HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We’ve had an interesting week with most of the students going home for Christmas break. We’ve spent a lot of time tracting apartment complexes and helping out the family ward Elders. We ran into a couple of Spanish speakers on Saturday and I got to practice un poquito Espanol! One lady, a Jehovah’s Witness, said she was really glad to see what we were doing and said she was happy where she was at in her life. I talked a little about the Book of Mormon; it seemed a lot easier to teach in Spanish for me for some reason. I think I’m going to spend some time studying the Restoration pamphlet in Spanish, in order to teach better. That way, we can teach almost anyone we come in contact with!

Brother Nichols invited us over for Christmas Eve dinner with Sister Nichols and his three daughters. It was a lot of fun as we shared our favorite scriptures and what they meant to us. I don’t think I have a favorite scripture, but I like Mosiah 4:30, which says;

30 But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.

I love the common advice in the Book of Mormon to remember. I also like the sequence outlined in this verse. Thoughts become words which become deeds. If we want to have good deeds then we have to think good thoughts! You can usually tell a lot about the thoughts of others based in how they speak and act.

You can also control a lot of your deeds by simply thinking and speaking positively! In the hospital, my mom encouraged me to follow a past patient’s advice of “fake it ‘til you make it,” just being positive in a hard situation, hoping that things will work out for the better. I tried to apply this, and it really did make my situation a lot easier! The last two years have really brought me closer to Heavenly Father than I’ve ever been, and I’ve grown to appreciate and understand the Atonement just a little bit more.

I am very excited to make a few New Year’s resolutions! What a cool time of year! We get to evaluate our lives and try to improve!

Thank you so much for all of the Christmas gifts! I had a very happy Christmas with Elder Johnson and Elder Roseman, and it was great to try to focus on others this year.

I hope you are all doing well! I hope you had a great Christmas and I hope you have a successful and Happy New Year!

Elder Walters