Ia orana te Noera! and What Would Christmas Be Without Golem?

Josh adores his Christmas sweater - It was a gift from his thoughtful siblings.

Well, of all of the Christmas' that I have had, this one, like my cousin Truman Ballard told me, was the most memorable. This week was definitely a week to remember, and it started with a crazy P-Day, awesome Christmas party for the mission, and then a Skype!

 

So, just a quick story for P-Day, I'll attach a picture but there is a scripture that says the Gospel will be preached to every living creature, so I figured I would give proselyting to turtles my best shot. One turned his head away from me, and the other one was pretty interested!


Josh preaching the Good Word to the turtles

 

After, on Wednesday, we had a huge Christmas party for all of the missionaries! It was an awesome experience! I got to see all of my MTC group there and it was so crazy just seeing everyone! It took up 6 hours of our day, but with a mix of watching movies, gift exchanges, and talks from President and Sister Bize, it was an awesome evening!



MTC District Christmas Reunion

 

But, above all, the coolest experience of the week was Skyping with my family. We only had 45 minutes, and it seemed like 45 seconds! Definitely one of the coolest experiences of the mission!

 

Culture Shock: I think the culture shock of the first green Christmas here was crazy enough! And don't worry, though it didn't snow, we still got covered in rain (melted snow? Close enough!).

Ohipa Oaoa: Defintely goes to Preaching the Gospel to my Turtle friends. Nothing beats that this week!

 

Spiritual Thought: This was sparked by my Dad's email to me today. If, after just 7 months, I cried just at the sight of my family because I was so happy to see them, just imagine what will happen at the end of our lives, when we are able to return to our Heavenly Father, the most powerful Being in the universe, who loves us more infinately than we can ever love someone else. Just a little something to ponder about, what will our reaction be at the end of this life? Tears of shame for not keeping the commandments? Or, tears of joy for the knowledge that we can live with God for eternity?

 

Love you all, Happy New Year!

 

Elder Garff

Bonus Material:
It is a little known fact that Golem actually was one of the visitors.  We learn two very important things from this photo.  1) Josh has not lost his sense of humor and 2) We need to be more careful about the type of advent calendars we send to him.

What would Christmas be without Golem?