Luke 2: 9-14 -> "And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."


Dear family and friends,

This week was sooo good. Dang it was crazy. Elder Enger and I had a good time and worked hard and God blessed us and lead us to some really cool people. We're emailing super quick today because we moved our P-day to Saturday because we're going to Amsterdam to see some light festival and today we had a bunch of appointments so we kind of had to move it. 

First of all we weren't able to meet with Diana again this week due to work but we saw her Sunday and she is still super excited and will be thinking/praying about a doop datum this coming week. We'll see her at the ward Christmas party on Friday. We had dinner with Asmare on Saturday and were able to share a President Monson talk with her about Christmas and that was nice. I love President Monson. Such a good man. I think it was his talk during the Christmas devotional last year maybe because I don't think he spoke in the one this year.

On Tuesday we got this referral from a member. She called us and told us she was talking to her neighbor, Gracia, and Gracia just told her that she's having a hard time and worrying a lot about the future and about the life after this and everything. So the member told her that the elders could come by and talk with her and give her a blessing... well we just happen to be the elders so we had the opportunity to get in contact with Gracia and set up an appointment that day. We shared the Plan of Salvation with Gracia and her son Giorgio and them gave her a blessing of comfort. It was a super cool experience and they both had lots of questions and when we asked if they wanted to learn more, they both were very open and excited to invite us back and we set up an appointment for Friday... which fell through because Giorgio had to work and he wanted to be there for the lesson. So we rescheduled for Monday, today, and we were able to visit them for a little bit and share the Restoration. When we got there Gracia was feeling very sick and said she thought about calling us to tell us not to come but for some reason didn't. We asked if she wanted to reschedule and she said no that it was fine so we told her we could keep it short. It was funny though because once we started the lesson Gracia seemed to start feeling a little better and she brightened up a little bit and talked a lot. Giorgio also was participating and they both seemed to understand the concept of the apostasty and the need for a restoration. I mean it wasn't the cleanest lesson, I'm sure we didn't explain everything perfectly and that some stuff was missed, but the Spirit was there and they both accepted the invitation to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true. Giorgio, who is 18, said that he would just read a chapter every day and that should be fine. Haha they're awesome. We're going back next Thursday and Gracia's daughter will also be there. Apparently she would also like to learn about the message. Cool. Elder Enger had the opportunity to give Gracia a blessing before we left today to help her to get better and that was super cool too. They're an awesome family and it's weird that we only met them a week ago.

There were more miracles, don't worry. Lots of "4th floor, last door" experiences. We met Alida and her daughter Gwen (last door we were going to knock before leaving the area) on Wednesday. They are super cool. We shared the "Light the World" video and then a Book of Mormon. Alida said we could come back in the New Year and share the back story of it, and Gwen said she and her mother would read the book. Go Gwen. We met Vincent on Friday. That was cool because it had been a pretty unproductive day and a few appointments had fallen through so our zin to work wasn't really there but we decided to go out in the evening anyway and knock some doors. Vincent was the last door we knocked. He's Dutch and he let us in to watch the Christmas video (it was weird, that doesn't happen too often with Dutch people), and then we chatted a bit and he told us his Aunt is Mormon. He accepted a Book of Mormon and also said that in the New Year we can come back... the holidays are a busy time for a lot of people, we get it. It's okay it's only two weeks. Last one was on Saturday before an appointment. We were knocking some doors and it was nice because lots of people were home and pretty friendly. I didn't expect that for 10:30 on a Saturday morning but it was nice. The last door we knocked before we had to go to our appointment was Jette. She is a very smiley Dutch woman who is very open to new things and was very excited to hear and learn a little about the Book of Mormon. She took it graciously and said that... in the New Year (you guessed it) we can come back. It was a super cool week though.

I just want to bear my testimony of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful that He was sent to this earth and that He was born, lived, and died for me and for my family and for the Dutch and for everyone. Because of Him life has a purpose and we have the opportunity to return back our Heavenly Father. I'm thankful for the opportunity that I have to wear His name on my chest every day for two years and to allow Him to work through me to help others to grow in faith, and to change their lives as they learn about and accept His restored gospel. It's a wonderful time to be alive and to be a missionary. 

Merry Christmas to everyone and to my family... I'll see you on Sunday!!!

Love,
Elder Wright




Pics - Johan Johan Johan!, Nick our ward mission leader



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