I LOVE Christmas!

Hey family! WOAH! James is coming to the best mission in the world? YEAH! WOO HOO! Ha ha no way. That is so cool and I am so so SO excited! I'm going to be praying hard that we can be companions. I was thinking about that a while back and how great that would be. Yeah! Man, I love James. I can't wait to see him =] Do you know if he was called as an English speaking missionary or Portuguese?

I hope your week was as wonderful as mine! The Lord has blessed me so much. First of all, I wanted to say sorry about mentioning anything about those cd's. That was stupid of me and I feel bad. I am SO thankful to have received them and I absolutely love all the songs there! It is a wonderful mix and I love them. :) I don't think I really need anything for Christmas, so go ahead and focus your giving efforts on others around you who are less fortunate please! I have so much and have no complaints. Life couldn't be better.

It's so interesting to see - so far my mission has been a pattern of ups and downs. Whenever I have been up for a while I can just know that a downtime or trial is going to be coming. However, I think I'm going to be able to handle them much better from now on! Destinee told me about something President Collings told her. He said that he has learned to enjoy the down times in his life because he knows that tremendous blessings are on their way after! He also cautioned that those are the times when we need to double up our effort to be righteous, but we can take comfort and hope in the fact that better things are coming. Isn't that a great thought? It is very true, too. Joseph Smith said (I've told you before but I love the quote lol), "Sometimes the Lord must bring us low so that he can then lift us higher." It went something along those lines. Oh, cool fact - apparently you can buy that dvd now. I guess it comes in the Doctrine and Covenants study dvd.

Mom, that was truly a miracle with the primary program! Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I shared that with Elder Stock and we were both amazed. You, as well as all of the primary children, have some amazing faith. Thanks for your wonderful examples.

How is Coach Allen doing? He is in my prayers. How was Aunt Lor's wedding? Congrats by the way Aunt Lor! :)

This past week as part of my personal study I read the December Ensign. Wow, I would encourage you to read it when you have some quiet time to yourself. It really helped me realize how much I have and how blessed I am. There are so many wonderful stories in there. I especially loved the 3 stories about the 3 generations of a family. A grandfather, his son, and his grandson, and how they helped others around them have a Merry Christmas.

It is definitely weird being here in Florida during this season, but the spirit of the Christmas Season is very apparent. This past week it was up to 85 one day (we were sweating and hot lol), and then around 60 the next. This morning it was cold - 42. That's not really cold, but it was more so than normal. It will be weird coming back to Utah weather :) It is kind of funny though because Elder Stock and I will be walking around just fine without jackets or anything and we see people all bundled up tight in coats and jackets and they are like, "Aren't you guys FREEZING?!?" But really, it's not cold at all compared to back home.

I learned that it is important not to do drugs or alcohol (well, rather, that concept was just reinforced). We were talking to a lady this week who was drunk as a skunk. Yes, I made up that term, but it fits. Either drunk or high.. anyway she and her boyfriend were sitting at their computer listening to "Miss American Pie" thinking about the good old days I guess. We were talking to her and said, "It's pretty cold out huh?" And she was like, "Yeah. Yeah! Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah!" And then she fell backwards a couple steps. I felt bad, but at the same time it was really funny.

Hey Dad, random note - I am your son! Ha ha you'll never guess how I found out this week. I was taking off my shoes after a long day... and decided to smell my shoe. Well, the good news is that it didn't stink! In fact, it smelled just like your shoes did when you used to have me and Mindy take them off after a long day of hard work :) It was kind of fun to remember that and think that I'm like you! Cool huh?

Alright, so on a more serious note, last night was one of the best nights of my mission ever. We were able to attend the Christmas devotional at the Eustis stake center. One fun part of it was that I got to see many of the Leesburg ward members that I knew! Before it started, the stake had an amazing program called "Sing Noel" where the youth and ysa's of the stake put together this awesome Christmas singing program. It was so good! The audience sang a few of the songs with them, and then at the end we were all singing a few hymns before the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. The Spirit was incredibly powerful, one of the strongest I've felt before! I was thinking about so many wonderful things as we sang together, and felt a little bit of home as I was thinking about years past and being together with all of you. There is definitely a power that comes with worshiping through song and music. My favorite part was when we sang "O Holy Night" together. I know that's Dad's favorite Christmas song, and it's mine as well. It was so wonderful to be singing about the Savior and thinking about all He has done for me, and for all of us. It was one of those moments where the things of the world seem to completely fade out and you really get a glimpse of just how true the gospel is. It was incredibly refreshing, and song was such a great way to express my feelings for the Savior. I would encourage you to read the lyrics to "O Holy Night" and sing it as a family. I especially love the verse that says something like, "Christ is the Lord! Oh praise His name forever!"

And then, to top it all off, was the wonderful Christmas devotional. That was absolutely amazing. President Monson is the Lord's Prophet, that's for sure! Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf are surely inspired as well. I loved the hymn that talked about what we will give as our gift to the Savior (tum-a tum-tum... that one). I have been thinking about that a lot, and I have a pretty good idea of what I will give Him over this next year. Isn't Christmas a wonderful time? It draws us to the Savior, and it's such a great time of reflection, gratitude, forgiveness, rejoicing, and renewed commitment. I loved what President Monson said, "Our degree of happiness corresponds to the degre we have turned our hearts and minds to the Savior." That is so true. We don't need worldy posessions to be happy. All we really need is Jesus Christ. The gospel is free to everyone! How wonderful is our God for making it that way. As Latter-day Saints we have been blessed with the truth. What better gift can we give to those around us than to go and share the gospel with them? I am excited to get back to work this week and share this wonderful message with everyone we meet. Being a full-time missionary is such an honor and blessing to me, and I will forever be thankful to the Lord for this opportunity. I have really learned a lot (and am still learning each day) how much I love you. You are one huge evidence of God's love for me. Why was I blessed with such a wonderful family who loves and cares for one another? I really don't know. All I know is that I want to help as many people as I possibly can to come unto Christ so they can experience what I have in my personal and family life. I love you all so much! Know you are constantly in my thoughts and prayers. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you, or if you receive any promptings or advice or anything like that for me :) I need to learn all that I can. I love you!

-Elder Andrew Beckett