Walk the Path

Hi! So I guess you want to hear about Christmas? I think my favorite part was talking to you guys. Christmas is not much without family. 

It was fun because the ward had a Christmas morning BBQ. We ate lots of chicken and grilled pork (Filipinos love pork!). It was great; we got to know some of the members a little better. A highlight was that a less-active member came along, and she approached us with a referral! We called the referral that night, met her yesterday, and both the less active member and the friend she referred, Eva, came to church! It was awesome! It's always been something I've wanted to focus on--bringing less-active members back by helping them share the Gospel with their friends. It hasn't worked out very well, though it seems like a great idea to me, but here it just kind of happened. I hope that this Sister keeps coming to church. She was so excited to see her friend Eva at church. It was so sweet. Eva had brought the Book of Mormon we gave her, and showed it to her friend and was so excited that she had her own copy. Her friend said, "Yes, all you need to do is read and pray. This book will really help you." She said some other things in Tagalog that I didn't understand but it was awesome! Yeah! We are meeting Eva again this week. She was a wonderful Christmas present! (If you're wondering what to give a missionary for Christmas/birthday/any kind of holiday, a referral is a great idea!)

Since all of our investigators and recent converts are out of town, we spent the rest of Christmas contacting people who didn't get to spend Christmas with their families. We shared about eternal families and the Restoration. It felt really good. We also delivered some Christmas cards to members who had stayed here for the holidays. That also felt good. Christmas as a missionary is wonderful. I'm grateful.

Heavenly Father really does answer sincere, open, honest prayers. I have experienced that time and time again. He is real. The principles of the Gospel are true, the path is set in stone. Our challenge is to walk that path. We do not do it alone--we cannot do it alone, and we are not asked to. The Savior overcame it all. We can feel that in a very real way through prayer and application of correct principles. 

Sister Gopinath