Christmas week!

Hello everyone!!! Hope you all had great Christmas this year! Mine was pretty exciting. For Christmas Eve, we had a great day with 2 of our new converts. We played some games, ate some great food, and watched Big Hero 6 with them. That movie was incredible. Absolutely loved it. Then on Christmas Day, we started off by going with a member to the hospital to visit one of his friends' mom. They were extremely appreciative of that visit. We've seen that God has been working in their lives to prepare them to receive the Gospel. After that, we went to a member's home for lunch. That was a party hahaha. Again, we had tons of good food and there were tons of kids so it was a bit hectic but still really cool. Then the next day we went to an island. Two of our new converts that were baptized right before I got here live on an island and we went to spend the day after Christmas with them and their family. That day was absolutely awesome. Because now half the family is member's of the Church and the other half is just on the path to getting there. So it was a really sweet day to spend with them and get to know them all better. It was a good Christmas overall.

So I've been studying lots of various topics recently. Here's a bit of what I've been focusing on in the past week.

Elder Maxwell, In a talk entitled "Answer Me" said the following:

"The very process of daily living makes and breaks followers. Life’s stern seasons and storms overturn those not grounded and rooted. (See Eph. 3:17; Col. 1:23; 1 Pet. 5:10.) However, those who “believe and are sure” (John 6:69) about Jesus’ divinity do not panic, for instance, at the arrival of a new volley of fiery darts; they merely hold aloft the quenching shield of faith. (“Answer Me”)"

He speaks here of the daily part of discipleship. I think that's the hardest part for everyone. It is deciding before a decision has to be made to keep the commandments and follow God. That is true. But there are daily decisions we have to make as disciples of Christ. We have to daily decide to be better. We have to daily decide to follow the Spirit. I've seen this so much, especially here in Italy. I choose one week to really focus on being better at a specific thing. But every day after that, I have to decide as soon as a wake up and every second after that to do what I said I would.

In another talk by Elder Maxwell, he quotes two scriptures on the same topic.

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23.)

“live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which [God] doth bestow upon you.” (Alma 34:38.)

Taking up the cross is not a once in a lifetime thing. It is a daily thing. We daily choose to take up the cross, to be Christians and fight for the cause of the Christians. We also but give thanksgiving daily. Nor is gratitude a once in a lifetime or once in a while thing. It is a daily choice. The daily choices are the easiest, the hardest, the most effective, and the most important choices we make because they affect us daily.

I hope you all have a great week and that your Christmas was great and your New Year's Eve and Day will be awesome too! Thanks for everything you all do and the great examples you are for me. Love you all!

Anz. Benjamin Guthrie

Pics - My typewriter and I. Castle in Brescia. Playing piano in the metro station.