The activity was called The Festival of Nativities and it turned out really well. They had a room with a bunch of nativities, a big set up in the gym with a live nativity and food, and a musical program that ran twice each night. We've been inviting everyone possible since it was announced and have been passing out all of the invite cards to everyone we talked to. We invited a bunch of less active members there too. It was on Friday and Saturday night. More people showed up on Saturday. Unfortunately, nobody we had invited showed up, but all the sisters in our district had some people show up. It had a really great turn out and it was a good experience for everyone.
I really enjoyed the Christmas Devotional last night too. Elder Christofferson's talk made me think a lot and I was touched by it. The funny part about his talk was about how they had Christmas on October 25th for the young boy and in our apartment we have a "Christmas" every month on the 25th for fun and Elder Jeffs turned to me and went "We've been doing it right all along" hahahaha. The Devotional was great though. It was a good program to help me get into the Christmas Season.
Elder Bassett and I had a pretty cool miracle this week too. The Spanish Elders in West Columbia gave us a referral that they had been teaching and we had a hand off lesson with them and her. Her name is Miriam and she's a really great lady. She's already read a bunch of the Book of Mormon and knows that the Church and Gospel are true, but she's just been having trouble being ready for a transition from her church to ours and so we're currently working on that with her. Luckily she is really good friends with Bishop Odom's wife because they work together and so we are going to be teaching her with them a lot. Bishop Odom is one of the best people I've met on my mission too. He's a convert himself and when he joined the Church his first wife left him because of it. The Odoms will be great people to have Miriam know in our ward. She didn't come to church because she was supporting her boyfriend at some thing, but hopefully she'll start progressing this week. It's hard sometimes to find someone to teach in Lexington, and so I'm grateful we are going to be able to teach her and help her get baptized.
Elder Bassett and I are still doing well and getting along fine. He's a super sweet guy and we've been enjoying getting to know each other more. We had a good first week together, especially during comp. inventory. He was kind of down the night before and I asked him about it and we had a great conversation about it. He felt like he has been trying his hardest to get to know everyone here and to connect with them well, but that it's not happening as fast as he would like. We talked about that for a bit and he opened up to me and I was able to really get to know his personality and what he thinks about a lot which was good. The best part about Elder Bassett is that even if he's a bit down for a certain reason, he still is happy and has a positive attitude. So it wasn't a terrible issue, but we were able to talk about it and get to know each other better.
Fort Jackson went well too. Our meeting on Saturday was great because we had a little testimony meeting. They are closing 8 sister areas this transfer and so Sister Law and Clemons are getting transferred out after this week. They won't be able to have that area at Fort Jackson anymore. It was also my second to last week at Fort Jackson on Sunday. This Sunday will be my last one. Since the new year starts, ward times are changing and so the ward I serve in won't line up with Fort Jackson anymore. So they will have different missionaries from other wards that have church at the right time go instead. Fort Jackson shuts down after this next week because of Christmas and so this next Sunday will be the last one for me. It's been a really great experience being there. I'm really sad that I won't be able to go there anymore, but the Lord will give me another assignment that I need to do soon. I'm sure there is more I have to do on my mission and I know that God will take me there, help me, and let me grow in whatever assignments I have this next year. Pvt. Shuler was baptized this past Sunday and Elder Bassett and I taught the Restoration class together. It went great!
Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas Season. It's a good reminder that although all the things we have or will have may wither away, the loving gift of Jesus Christ is an eternal gift that we can all share and receive throughout the span of our lives. God loved us enough to give us the powerful gift of His Son, and they both live today and will live and love us forever. If we follow our Savior we will never be susceptible to the afflictions of sadness and death, and we will be able to have joy for longer than time can tell.
Merry Christmas!
Love,
Elder Sean Bills