MeRRy ChRiSTmAs, Everyone!!

I was asked to bear testimony of the Savior in sacrament meeting today. I said that life is pointless without Him. Without Him, there is no Atonement. Without His Atonement there is no forgiveness. There is no repentance. There is no enabling/strengthening power of His Atonement to help us through tough times. There is no resurrection. There is no priesthood which means there is no church organization, no temple ordinances, no eternal families. There is no purpose to this life. There is no returning home to live with Father. Without Him we have no perfect example to strive to become like. 

I also pointed out that one of the few things that is repeated in the sacrament prayers is to always remember Him. Do I remember Him on Tuesday morning at 10:00? What about Thursday afternoon at 2:00? What about when I'm getting ready for my day each morning? What about in my assigned task at the National Archives of Quebec? Do I remember Him when I'm irritated with people?

I love my Savior and I want to discipline myself to stay focused on Him more and more. Christmas is a natural time to give our focus to Him!   . . .THAT'S what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown!  :)

Elder Byerly was one of the first young missionaries I got to know well in this mission. He spent most of his mission in the Mandarin branch. He finished his mission over a year ago. He and his whole family visited the Mandarin branch today! I was SO EXCITED to see him!! 

I'm pretty sure this was my last time to help out in the office on transfer day because I really didn't help with anything this time. They've got enough help and don't need me anymore. But that's OK because I have a big, big clicking goal that I want to reach before the end of my mission so I'll go work diligently at that instead!

I drove to the "English" side of the island to do some grocery shopping this week and was shocked to see the aisle signs in both languages. Most of the time I just have to struggle with the French which, by the way, I am getting better at.

We had a seniors Christmas party which was a lot of fun.

This elder will be the first to tell you that he doesn't ever want to grow up. He decided to wear his white elephant gift on the wrong end of his body.

The elder with the fancy Christmas socks got a fold up bucket for his white elephant. At one point he kicked it across the room. Someone said, "Oh no! One of the senior missionaries just 'kicked the bucket'!" He said, "What am I going to do with a bucket?" Someone suggested he could use it as a feeding trough for when they invite the elders to dinner.

Gifts for the young missionaries in my district

I made these little handmade ornaments for all of the senior missionaries who live near Montreal. It took me a lot longer than I anticipated! But I'm happy with the way they turned out.

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