Elder Collin DeWitt: WEEK SEVENTY

Merry Christmas and Happy Festivus!

(If you aren't familiar with Festivus, ask my parents to direct you to the episode of Seinfeld that it's from. It's the only one I've seen.)

With the whole town of Creston gearing up for Christmas, it was impossible for us to meet with any of our investigators, or potential investigators. Elder Guymon and I weren't really sure what we were going to do, since tracting on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are great ideas if you want to get punched in the face. We sat and thought for a long, long time.

After a while, we decided to think like sister missionaries. Then, the idea immediately popped into Elder Guymon's head: make cookies and deliver them to our people, and sing a Christmas carol. A few problems quickly arose. One, we don't know how to make (good) cookies. Two, we don't have the supplies to make (good) cookies. Three, people might not like our singing. Sure, they won't punch us in the face for bringing them cookies, but if they took one bite of our "Elder's Surprise" cookies, they just might.

So we called up Sister Darby.

Sister Darby makes some pretty dang good cookies, so we asked her to help us make a bunch to bring to the fifteen non-members we had on our list. She pulled through for us, and we had some great cookies to give out. We went around on Christmas Eve, and sang "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful" to each house. Believe it or not, it took us a few houses to nail down a good non-awkward method, but we figured it out. Everyone seemed to appreciate it, and hopefully it was enough to want to invite us back in the New Year.

We also had sushi. The Darby's had signed up for dinner the night that we made cookies, and so after making cookies, we made sushi as well. Now, normally a bunch of white people from the U.S. and Canada trying to make sushi isn't going to turn out nearly as well as it would in Asia. If not Asia, maybe California, but certainly not from Arizona, Utah, and British Columbia.

Au contraire.

You see, Elder Guymon is a professional itamae or sushi chef. He may be a plain white boy from Ogden, Utah, but he can roll a mean sushi. He worked at Golden Ginger, a little family owned restaurant. We ate well that night. I also hadn't had sushi before, so I had nothing to compare it to.

On Christmas Eve, we went over to the Wright's for dinner. (Yes, the same ones from last week.) They have two teenage foreign exchange students staying with them named Rodrigo and Matteo. Matteo is from Spain and Rodrigo is from Brasil. We were sitting on the couch after dinner, and Rodrigo said, "Do you want to hear the second most famous song in the world? It came from my country." As the song started playing, I recognized it as "The Girl from Ipanema". The version of the song he was listening to had Portuguese lyrics, and I told him that there was an English version of the song. He was shocked. I told him to look up "The Girl from Ipanema", and he found a version of the song by Frank Sinatra. He had no idea that it had been translated into English, and he stood up and yelled, "They stole my culture! What?! They stole my culture! Frank Sinatra, I hate you!"

(He was joking of course.)

One of my favorite Christmas songs is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day".

People here have been telling us about all the turmoil and the hate that's going on in the States, and all the divisive social and political issues of today. It's not confined just to government, but it's in our lives every day, both visible and invisible, both in the outside world and inside our homes. There's so much hate and anger in the world today, and it can feel much like it did during the Civil War times:

"It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

With all of the troubles of today, we sometimes will feel the thoughts and feelings come to our mind:

"And in despair I bowed my head;

'There is no peace on earth,' I said;

'For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!'"

My testimony to you is in the following verse:

"Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

'God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men.'"

Brothers and Sisters, God is not asleep. God has not left us alone, cold, and lost. He is awake every second of every day, watching, crying, and cheering for you. But more importantly, He is HELPING you. He is involved in EVERY aspect of your life. Rely on Him and on His Son, who died for you.

In the moments where you feel at the brink of spiritual or emotional death, remember that Jesus Christ, the very Son of the Living God took each strike of the whip, felt each cruel word, suffered every spear in the side and nail in the flesh, and gave a river of His blood to save you. He took it so you wouldn't have to. He takes the last crushing blow for us, so that we can heal. He really did, and don't you EVER forget it.

You might think it will take a miracle to heal a broken country, a broken family, or a broken heart. Brothers and Sisters, the wrong shall fail and the right will prevail, because God has not ceased to be God and He is a God of miracles. He always has been, and always will be.

The wrong shall fail, every time.

The right prevails, every time.

This is the message of Christmas. This is the message of Jesus Christ. Faith. Love. Hope. Not only hope, but a perfect brightness of hope. Not just love, but love of God and all mankind. Not just faith, but faith in Him. Faith in Jesus Christ.

Please spread that peace on earth, and good-will to all men in all that you do. Follow His light. Be a light. Because we need light. Oh, how we need light.

God bless you all. I love you.

Elder DeWitt