Happy Christmas!

Hello my friends and family!

It's Christmas already! I think you will agree with me that December is always the fastest month of the year. That combined with about a thousand other things has made this last week cruise by.

Last Tuesday we were able to go to the temple with a third of our mission. The temple is always a highlight. Seeing other missionaries and being able to spend time with them is always great but by far the best part is the spirit that I felt both in the temple and in a meeting with President Gubler afterward. I love President Gubler so much! He loves the Lord, and this work, and us; you can see it in his face and in everything he does.

Christmas week is going to be a lot of fun! We have plans to do a lot of special things for some of our friends this week. We have received a lot of help from them and members of our ward this past few weeks so we will do what we can to help them out and ease their burden's this week.

We moved Nadir's baptismal date this week so that he could sort something's out with work and some other things. It isn't something we are sad about because his faith is unbreakable but we all want to make sure he is ready and able to have the greatest blessings that come as he does these things. We are looking forward to that soon!

I love the Lord and am grateful more than anything to be able to serve Him. I am surely still learning, but I've learned more in this past year what it means to give than I ever have. It is much easier said than done, but I am doing all that I can to give everything to Him. I know that He lives. I know He lives because I have kept His commandments and know that they come from a loving Heavenly Father that knows infinitely better than we do. (John 7:17) I know He lives because I have sought to lose my life in His service, and found more of myself than I could ever know was there. (Matt 16:25) I know that He lives because I have felt the power and love of His redemption fill every part of my soul and change and heal the broken and unsettled parts of me. Give all you can to Him and all of His children and I know that you will experience greater joy this Christmas than you have before.

I love you dearly.

Happy Christmas! 😉

Elder Draney