Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas and holiday season, and staying safe no matter what your weather is. Ours is still in the upper 70's, but I am sure there is probably ice somewhere in the world.
We had exchanges this last week with the Broadway Elders, I went down there with Elder Capello. Our day was pretty slow, but good. He is a funny guy! He is from Brazil, so getting called to Texas English Speaking was both a foreign country and language to him, but he learned conversational English in only a couple of months. Definitely impressive!
During our exchange we taught someone who really just wanted some closure that we really did follow and know the Bible. It is interesting in the south, the adherence to the Bible. Someone that Elder Harward and I taught later in the week was similarly concerned, and many people will turn us away immediately because they don't want any more Bible, or another Bible.
I just think it is funny, because most people don't really understand what the Bible is. Yes, there is a scripture in Revelation that says not to add or take away from these things. But since Revelations was written years before the Bible was compiled, that is probably not what it is referring to. No, the Bible was neither written or compiled by God. It was primarily written by inspired men, prophets, who had authority from the Almighty God. It was compiled by well-meaning and inspired individuals who wanted to bring more of God's word to the people. These compilers chose certain things to include based on availability and what they felt needed to be included. They seemed to have an affinity for Paul's teachings. In any case, in is not an exhaustive compilation of God's word, nor does it ever claim to be. In fact, no where in the Bible does it talk about the Bible, or claim to be a complete collection of God's word, or claim that it is all of God's word that you need to be saved. There is a prophecy in Ezekiel 37 that references the coming forth of the Bible, but it also prophecies of the Book of Mormon as well.
In any case, it can be frustrating in the Bible belt when people have an unnatural adherence to truths that really don't have any relevance to the Bible's actual teachings. Then again, we are out here to "find them that will receive you", so we can move on and keep looking if people aren't open to our message.
We also had our mission Christmas conference this week. We had a talent show, white elephant, and Elder Harward and I got to play Santa and hand out everyone's packages. It was a lot of fun.
Well, I am going to go enjoy Christmas. Thank you for your holiday wishes, love y'all, wishing you the best Christmas.
Elder DeFord
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