local missionaries and have them bring Book of Mormons for them and they he said YES! Then I talked to his wife and she was so excited to hear from me and she was really thankful we would be sending missionaries. It was honestly just the perfect upliftment that I needed and the Lord was very very much aware of me. I love him so much!!
Well, since it is the new year, I'm excited for everyone, including myself, to turn away from things of the world and to turn a new road centered in Christ. This Mormon message is 3:07 and is absolutely incredible! It's entertaining as well... WATCH IT!
It's a great reminder of leaving things behind and focusing on the future. It's only through Jesus Christ that we can change and become better; to get rid of old habits and establish habits that brings us closer to Christ. That's the amazing thing about our Savior. When I think about coming closer to him I remember and remind myself that it is NOT easy. Boy oh boy am I an extreme witness of that.... but it is worth it more and more.
So when making your new years resolution.. make one that will bring you closer to Christ throughout this year.
Enjoy your new year! Talk to you next week! I might be in another state! Wooohooo!!! Haha, (I should probably not get my hopes up..)
Love you all!
Love,
Sister Corina Selene Cuevas
No comments:
Post a Comment