So... while I have
dreamt of a white Christmas for months... it was not to be. All of the
snow from last Monday melted before Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day,
there was not one snowflake to be found in the entire town. It was
slightly depressing. However, two days after Christmas, we got about 6
inches of snow and the temperature plummeted to like -15 degrees
Celsius. It's getting pretty cold now. I have this feeling like, "What
did I get myself into...?" But I also am having a TON of fun driving in
the snow. I have learned how to drift with the hand brake. No Mom, I
promise I don't use it all the time. Just when we need to take a tight
turn to get out of a parking space or something. And possibly a couple
other times. :P
Christmas dinner here was
something else. We ate with a Haitian family, the Jeremie's. Sister
Jeremie told us like a week in advance she wanted us to come over for
dinner and told us to free up our night for three hours. Then her
daughter, Claire, walked up to me and said, "Trust me. You don't want to
eat for three days before hand. Mom told me what she's going to make
and you will explode." Well, we didn't believe her.
We should have.
We
had turkey and ham and vegetables and rice and more rice and more
vegetables and seafood lasagna and some sort of really good potato soup
and like five other dishes I forgot. Every time Elder Gutierrez and I
finished our plates and said we couldn't eat another bite... she brought
out another three plates of a new dish. We thought we were going to
die. Seriously. Then she gave us cake and ice cream and we REALLY
thought we were going to die. We both had to sleep on our backs all
night because if we tried to roll to either side we would have blown up.
It was the worst. And also the best. Yay for Haitian food!!! :)
I
suppose the funniest thing that happened this week would be that I was
told by one of our members that, as 18 and 19 year old elders, we are
"in danger of cougars." I was like, "What?" Here I am thinking there are
real live cougars roaming the streets of Victoriaville.
No. That's not what he meant. And now I'm a little weirded out by that particular member.
Oh.
And his wife also had a dream that she told us about. Apparently she
dreamed that she was attending Elder Gutierrez' and I's double wedding.
She told us she couldn't tell us what our wives looked like in the
dream, then started laughing at our confused and slightly freaked out
faces. We walked away. Marriage is a long long ways away. No need to
worry about that.
Alright. Now that the weird stuff is out of the way.
I
want to talk about Matthew 5:14-16. In these verses, the Lord compares
those who follow Him to the "light of the world." He makes an important
comparison between Christians and candles.
This
particular analogy has been on my mind for a while. Why did He use the
imagery of a candle? I would imagine it is because a candle, once lit,
can be picked up and placed anywhere that the Master deems needs its
light. The only thing we, as His candles, need to do is to keep our
light of faith lit and keep sharing it with those around us.
As
I've been thinking about being the Lord's "candles," I realized
something very key. If the Master needs us to light up the world...
isn't it natural that we would be placed in the darker corners of His
worldwide household? What good would a bright candle be if placed next
to ten others in a brilliantly lit room?
For
all who believe and desire to follow Jesus the Christ, the call will
come to stand as a light... in the darkness. Let us recognize the
ability we have, as servants of our Redeemer, to fill the shadows of
doubt and disbelief with our faith in Him, who is the Way, the Truth,
and the Light.
I love the Savior. I love our
Father in Heaven. And as this year rolls around, my New Year's
Resolution is to show my love for them in every way that I can.
En avant!
Elder Bryan McOmber
No comments :
Post a Comment