I"ve got a lot to write so I'll just dive in. The Christmas party was awesome last wednesday!! It was so fun! We woke up at 3:30 in the morning to drive to Tubigon and like I said last week I got to drive!! It was so fun cruising around again. Ah man it was fun stuff. We packed 8 people in a little toyota. It was crazy but it all went smoothly. We got to the port safely and took the boat over to Cebu. We had a little devotional at the start of the party where President Tanner said some things and then we watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. How aweosme was that!? I hope all of you got to see that becasue it was amazing! Wow. All of the talks and the music were powerful. I especially loved Elder Nelson's talk about the Prince of Peace. Probably one of my favorite talks from him. AFter the devotional we had a White Elephant gift exchange which was super fun. and then we ate a huge lunch and then the talent show started. That talent show was awesome. I'll have to tell you about it when we skype next week becasue I don't have a lot of time to write about it all. I did do a couple things in the talent show by the way. Haha they were pretty fun but I'll tell you next week on skype. That's about it for the party. It was really fun! EVerything went smoothly on the drive home too. Saturday we had Arman's baptism which was awesome! The baptism was combined with 3 others from Baclayon and 1 other frm Cortes so we had 5 baptisms in our district last Saturday! so I said that our district goal for baptisms this month is 13 and for the zone it's 18 and right now we have 7 in our district and 11 in our zone with more on the way! We all have faith that we will accomplish the goal set for the month! EldeR Wiscombe, our zone leaderk,said that they were up at there meeting with the ohter zone leaders and president tanner and thte ap's and they were all writing up their zone's goals for baptism. He said that everyone was putting 5 or 6 and then he and Elder Faustorella go up and put up the big one eight. Haha he said it was funny beacue it was a huge number but he said that they told everyone, I know this is a lot but we have faith that it will happen. And it is happening!! Ah so exciting. That brings me to two investigators of ours and the T. sisters. I"ve wrote about them before, J. and A., and how their parents won't allow them to be baptized. They aren't siblings by the way. Anyway they have a date for the 28th of this month and so we have been fasting and praying that a miracle will happen and their parent's hearts will be softened and allow them to be baptized. They are both scared to talk to their parents about it. I know that its possible for the Lord to do this. He has done a lot harder and greater things than this. I know that He will provide a way. But yeah so cool things are happening over here. The Lord is hastening His work. So I was studying today and decided to read President Monson's talk, "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." It is an amazing talk. All of you should go read it becasue there is so much more than the things Im going to share in this email! He talks about how we all need trials to progress and how the Lord will always be there to help us. Here are some things from the talk. He says that we all need to ask ourselves, "shall I falter, or shall I finish? To finish involves enduring to the very end of life itself." He also shares this poem,
Good Timber does not grow with ease.
The stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.
The further the sky, the greater length.
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow
In trees and men good timbers grow
He goes on to say, "my brohters and sisters may we have a commitment to our Heavenly Father that does not ebb and flow with the years of the crises of our lives. We should not need to experience difficulties for us to remember Him and we should not be driven to humility before giving HIm our faqith and trust., May we ever strive to be close to our Heavenly Father. To do so, we must pray to Him and list to Him every day. We truly need Him every hour, whether they be hours of sunshine or of rain. May His promise ever by our watchword: 'I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.'
I've already learned so much on my mission. One of the biggest things I've learned a little bit about so far is these next two years are truly the best two years for my life. The reason is becasue I have already begun to learn how to rely completely on Him. I've realized from doing this, that I can do nothing without Him. I rely on Him and His strength every day, every hour, every moment. Without Him I couldn't be doing what I'm doing now. I love singing I Need Thee Every Hour. I sing it all the time to myself becasue it's the truth I need HIm every hour. so do all of us. This is something that I am determined to take home with me keep with me for the rest of my life. I love Him. I love Christmas becasue we get to celebrate Him and His birth. No greater gift has ever been given than when our Father in Heaven gave His Son that night to the world. I know He lives and know He will come again. I know that He will be by our side through thick and thin, through rain or sunshine, if we allow Him to be. I love this gospel and I love Him. I love all of you and thank you for all of your prayers! I pray for you all the time! I love you! Hurrah for Israel! Glory to God in the highest! Merry Christmas!!
Love, Elder Fox
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