Merry Christmas

Hello Everyone and Merry Christmas,

This week was a very busy week for me and I did a lot of traveling this week because with Christmas here now and the end of the year approaching I have been pretty busy. This past week I have traveled from Paracale, Camarines Norte to Naga City, Camarines Sur twice and that is a pretty far distance I have to take 2 big buses and total travel time takes about 5 hours most of the time. The reason that I have been traveling to Naga was because this past week we had our Philippines Naga Mission Christmas Conference and so we all met up in Naga City and we had sort of a Christmas Party/Conference type activity. I enjoyed it as I did last year we played games and gave presentations and had a lot of food I sang a solo of Away in a Manger and it was pretty good and I think that everyone had a good time. We also had our Paracale Branch Christmas Party and it went well also we there were games and food and different activities and I also sang a solo of O Holy Night and that was pretty good even though that it was sort of last minute so if you are noticing a theme I have been singing a lot this week because we were supposed to have a Mission Christmas Choir again this year and back when I was in the office in October I helped to start make the beginning preparations with Sister Zapanta but for various reasons the choir fell through and that was fine, so as a result I sort of adopted "Elf's" philosophy of spreading Christmas Cheer so I said to myself the best way to spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to hear, so that is what I have been doing to past few days or so and I have been spreading Christmas Cheer that way and I think that people's lives have been lifted because of that.

We also had some great lessons this past week and first off I was surprised that we had some new investigators that came to church yesterday and I was very happy about that we had a great lesson with the investigator family that we have been working on that needs to be married, they have been reading the Book Of Mormon a lot as a couple and they have been letting it change their lives which I think is awesome for me it is awesome to see the Book of Mormon change peoples lives because it for sure has changed my life and I have been honored to have accepted the call to help other come to know of the truthfulness of the gospel that lies on the pages of the Book of Mormon. We also have found some other investigators and I think this next month there are going to be big things happening here in Paracale, because one thing that we have really been working on is the Priesthood situation because there are not many Priesthood holders here in the Paracale Branch and it sort of mind boggles me that it is that way but that is why I think that I am here is to help out that situation some.

I hope that all of you are having a wonderful Christmas I hope that wherever you are there is snow and that you are having great family time or you are hanging out with friends or whoever is close to you. I know that Christ's birth was a very humble occurring and I know that sometimes in the world that we live in it can be tough to remember that because of  our busy schedules, all of the things that we have to do etc. but I know that as we take time to pause and ponder about our Savior Jesus Christ we will draw nearer to our Heavenly Father and we will further understand what he desires of us while we are here on Earth and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas from the Philippines.

Love,

Elder Chilson      

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4:45am Skype with Elder Chilson on Christmas morning.