Christmas time as a missionary is totally different

We ended up doing a lot of service this week and visiting a lot of less actives and in between all that we managed to find a couple good potentials and continue working with our investigators who are slowly progressing, in some cases. I was also in my first California earthquake, it was only a 3.1 so it wasn't too exciting but now I can say I've been in one.

We had a really good lesson with a less active man in our ward named Jimmy. He got baptized a few years ago and had an amazing story. Prior to his baptism he was in a wheelchair and was blind so they had to carry him down into the font but after he got baptized he was able to walk out of the font and then the next day was able to see again. For a while he was able to walk again and was able to see and he started working towards getting the Aaronic priesthood but began having issues with the word of wisdom again and then tripped and broke his leg badly and after a series of events it had to be amputated so he was back in a wheelchair and then he went blind again when he stopped going to church. Sister La, one of the ladies in the ward who is coming back into activity set up a lesson for us with him and when we met we just talked with him about what he wants to do. He plans to start coming back to church and he wants us to go through all of the missionary lessons with him again. While we were talking with him a man walked by and then was standing against the wall of the building we were by and I felt like I should give him a copy of the Book of Mormon, at first I kind of brushed it off because I figured it was just me being a missionary and wanting to give everybody one (which isn't a bad thing I guess) and since we were in the middle of a lesson I didn't want to just leave. As I sat there I thought about it more and then remembered that Ross got baptized because somebody listened to a prompting to share the Book of Mormon so while Elder Greenberg and Sister La were talking I got up and went and talked to him. He seemed pretty cool and took the book and I was able to get his phone number so this week we are going to try to meet up with him and start teaching him. 

On Saturday we were contacting in a park and talked to a man named Misha right before we left. He was there with his son and he talked about how he has been following different religious practices to find the best life for his family so when we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon he said he would gladly read it because he loves reading anything that is about Christ. We got his number too so we are going to try to meet with him this week as well. This one was cool for me because when I saw him I wanted to just leave so I was ready to go but Elder Greenberg stopped me and we went to talk to him. Its always amazing what can happen when you listen to your companion and you push to do a little more than you really want to. On Saturday we also had a really good lesson with our investigator Gabriel who wants to be baptized. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he loved learning about the Spirit World and the Kingdoms of Glory. His faith is so strong and his commitment to actually read the Book of Mormon and to pray about what we have taught him is amazing, its so cool to think that all of his progress has come about simply because some sister missionaries stopped to show him the Christmas video and it goes to show how powerful of a tool that can be. 

Christmas time as a missionary is totally different because my focus is so much more on the Savior and helping others. It brings a completely different Spirit to the season that I wish everybody could experience. Truly the best way that we can feel the true Spirit of Christmas is by finding ways to help those around us even if it is just by holding a door or smiling and saying hi, I know that  sometimes that may be all that somebody needs to brighten their day.

Love

Elder Cheever