Elder Carston Mark Calder

  Merry Christmas, my dear friends.  I don't have a lot to say, but here's something that I've been contemplating today. It's not traditionally considered a Christmas song, but as it's centered on Jesus Christ (who's birthday we're celebrating) I thought it was appropriate to listen to one of my favorite songs in the hymnal. The song is "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul." You've all likely heard the song before and seen the lyrics, so I won't copy/paste them here. You can look them up if you're curious.  But I was just listening to that song this morning as I was cleaning, and the words brought a peaceful feeling to my heart. I'm not a very good singer, so I can't praise the Lord in song in the way I'd like to, but as I listened to the cover of the song in the "Beloved Missionary Hymns" in the Sacred Music App, I felt like the words they were singing echoed my own testimony, my own prayers, and the way I feel about Jesu...

  I haven't done much this week since I've been down with the flu. Elder Levy, our district leader, has also been sick so he and I spent 4 days bumming around our apartment while our companions tried to manage missionary work in a combined 4-ward area.  It's been a little boring, but some of you may be excited to learn that I've turned again to that time-honored sick day activity, studying the Old Testament!  I read through the entire 1st and 2nd Books of the Kings (1/2 Samuel). It was definitely a wild ride. I got to read about: -Samson murdering a whole bunch of people with the jawbone of a donkey, and then him being betrayed by The Worst Wife of All Time 4 different times and never thinking that perhaps he shouldn't be married to her. -the insane story of why the tribe of Benjamin is the smallest tribe of the house of Israel. Go look it up, I don't know if I can really do it justice over email. -David winning the hand of the daughter of Saul in marriage by br...