Week 64 Feliz Navidad! 12/21/15

Hi, Mom. So, we haven't had our Christmas party yet, because I think we're going to be travelling to Guayaquil tomorrow, as opposed to today, like we thought. But not to worry, because we will be having it some time this week. Also, I'm just as excited as all of you guys are to Skype call this Christmas Day. I still haven't got the other package, but it should be coming extremely soon (if it isn't just here already, waiting for me). This Christmas has actually got me thinking a lot about how many people, myself included, forget the true meaning of Christmas. Not only that, but many of us believe that the best gift of Christmas is, for example, a massage chair. As awesome as a massage chair would be for a Christmas present, I still personally think that the best gift that we have ever been given on Christmas wasn't one that was wrapped, didn't cost a dime, and was given to us by a very loving Father. This Christmas, just as I explained about our Christmas Initiative, our goal as missionaries has been to help others grasp that God loves us enough to send His Only Begotten Son to the Earth to become our Savior. Without Jesus Christ and His Condescension, we never would have had a way to overcome Spiritual Death nor Physical Death. Because of the Atonement, we can now Repent, and we now know that we can Resurrect. Before that, as it says in Ecclesiastes, we would (more or less) cease to exist after we would die here on Earth. Just think about it... Jesus Christ was a God, like His Father. He didn't have to condescend, nor bleed from every pore for us. But He did. As too simple as it sounds, Jesus Christ already paid the toll for us and our sinful lives. I apologize in advance if I sound very direct about this subject, but the Atonement occupies an extremely large part of my testimony. If it weren't for Jesus Christ's Birth, Ministry, and Atoning Sacrifice, I truly don't know where I'd be, or what I would be doing in my life right now. Yet, right now, I'm a missionary, and I am here, in Ecuador (specifically El Empalme) to help others with the difficulties that they're going through, and to let them know that there is at least one who understands their pains, their afflictions, their, sins, their sadness, and can take it all away... If we let Him, if we follow Him, if we love Him, and if we accept Him for who He is, and for what He's done for each and every one of us. I love you guys so much, and I can't wait to see and hear from you guys this coming Christmas!

Con Sinceridad y Amor,

Elder Conner Duane "Poderoso" Parke