Merry Christmas!!

Dear Everyone,

 Merry Christmas!!! I hope that all of you back home are having a good time celebrating this wonderful time of the year! I really love Christmas time. Even though the weather isn't the best, it's still my favorite time of the year. It's even better to celebrate Christmas in Taiwan because the weather isn't even a problem! I'm really grateful for the Spirit that Christmas brings to missionary work. I'm thankful for the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for each and every one of us. I'm thankful that because of His sacrifice for us, we are able to overcome the challenges and obstacles that we all face. I love watching the videos: Because of Him, and also, Because He Lives. They are really powerful and really simple and powerfully illustrate the importance of what Christ did for us.

"Because Of Him"  https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-00-1420-because-of-him?lang=eng 

"Because He Lives" https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-he-lives?lang=eng 

  This week has been a lot of fun. Elder Cole and I are having a good time together and trying our hardest to find effective ways of doing the work in the rural areas of Xihu.  We have worked very hard so far, and I believe that with continued diligence, eventually we will start to see some results from our efforts. I am really enjoying serving here and this time has really helped me to learn a lot of new things! This week we also got to celebrate some Christmas activities. The ward has been really good at getting some parties together. Actually one of the members is a teacher at a smaller school here and she invited us and a few other members to put on a little show for the students after school. It was so much fun! It was a school for kids from about 6 to 14 and the majority of them were really young. They wanted us to share the Christmas story and sing some Christmas songs for everyone. So Elder Cole and I got up on the stage and told the story and showed the pictures we had drawn (they didn't look very good) and they all loved it! Most of the kids, because they live so far out in the country had never seen American's in person so they went crazy when we walked in haha. It was insane! Then after the show, we did a little question and answer thing where we'd ask some questions to see if the kids remembered anything and then we would give them candy if they got it right. I asked them "How can Jesus help us?" no one raised their hand and they all sat, thinking of how to respond. Then, finally a little boy hesitantly raised his hand and said "He gives presents to the kids." I guess he's technically right. So I gave him some candy.

  We also had a ward Christmas party with food, a little video, and a talent show. They roped Elder Cole and I into singing a duet, so that was fun. It actually sounded pretty good haha. All in all we had a great week, and I'm excited for this next week. I hope you all have a great Christmas!! I can skype my time 10am on Christmas morning. Which is probably 7 pm  your time Christmas eve. I don't know what the user name will be that I'm using though. I'm super excited to talk with you all though!!


  Have a very Merry Christmas!

Love, 
Elder Stevens

My MTC Companions!  Nice Reunion

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