Elder Matthew Montgomery : Christmas is CANCELED (Week 20)

Monday, December 18, 2023 12:32pm

And if the weather acts up any more, President will take away New Years too.

Good day, dear readers! 'Tis I, Elder Montgomery, once again with riveting stories from a country that is not my own!

To begin, let me explain the title, which is a long story. Kinda.

So, down here in Argentina, we've had a bit of a rainy week. Pretty much every night for the last while has been a big storm, and I mean like BIG, especially last Saturday. That storm was massive. It had hit Bahía really bad at first, then came to Pico, so it wasn't awful when it got to me, but there were a few trees uprooted and the power here was knocked out for a bit. But yeah, Bahía was absolutely wrecked, quite a few houses were destroyed, tornadoes happened, and a few people even lost their lives. Scary stuff.

But because of all that mess in Bahía, the Christmas party we were going to have there tomorrow has been postponed, which also means that we have very little plans for tomorrow work wise, which is going to be fun. But yeah, until further notice, there is no Christmas. In Bahía. With the mission. Luckily, the ward here is having a few parties, so we should be alright.

Well, aside from the storms, this week was pretty awesome! We were able to hit quite a few goals, like having new people and lessons with members and such. It's been pretty faith strengthening seeing that even though I've been here for almost four months now, there are still people I haven't seen or talked to who are open to the gospel. The work never stops yall. It's so awesome to be able to work with these people and see faith grow.

I had a couple of spiritual thoughts I really liked this week, one while I was reading the Old Testament and the other when the storm happened.

Firstly, I'm reading in Numbers right now, and it's so awesome to see how organized God has always been with His people and how specific and personal He is. He called leaders for all the tribes of Israel that He knew would be what the tribes needed, as well as catering to the needs of Aaron and the tribe of Levi. He's the same with us today, He has an amazingly well structured leadership in this church all the way from His prophet to His missionaries.

Secondly, with the storm, I thought a lot about Helaman 5:12, with the shafts in the whirlwind and having a firm foundation in Christ. A lot of the buildings and houses in Bahía that fell most likely didn't have the strongest foundations even though some of them looked strong. Often, we ourselves need to check and make sure that our foundation truly is one that will last when the storms of life rage around us. Pretty legit.

Welp, that pretty much it from me! Moving on to TotS!

This week's talk is Opposition in All Things by President Dallin H. Oaks, April 2016. To begin, President Oaks tells us the purpose behind us being here, which is to make choices and learn. One of the biggest choices we make every day is the one to follow God and to ignore temptation. Unfortunately, we are imperfect, and therefore, we will make mistakes. But this is part of the process. We learn from our mistakes, we recognize patterns, and with the help from Christ through His Atonement, we can come back from sin and consequences and receive blessings from God.

I honestly love this talk a lot, and I would have every new contact read it if I could. It explains so beautifully our purpose, which is often what people have questions about, like why God lets them suffer in their lives. And it's amazing that as members of this church, we have the answer. We have a responsibility to share it and help people step away from sin and choose the right. So yeah, I guess I'd invite you all to look for opportunities to appreciate the agency we have and to constantly look for ways to better yourself and make not just good decisions, but the best ones.

I love you all, and have a safe week!! Christmas is this next Monday, that's wild! Hope it's a good one!!

Elder Montgomery

D&C 19:16-19

Tomas, Bauti, y Uriel, taught them how to pray