Merry Christmas from SLC!

Hey, everyone!

Okay, so the transfers finally happened, after much anticipation. Now, even though you received my E-mail on Saturday today (or at least my Mom did, and I'm assuming she distributes it the day she receives it - thanks Mom!), this is not my actual P-Day; however, apparently there's a big celebration going on this next Tuesday, so I decided I ought to instead take it today, at least for this week. In other news, I was taken out of my previous district and took lead over another one, which otherwise remained quite intact. This means that I was taken away from Elder Cole, the longest companion who I ever had on the mission (that's right, Elder Black, your record has been beaten). My latest companion is Elder Showgren, who has been out about 6 months now. He had come to the mission from just Lehi, Utah, but his family has moved around a lot; they currently live in Wisconsin. Now, you are probably wondering what zone I am in. Well, I have been moved to *insert drumroll here* nowhere; I am still in Data Services. I had talked to President about my having been there for a long time, as I may have mentioned last week, saying that though I wouldn't mind being moved, I would stay there if he needed to keep me there. Though he was also interested in getting me moved, the staff and others wanted to hold onto the experienced missionaries for as long as possible; therefore, it seems that I am spending the remainder of my mission here. As I had promised, I am alright with this; there are still things which I can do while I am here, and I anticipate being able to get done as much as I can with what time I have left. (yes, this makes me the Elder Tolley of the zone.)
The work in the zone has been very slow as Christmas approaches, even during the daytime. Usually, I can find things to do to keep me busy as I wait for work to come rolling in; I've been keeping myself occupied with family history research (which, for my tree, is often like pushing up against a brick wall), indexing, creating new training material for the missionaries in the zone, and occasionally reading inspirational posts and general conference talks on lds.org. I even decided, at one point, to improve my typing skills by typing out the autobiography of one of my ancestors. (It was quite an interesting life story.) I guess such work is the nature of the beast; the work sometimes comes in, and it sometimes does not. I guess one way to tell who a hard worker is what one does in the latter situation. Anyone in the zone can take a phone call and at least attempt to solve the patron's problem; however, lack of work to be sometimes translates into things becoming a bit casual for others in the zone. I make no claims to perfection here; I sometimes stumble in this regard as well; my efforts, however, on doing the best I can to do the tasks assigned to me as I work in the zone. I feel others also have the same goals in mind, in working as hard as possible. As for whether the lights in the zone had been turned on for Saturdays yet... I don't know; I have not been there, due to my taking P-Day today. (What, do my E-mails from my work computer?? That's crazy!)

Christmastime has been bringing with it much anticipation and activities. There will be a couple of days off at the beginning of next week; though the work isn't that bad, it is nice to have some time off. Besides, there are gifts from home which I had been resisting the temptation to open for quite some time now, and a day needs to come when all will be revealed, so to speak. I am looking forward to this nice holiday, especially the holiday dinner which we will all be having! I did promise to make a cheesecake for that, and so I will be picking up ingredients for it when I am out shopping today. Aside from this, I am still very much thankful for all the Christmas cards which I have received from home. Some of you may have received my thank-you's in the mail by now; if you do not receive them by Christmas, I do apologize, but I promise that you will receive one. The mission will be watching the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" later this evening, which will be a nice addition to our holiday celebrations. We will also have a young elder get-together on Christmas Eve; in fact, rumor has it that Santa himself will come down to visit, as he did last year! So, there is much that is special for us to look forward to!

The mission also had a mission conference, with a special message from President and Sister Fenn regarding what it is that we celebrate this Christmas season. Now, the young elders were invited to attend the Wednesday mission conference, but due to my obligations in the Elijah Choir, I was required to attend both this one and the one the next day, right after my leadership meeting for the day. This was fine by me; I enjoy attending such meetings, and being able to perform beautiful music for such events. I didn't even have to wake up early for two days in a row for this - I only had to wake up early for the first conference! To summarize what was shared, we went over what can be learned from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon regarding the birth of our Lord and Savior. The story itself was told with both content from the Bible and some clarifying historical content to provide some extra context to what exactly went on; the mission was then taught the Doctrine of Divine Sonship, which allows the Atonement to be made possible. It's always great to be able to hear from President Fenn as he teaches us in such conferences as this; it will be one of the things which I will miss when I finally return home. (I may not have been born in time to have Bruce R. McConkie as a mission president, but we got the next best person!)

Well, this is about all I have for the week. Thanks again for the support you have been giving me this Christmas season. I hope that all of you have a great week and a merry Christmas!



From,

Elder Bryce Petersen

(Sorry about having forgotten to BCC you in my E-mails, Elder Black.)

Rather than giving a challenge (you all have quite a few of those by now), I feel that it would be of more worth to share my testimony of the importance of the Christmas season, as it is so important to God's plan for his children. Because he had loved us, he had prepared a plan that we may return to live again with Him. Because of this, mankind had to fall that we would be able to experience mortality on our own. However, the distance between us and God was impossible for us to be able to bridge on our own. Therefore God had sent His only begotten Son down to Earth. This is what we celebrate this Christmas season, for were it not for the divine nature of His birth, His Atonement would not have been possible. However, he was conceived by the power of God and the power of the Holy Ghost; as God was His literal Father, and Mary his literal mother, he inherited traits which made the Atonement possible. From Mary, he inherited traits of mortality: the ability to suffer, the ability to experience weakness in the flesh, and most importantly, the ability to die. However, from God, he had inherited perfection - He was sinless, and therefore exempt from the effects of the Fall. Therefore, he could not die unless He willed it Himself. Therefore His suffering could be infinite, and it was so that He could redeem us. Most importantly, however, this power he inherited over death gave Him the ability to reclaim His own life and come forth as a resurrected Being, allowing us all to one day be able to do the same. I know this to be true, as through His suffering, I have been healed from both sin and sorrow, and have gained the ability to change. I know that it is through Christ that this could have happened, for salvation comes by none other. This is what we celebrate this Christmas season - that Christ had come down to serve us, suffer for us, die for us, and burst forth from the grave for us. May you remember all of these eternal truths as you celebrate this Christmas season, that you may remember that it is by Christ that we have received the greatest gifts that could ever be given, even the gift of eternal life. Such is my testimony, given in Christ's name, amen.