Hello Everyone,
This past week has been a good week for us here in Donna. We're still working hard and trying to find and teach as best we can. Working to spread the message of the Gospel is often hard, but everything turns out okay because we're entitled to the Lord's help. The last seven days have been days of excitement and disappointment, but nevertheless, the work moves forward. some of the people that we've been teaching have lost motivation or had other reasons to not continue learning about the Gospel. (From now on that motivation/reason will be called 'ganas', which is probably my favorite word in Spanish so far.) some people have been hit by opposition from their families, or a passive demeanor has kept them from acting on what they know to be true. It's disappointing to see, but I'm confident that those people will soon have circumstances that bring them back to the missionaries and allow them to follow through on what they know and receive. Other people that we have been teaching have started making more steps to move themselves closer to Christ. They've found ganas for various reasons and have started coming to Church and progressing in the path of the Lord. I'm grateful for the support that the Lord gives me every day of this work. I could not do it without His uplifting hand. I can testify that the Lord is working here in South Texas. The number of people that have made their first covenant with the Lord from Corpus Christi to the border is staggering. It's not because the missionaries here are better than any others, but because the Lord has a plan and a purpose for the work in this area. I'm not sure exactly what that goal is, but the Lord is working hard in this part of the vineyard. I can only hope that as his servant I can provide some sort of help during this time of my labor.
I hope everyone is having a great Christmas season and that we can all start getting into the real Christmas spirit. The season here is getting more festive and I'm amazed at some of the decorations that are up here. For living in one of the poorer town of the mission, people really don't skimp on Christmas. I'll have to start taking some more pictures of the lights and everything to get some good Texas spirit out to everyone.
I hope everyone can get some ganas to really put themselves in a giving spirit. And, to fulfill my missionary duty, D&C teaches us that "there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation." (D&C 6:13). So, during this Christmas season, we can share the gospel to the best of our ability, and give them the greatest gift that God or man can give. So I hope everyone remembers that the best gift that you can give to anyone during this season is your testimony and the number of the missionaries. Not everyone will accept it, that's true, but those that do will be thanking you now and throughout the eternities.
Christmas season is up and rolling here in Texas and I hope that everyone else can get the Spirit of Christmas with them. Espero que todos tengan una buena semana, llena de la paz del Espiritu Santo.
Les quiero,
Elder Wood
