December 22, 2014- Week 20 in Atlixco! And Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I can't believe it's already Christmas! Well, this week has been a crazy one, mostly because of all the "extra" things we had to do. On Thursday, we had the ward Christmas Party. I'm just gonna say it, a Mexican Christmas dinner is NOT the same thing as an American one. But it was really fun. All of the organizations presented a musical number and lots of non-members were able to attend. All in all, it was really successful! :) Then, on Friday, we had our mission Christmas conference! Atlixco combined with another zone, Izucar, and it was super fun! President Stellmon started it out with a devotional which was super great, then we played games and did "White Elephant". And then yesterday was super great! The stake performed a Christmas concert, with a huge choir, instruments, and videos of the Savior's life. We have been inviting and promoting this event for the last month or so, and yesterday, about 4 hours before the performance, all the missionaries started getting on buses, combis, standing on street corners, everything, and we just contacted everyone we saw. And the turnout with really great! And a lot of non-members gave us their addresses to come visit them. It was a really cool activity. :)

The best part of the week was being able to teach Roberto, Jeronimo's son. We were able to see him twice this week, and we can see that he has the desire to learn and change. He is about 35 years old, lives alone, is a lawyer and really doesn't trust in anyone, even his family. Jeronimo gave us the reference, telling us that his son would probably never even let us in his house. But he has :) Just goes to show that we shouldn't ever judge others, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. He told us that he wants to find himself spiritually, but feels like it would conflict with his career. So, we were a little hesitant at first, thinking that he wouldn't do any on his commitments, but he did! We visited him Saturday morning, and told us that he had read quite a bit of the Book of Mormon, and that he wants to know if it's true. I think the one person more astonished than us was Jeronimo when we told him! Hopefully he keeps letting us come back :)

I have two Christmas quotes that I want to share :) 

"Jesus Christ is the Light of Bethlehem, born of Mary, His mortal mother, and His Father, Almighty God...He is the Light of the Atonement fulfilled in the Garden of Gethsemane and on Golgotha, who took upon Himself the sins of the world, that all mankind may obtain eternal salvation. He is the Light of the empty tomb, the resurrected Lord with a glorified body of flesh and bone, who broke the bands of death and gained an everlasting victory over the grave. ... He is my Light, my Redeemer, my Savior - and yours."

-Elder Robert D. Hales

"Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who condescended to come into this world of misery, struggle, and pain to touch men's hearts for good, to teach the way of eternal life, and to give Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. How different, how empty our lives would be without Him. How infinite is our opportunity for exaltation made possible through His redeeming love."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley

With Christmas just a few days away, I hope we all can take the time to think about the Savior. Just as President Hinckley said, our lives would be so different and so empty without His life, love and Atonement. And with that love, we have all the possibilities of the world. I know that my life would be completely different now if it wasn't for my Savior and His love for me. I have felt so blessed these last few weeks to be able to testify more of Christ than I have my whole mission. During this time, everyone is remembering Him, and many of them are trying to find Him. I know that Christ lives, and I know that His Atonement is perfect and infinite. We all have the opportunity to repent and change through His sacrifice, and that power never runs out. As many times as we come to Him with a willingness to change, He will accept us and help us to do so. I love Christ, and I'm so grateful for the time of year to think even more of Him and His mission. 

I love you all so much!!!!!! Have a very great Christmas and week!!! :)

Love always,

Hermana Smith

Photo: Last night after the stake activity :) I kinda look creepy with red eyes...but oh well!