"I Don't Want To Be Carne Asada!"

Hello Friends and Family! I hope you have an awesome Christmas!! (Or to play with that word, Más de Cristo, or more of christ in your week!)

Gracias a Dios (Thanks to God) my back is well enough that I got to shovel snow this week! The snow is so fluffy here it's fun. There are also gigantic icicles on the sides of houses big enough to use them as walking sticks or wands. The first part of the week was great, until it was 15°F outside with the wind blowing it felt like 3°F. I can let go of my pride now, Utah is really cold.

"I don't want to be Carne Asada"

- we were talking about Malachi 4 at Church and it was talking about the wicked will be burned and Hermana Glenda (a member) said "I don't wnat to be carne asada"

There is this family that lent me their son's cello to practice while I am still in this area (because he is on a mission too) and I am going to play in 2 Christmas music devotionals this week! I am a bit scared though because they have asked me to play certain parts that aren't meant for cello (and the music isn't in bass cleff) but I have faith that the lord will help me through it!

As for our friends....

1) Kevin and Angeli (and their son Angel) are still on date for their baptism! Satan has been working on them so hard with them about *almost* getting evicted and Angeli's daughter in the hospital, but their faith is keeping them strong. They had a wedding this week!

2) The gang (our 5 now 4 friends from Honduras) have been coming to church and soccer night and have great testimonies! We are extending a Baptismal invitation this week

3) At our Christmas activity this week, we were inviting people in for the wedding and Carmen walks in and I almost cried because she used to be a friend I taught and she was in the hospital for over 2 months with pneumonia. And then she moved and we didn't know if she survived or not. It was a miracle.

I wanted to share this cool spiritual thought I had when reading this book called "Believing Christ". There was an analogy about when you are at the gym doing bench press and you do all the reps you can, the spotter then says to you "Do one more!" And then you find the strength to do one more! This continues until your muscles eventually give out. You don't get embarrassed or upset when you give out but actually you get a big joy and satisfaction that you gave everything you had. And in those extra reps is where you grow. This analogy can be applied into our family lives, our Mission's, or our religious life too. We can learn to let go of the frustrations and find joy that you gave everything you had to the Savior. We can try our best when he asks us to do one rep more, because that is where we grow <3

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you find his light this week:)

Hermana Vestel