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This week was a wild one and definitely flew by. Merry Christmas to everyone reading this letter, I feel so weird to be not with my family for Christmas and to not really celebrate as much. This week we were out of our area for 4 days due to some shenanigans.
We had Zone conference on Tuesday and it was so powerful. The night leading up to Zone conference we stayed in the uni Zone leaders apartment with the AP staying there as well and it was so fun. Of course we had to Focus On Christ and the birth of our savior. President Hoffman gave some incredible detail on the birth of Christ and how we can better teach that to our friends. The second part of it was a musical performance by many missionaries and many Musical numbers. The spirit was so strong and it was so powerful. After the whole thing we had an amazing dinner and then did a whole white elephant with everyone there. In the end of everything I got a baguette that said Jesus loves you on it and I laughed so hard. We then went straight to the Altoona Elders apartment to stay the night because we were going to Blitz them the next day for Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve in Altoona was so fun, we still have the opportunity to do quite a lot of work up until 5:00 p.m. where we couldn't be outside anymore doing work. I was with elder lunsford and he's a powerful missionary. We really didn't find much success that day but we had an amazing time together. Throughout that whole day we played lots of card games and ended up going to a member meal with the Altoona elders and sisters and it was so good we had pizza. Straight afterward we went caroling with one of their recent converts and it was so goofy but hilarious. We then had our weekly meeting with the mission in our mission president and it was already too late to go back home and so we stayed another night in Altoona for Christmas. Since there was no work to be done on Christmas we just stayed there for half the day and hung out with the Altoona elders and play games all day. And the two days we are in Altoona we went to two different Catholic masses and it was so strange to be at a different church but so interesting to learn about another religion. The Elder there whose name was Elder Carson who was the main dude in charge of the mass was super cool and greeted us afterward. It was a Roman Catholic ginormous Cathedral and it was beautiful. I always love spending time with the Altoona elders and they are my favorite.
In terms of missionary work this week, not that much happened at all. On Friday we did nothing but find and knock doors. We faced so much opposition it was crazy, out of the 60+ people we'd talked to, not 1 person actually had a conversion with us. The next day however, we found 2 pretty cool people in the same neighborhood. The first guy's name was Alex and he is so chill and open to anything, he opened the door and just said why not to grow in his faith and we talked about the Book of Mormon and that how that can help us really grow in our faith in our relationship with God and with Jesus Christ. He said he's pretty busy but he would try to make it to church and we could also meet with him sometime. The other one was this awesome lady named Heavenly. She is actually just so awesome, she just accepted to hear a message about Jesus christ. We talked about how Jesus Christ died for us and sacrificed himself for us and what we can get out of that and return. We talked a bit about growing our faith and coming to church as well and she said she'd be really interested in learning more and growing in their faith. She wasn't really a religious ever in her life and hasn't really been to church at all and wants to. We had said we text her the info and she wants to meet with us on Tuesday.
I spoke in church on Sunday and it was powerful. One thing I focused on was how important and critical faith is and becoming true Disciples of Jesus Christ. Heres a section from my talk about how Faith increases with righteous, obedient living.
As a missionary, I've learned about "exact obedience" - striving to leave anything impure behind and dedicate myself to Christ. Bradley R. Wilcox once said in his general conference talk, “Some mistakenly receive the message that they are not worthy to participate fully in the gospel because they are not completely free of bad habits. God’s message is that worthiness is not flawlessness. Worthiness is being honest and trying. We must be honest with God, priesthood leaders, and others who love us, and we must strive to keep God’s commandments and never give up just because we slip up.” Elder Bruce C. Hafen said developing Christlike character requires "patience and persistence more than flawlessness."
“Obedience brings success; exact obedience brings miracles.” I do not completely understand what exact obedience means, but here is what I have come to understand. It does not mean that we are perfectly obedient right now in all things, although we can be perfect in obeying many of the Lord’s commandments. Hence, repentance must be a key part of exact obedience. Exact obedience requires a commitment to all the warnings and promptings and commandments Heavenly Father gives us. Sometimes we will not understand why Heavenly Father asks certain things of us. Those times can be some of the toughest times to be exactly obedient. Remember when Adam, one of the greatest of all, was asked why he gave sacrifice: “And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me” (Moses 5:6). Regarding important events in our lives, we do want clear direction, and that may be hard to find. But I have come to understand that if I am repentant, being exactly obedient, following my leaders, and making other good choices—in other words, if I am worthy—Heavenly Father will not let me make big mistakes without proper warning. Nor will He let you.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New year. We're heading into 2026! So crazy, what a year, so much change. At the beginning of this year I was playing volleyball for my highschool in Utah, now I'm in Pennsylvania serving the lord.
With Love,
Elder Batman
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