Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Just to start--follow the Spirit! Always! Elder Trujillo and I were just washing the car before we came to the library for emails, and I had a strong feeling I needed to talk to a guy nearby washing his car. I went over and we started to talk, and it turned out he has a copy of the Book of Mormon (which he's read in part), and he's visited the Hawaiian Cultural Center and the temple there. I couldn't believe it. We took down his information and are going to get it to the missionaries for his area today.
     I'm going to use an analogy to explain what Christmas is like as a missionary. On Sunday, our ward had their Christmas program. It was announced that a brother from the ward would sing Silent Night. He walked up to the stand alone carrying a hymnbook, invited everyone to pay attention to the words of the song, and started to sing. His voice wasn't anything special, but it was good. He sang all the verses as written, and sat down. Sounds kind of boring right? I just couldn't help but smile and enjoy it though! I felt like I could just focus on the words and enjoy the spirit of that song. I absolutely loved it.
     That's kind of what this Christmas season has been like. This is by far the simplest, most low-key Christmas of my life. I feel like all the distractions have been stripped away, and I have the opportunity to celebrate and rejoice in this holiday for what it really is, and think about how I can better thank my Heavenly Father each day for the unspeakable gift of sending His Son to the earth. And I came to the conclusion that I can do much, much more. Especially in terms of just sincerely loving and serving the people around me.
     Well, the big news this week is that we have an investigator that really looks like he's going to get baptized!! His name is Jason Quintero, and he's incredible. He's 18 years old, and has a date for January 11. He's coming to church every week, and gave up coffee and tea even though everyone else in his family drinks it almost daily.
   I've got to get going, but have a merry Christmas!

Elder Gaughan

WE'LL CALL TOMORROW, TUESDAY, AT 5:30 TEXAS TIME!!!