Jesus is the Christ

Merry Christmas!

In the Philippines, if you're in the "-ber" months, it's Christmas. September, October, November, December-- They're all Christmas. 

This week was the busiest week ever, mostly just because the Masskara festival was going on and it was NUTS. Our offices is literally like a few hundred feet away from the thing and it was SO hard being so close. We would be sitting in the office trying to get work done and they would be blasting music straight from Babylon. They straight up closed one of the two main streets going in and out of Bacolod and so the traffic was horrible. It was quite an adventure... There was one day that we had to go to the hospital to take a sister that dislocated her knee and it took us like an hour to get there when it normally takes about 10-15 minutes. This is pretty much what happened to us all week and we drove a LOT. There was actually one time, and I think I even got a picture, where the traffic got so bad and so packed that I had to fold in my mirrors to fit through. It really made me feel like a man. I imagine it is the same connection a captain gets to his sea-vessel.

This week was quite a testimony-builder for me-- probably one of the most influential for me up to this point. I am now beginning to better understand grace and mercy and exactly how powerful the love of Christ is... I grew closer to my Savior and am beginning to recognize His voice and the way the Spirit communicates with me. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that He can comfort us because he understands. And His understanding of what we're passing through in mortality is what allows him to take those burdens; those big-- sometimes even small-- burdens that we all have. The insights, knowledge, and pondering I have had this week with the Spirit as my teacher have shown me so much that I didn't quite understand up until now. I thought about his life here on earth; his humility, love, and desire for all to see the big picture that was being blatantly ignored. He was rejected, spat upon, blamed, falsely accused, and condemned for doing the will of His Father. He took upon himself our sins and he died, to save us the pains that we would inevitably have faced had he not pressed forward to the end of his life mission. Christ did all of these things for us, suffered all of these pains for us, and doesn't even ask for us to repay him. He knows we can't and he doesn't want us to; He simply wants us to follow him.

Interesting week for sure... As I had all of these amazing experiences, it was so interesting to watch people as we drove through the festival. I felt as though I saw the world from God's eyes for just a few moments and thought about how trivial the pursuits of our daily lives truly are. All of these people thought they were having the time of their lives(and they sure looked like it), but I knew that they were not feeling the same peace that I had. It was all still tempting (all the food and souvenirs looked so awesome), but I knew that what I already have in my life is so much more permanent than the happiness they were experiencing in that moment.

That's all I have to report on this week. Have a nice day :)

Elder Welton

We went up to Sagay(again) to look at some new apartment option. We got to go up to Alimatoc(Elder Cicon's first area) which is SO far up in the mountains. It was so pretty up there. Here are some poorly taken pictures for you to enjoy.