Happy New Yurr!!
Aloha family a me friends,
Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!!
Well. Had one of the fastest weeks of my mission to top off one of the fastest years of my life (so far ;). Was it because of Christmas Day? Then Boxing Day (yep official Bermudian holiday where you box up your leftovers and give them out)? Or President and Sister Teuscher coming down for vacation *oh I mean quarterly visit*? Who knows. Honestly. It was probably the triangle. Nothin' new lol.
Familiar family traditions in the holiday seasons of spending time with food and family in Hawaii, buying fireworks early on Dec 26, going semi-pyromaniac on Dec 31, pounding kalo...have been overshadowed by the root of all traditions. And that is: remembering Him.
A tradition is something repeated and has reason. The greatest tradition one can ever have and pass down unto future generations is that of remembering Christ. When tracing and studying the culture of our spiritual genealogy we come to realize that over and over accounts say: "we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ" (2 Nephi 25:26).
It is through these repeated actions that a foundation is created. Brick upon brick. Layer upon layer. But what if one day we fail to do the small things? Fail to keep on the tradition? Well. The foundation becomes weaker and it gives way to allow the adversary to creep in. And as we all know, creepers, they aren't great people lol. So...
"15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work."
So going back to the roots. The root of all traditions is remembering Christ every day.
And I know, without a shadow of a doubt, if we remain rooted in Christ, we will not fall. We will grow. We will prosper. We will reach out to those in need. We will touch the hearts of men. And in return we will, simply, be happy. And what more could we want.
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| Gombey art! |
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| Lol. This Christmas tree is only halfway lit. Thought I'd share with you all. |
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| Merry Christmas from Vineyard Vines! |
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| Beanies made by Sister Moss herself <3 |
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| Shoutout to the Teuscher for bringing three suitcases full of packages for the missionaries down here. Thank you so much for all the goodies :) Me, my companion, and the people of Bermuda are so grateful |
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| Tried to get the background. But heres just a selfie of us instead haha |
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| Found this little private beach that we decided to do some daily contacting at! So pretty |
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| Our Indian friend! |
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| Long walks on the beach on Christmas morning |
Randoms:
1) Ate at two members homes for Christmas dinner. Ran up to the senior couples home and got to talk to my ohana <3 Theyre the same kooks as before :)
2) Little birthday shoutout to my Sister Felix this past Dec 27 :') hope Nigeria is treating you well now
3) Our little Indian man that we are teaching is going back to India this week for two months. It takes him 6 hours to get to church and he told us that hes going to go and take pictures for us. So cute.
4) Facebook finding miracle Brazilian guy. SO legit. Literally we go and find out he was taught 10 years ago and just felt like something kept telling him to start reading the Book of Mormon again. Literally one of the most prepared people ever. Stay tuned
5) One of our people came to church. We found him through facebook. We are so certain he is a member. I was like "look me dead in the eyes and tell me you arenʻt a member". And guess what? He couldn't do it. Lol. No surprise. He said "your eyes too green". Excuses excuses
6) President Teuscher came and had a little mini zone conference with us. It was so fun and so surreal that he was actually and finally here! We had interviews outside and he let us have as long as we wanted. It was so nice
7) Hehe got three beanies this Christmas...not like I need anymore. But now I know that I will stay nice and warm this winter :)
Me ke CHOKE aloha,
Sister Ellis
Believe, Love, Do
p.s. im finishing the Book of Mormon tonight :-) #FollowTheProphet