Hey!!!!

Hello everybody, and a very Merry Christmas.  I don't know how you celebrate Christmas at your house, but here at the MTC we like to kick it up a notch.  And by that, I mean watch a movie.  Yes, indeed, we were fortunate enough to watch A Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve and then Mr. Krueger's Christmas on Christmas Day, as well as many Mormon Tabernacle Choir specials.  Also, as a particularly special treat, we were fortunate enough to have Elder David A. Bednar come and speak to us at our MTC-wide sacrament meeting.  It was a talk I will never forget, one all about the character of Christ and how we should constantly try to improve our lives by trying to take upon ourselves His mind and His character.  It has definitely been the highlight of my stay here at the MTC.

 

On another Christmasy note, thank you to all who sent me goodies, cards, presents, and other wonderful things that brighten up a missionary's day.  If one of your incentives was to recreate the infamous Valentine's Day some fourteen years ago in which I ate so much candy in one day that I threw up, alas, your goal was not realized.  But only just; I'm going to need to spend a lot more time running in the gym.

 

That brings me to my gym time news.  I have actually discovered that the key to success in four square is, funnily enough, persistence.  Last week, I was completely frustrated with the fact that the other missionaries honed in on the fact that I am assigned to speak Mandarin and therefore must be some form of nerd, which gave them a strong motive to pick on me.  But luckily I remembered that the Chinese elders also have an arsenal of millenia-old martial arts at our disposal to aid in dominating the four square grid.  Needless to say, multiple Tai Chi and Kung Fu moves quickly brought me to reign as the king of a Chinese dynasty. 

 

On a more spiritual note, we have started reading the Book of Mormon together as a class for thirty minutes a few times a week.  It is incredible to think how much revelation God is always willing to give us if we only put in the small amount of effort it is to read, ponder, and pray to Him.  The fact that we can pray to Him at any time in the day and at any place on the Earth, and that He will listen to us, is a miracle.  I'll conclude by praphrasing the words of Nephi where he says to his brothers, "Surely the Lord has commanded us to do this thing; therefore, should we not be diligent to obey the commandments of the Lord?"  Why wouldn't we follow the commandments of the Lord?

 

I love you all, have a great week.

 

Elder Daniel Winters