Monday, December 3, 2018

Don't Trip Your Friends

I can hardly believe that it is nearly Christmas.
1. Funerals here are giant parties that just allow for a lot of people to get drunk.
2. When people are dancing at funerals they usually try to chase down the missionaries to dance with them......not good
3. When you are a district leader over two units: a branch and a group, there is a lot of mental work to do to make sure everyone likes you a lot, so they will work with you willingly.
4. Washing by hand (again), is not too bad as long as you do a little during the week so Monday your hands do not bleed.  I have gotten better at this since my early days.
5. People love the Bible here with more than all their heart and will try and prove that they know more than the others around them. It leads to awkward situations.

Going back to what I said at the beginning.... it is nearly Christmas! I can hardly believe it. It feels like I was just talking about Christmas and dealing with my first one in Ghana but that was nearly a full year ago when I was still in Dunkwa On-Offin. 

Wow time sure flies! Of course, Christmas is a special time of year but I wish to talk more about following the Man that we spend time remembering on Christmas. We all know that we must try to be as Christlike as possible. This is no easy task. While we can be Christlike in particular areas of our lives, it is terribly hard to be perfect. But that is what we have been asked to do. We have been asked to be as Christ was.......... somehow that is a large pill to swallow. Luckily, as Elder Holland said: Perfection is pending. (I feel like I quote that a lot). This is not an excuse for us not to work on our own perfection but it does allow us to have hope that we can actually reach our goal. As we move forward, everyday, there are small things that we can alter in ourselves or our surroundings to get closer to that goal of Christlike perfection. However small the changes our, God is happy with any change or improvement. 

Christmas is always a time of happiness and joy. It is a time for everyone to change even if just for a moment. Use this time, (do not wait for New Years) Christmas puts everyone in a mindset of peace and laughter. Do not let it stop there! Patterns that happen during this time of year should never leave our lives. Visiting someone, even just to sing at a doorstep because you know it makes someone happy, is the feeling that we should have in ourselves all year. I would always find ways to do things to help people during the Christmas season but most of the time I let the feeling leave once the lights were gone and the snow melted away. This has been one of my biggest mistakes. 

Jesus Christ did not just serve during a few months of the Year but all year round. I know that caroling may not be possible during the summer not to mention plowing a driveway, but you can find something to do to brighten a day for others. Make everyday Christmas for someone else. My father and mother would do something amazing while we were in China. My Father loved dressing up as Santa and taking all of us with many of our forgotten toys to the Hospital during the Christmas season. He would enter a room with bells and the biggest smile I can remember being on his face. He would go in and even if the child didn't care, it never stoped my Father from being happy. He would give a toy and move to the next room. 

We may not all be able to pull off a Santa costume but we all have things that we can do. Though we may not be in a hospital, we should never let time get away from us. We should move from room to room (moment to moment) with haste to change the world one light at a time. "Ye are the Lights of the World, a city set on a hill cannot be hid..... Let your light so shine" Matthew 15 ( I think). Be amazing. Make everyday leading to Christmas and any day you can after, as Christmas-like as possible because as Thomas S. Monson said, the Christmas Spirit is the Christ Spirit. Make every day like Christmas and you will be surprised to see how easy it is to be Christlike.

I appreciate your letters and your prayers. I can use every single one of them.



Love, Elder Edison

*Experience of the Week:  I have made friends with one of our investigators - actually we have a really terrific relationship.  He walks everywhere we walk and goes along on our visits.  We have begun to play the "tripping game" as we walk.  I got a great swing in the other day and managed to knock both my friend and my companion to the ground!  We were laughing and joking with each other and a lady on the street yelled at us to "Go Home", thinking that we were drunk. I felt terrible that someone thought that a missionary was drunk but in the end, I was glad for such a fun relationship with our investigator.  And, he knows that we weren't drunk so all is well.

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