Il dono del servizio - Week 70

Christmas is right around the corner and with that comes the time of gratitude and service. This week, with lots of people being busy with family activities and other appointments, we decided to give
some little acts of service. We decided to clean up the front of the church, which had been overrun with leaves, sticks, and lots of pollen (that ended up making me a yellow minion by the end of the
service....) it was nice to be able to just give service to the branch. There are lots of things we can't do due to our lack of mechanic/plumbing/whatever knowledge, but simple yard work we can do. Friday we had our Christmas zone training. It was in Mestre which is a pretty far travel, but it was a nice training. We focused on our Christmas initiative that the church started (È nato un salvatore) and other ways we can give service to people. And then we ended with a gingerbread house making contest. Our gingerbread house was broken in pieces so we decided to just eat ours. Then that night we had our branch Christmas dinner. I was set to be Babbo Natale, and one of the kids found my suit before I changed, and all the kids tried to prove me to be an imposter (just like in "elf") but they loved it regardless and it was a blast. We ate some cultural Gorizian food and it was a nice night. The children had their primary program the next day and then we went with the two youth in the ward for a walk to Fiume Isonso.

Zone training

Babbo Natale 2k15

Monday we were able to see G., and he was just happy to have us over. He does not have a lot going on for Christmas and was happy we wanted to see him. This really made me think about the importance of being a friend to those who may not have a family to spend time with. We all are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, and everyone deserves to feel happy at this time of year. We watched Gioisco il mondo with him and shared a Panatone with him. Yesterday we spent some time with M. sharing some nativity scriptures with him, and went with our English class for a walk in the centro Di Gorizia. We are going to be visiting a lot of families these next two days and I'm very excited. I'm still getting to know everyone, and the spirit of Christmas just makes everyone a little more open and warm, so I'm soo excited.

 Fiume Isonso

Una chiesa di Gorizia

In Italy they don't put the bambino Gesu in manger until Christmas Eve

I've been pondering a lot about this Christmas, and how i wont have another Christmas as a missionary (well until I'm an old buff grandpa being a missionary with my wife) and i thought about how blessed I am to serve full time for the savior. People everywhere in the world recognize (or at least should, hence why we still have to teach people about Christ) Jesus Christ as the savior and reason behind Christmas. I don't have any work, family, dogs, or anything else to keep me from sharing the reason for the season. How amazing is that? We are so blessed to have a savior, and in reality we should be giving to him. Isn't it his birthday? What better way to give to him than by feeding his sheep and sharing the restored gospel with those we come to know? I truly am grateful for this time to serve him. I hope we all can have a wonderful Christmas, and not forget to put the "Christ"  in our Christmas this year!