Merry Christmas

Hi everyone!

   I suppose you are all wondering what the merry Christmas heading is for. Well, I'll tell you. Today is the 25th, so it's Christmas! Our zone has been celebrating Christmas all week by singing Christmas hymns in class, and that's pretty much it. But we did do a little secret santa with a couple of the districts, which was really fun. Everyone pretty much just bought candy or stickers or something like that for their person, but some of the presents were really clever and funny. 

   We had an awesome Tuesday night devotional this week! Elder Clayton from the seventy came, and he was really good. It was fun because he was pretty casual with us, and had us recite a couple scriptures and sing a song and some stuff like that. He was also pretty funny. And he was super spiritual. All of that made for a great devotional. I can't remember all the specifics of what he said, but I'll share a thought that I had during it. Before I came into the MTC, I was convinced that hard work was the secret to a mission. If all you did was work super hard, you would do great. But soon after I got here I realized that it is actually the spirit that is super important. And then I realized that charity and love is super important. And humility and good study habits and communication skills and etc etc etc. So I've been trying to find the right balance between all of these things, and then it hit me during the devotional. I need to put forth 100% hard work. And 100% charity. And 100% have the spirit, and humility, french, and so on. But I only have 100% to give, and that's obviously not enough to be the missionary I need to be. Then it hit me. That's what Christ is for. If I put forth my 100%, he will help me with everything else. And He won't just help me be sufficient, but much much more. It's like the story of him feeding all those people with the loaves and fishes. I give all I have, and he multiplies it more than I can even imagine. And he doesn't only do this with missionaries, but for everyone. I know that if you just put forth your small amount of talents and abilities, Christ will help you touch the lives of more than you even know.

   Now it is time for me to share a funny story. I know that's why you all read these anyway, which is why I felt obligated to put the spiritual stuff first, so you'd actually read it. Anyway, remember the tie trading I was talking about a few weeks ago? Well there was an elder in my district who had a tie lots of people wanted, so he emailed home and had his parents send him a few more of the same tie so he could trade them all. We were talking about how much the value of his ties went down when he did that though, so it was a  bad idea on his part to do this. Elder Parks went on for a little while about how much that will effect the value of his tie and yadda yadda, (mostly joking of course, we don't actually take tie trading that seriously. At least me and Elder Parks don't). Well then Elder Parks went on to say that even though his tie wasn't amazing, it was the only one like that around, so the value of it was actually really high, and he was pretty proud about that. About a half hour later we were walking around the residence, and saw another Elder with the exact same tie that Elder Parks had. It was pretty funny. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm sure it was a lot funnier then than it is to read right now. Sorry. Just laugh anyway. Thanks.

   Well, it's been a great week for me overall, and I hope it has for all of you too. I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that he loves us and wants to help us! Prayer is real, and the spirit is whispering to you, you just have to listen! I love you all! Well, most of you at least. Just kidding! All of you! 

Love, Elder Kerr