Serving in the Washington DC South Mission: Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 22, 2014

Merry Christmas!

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Hope it's a great one and we all remember Christ, Our Savior, through the holidays.

Another good week in Fort Belvoir. On Monday we went with our whole district (two sets of elders, a set of sisters, and a senior missionary couple) to Gunston Hall which was the home of George Mason. It was huge! It was also pretty cool because there was like no one else there so it was a private tour pretty much. After we went through the house we got to walk around the grounds. Behind the house there is hills dropping down into woods on the side of the Potomac. It was a great view. The peace of the outdoors is one of my favorite things ever! Later that night as Elder Oyler and I were biking home we started trying to dance. On our bikes. It was interesting and I'm sure we looked ridiculous but it's ok haha we have done it two or three times since then so obviously we don't care how crazy we look. We look pretty crazy a lot of the time I'm sure. Oh well it makes things fun!

Tuesday at District Meetings I taught on a Christ-like attribute, I taught about diligence. I made it super easy on myself and showed a video after explaining diligence a little bit. In the video it talks about a lot of great things. (The video is on my Facebook page, so go watch it if you want to). Something I stressed when I was teaching was "Be yourself." Be yourself and don't let the negativity of the world get to you and drag you down. Stay diligent no matter what others think and no matter what they say.

We had interviews with President Riggs on Thursday and it was great! We get to talk to him about whatever we want to, and if he wants to talk about anything with us. He shared three stories with me that helped me see how I can become a better missionary. It's nice having help sometimes. I know that's true in everyday life as well. Friday morning we helped a couple move. They don't have very much stuff so we got it all packed and over to their new house fairly quickly, and the unpacking didn't take that long either. It was the couches that took forever to get into their house! Elder Strawn and I got the first (and smallest) couch in the house and it only took us about 15 minutes I'd say. The next couch was the bruiser. It was the last thing we had to get into the house, everything else was done. We took the legs off of it and got it standing up just inside the door which was the only way we could get it in the front door. Once we got it there though we were stuck because we had to go at a right angle through another doorway. We ended up taking the door off and eventually got it though! That one took about a good 45

Washington DC Temple Lights

minutes. It was nuts. Got it done though. Yeah buddy! Elder Oyler and I also got togo see the temple lights Friday night with a part member family. It was so amazing! There was so many lights and the temple is huge, it was just incredible. I can't wait to go back again.

Saturday night we did service for an older couple the other Elders are teaching. We got to put up their lights around their house. It was pretty fun even though we did end up doing them in the dark and it was a little chilly. It was nice to see how happy it made them.

On Sunday it was the Christmas Program at church and it was so good. The choir did the whole thing and there was lots of great songs. After sacrament Elder Oyler and I handed out little gifts to the kids (thanks to our parents) and the kids loved them. It was cool to see how excited they got over just little gifts. Reminded me that presents aren't what it's all about, it's about Christ.