This transfer our focus during zone conferences has been on helping people make and keep commitments, the Doctrines of Christ, working in unity as a companionship, and baptizing converts. I wanted to share some things that President Collings has been teaching the missionaries in addition to those things listed. He asked the missionaries if they have ever felt a prompting from the Holy Ghost about something that they need to change in their life. Several acknowledged that they have. Then there was a discussion that we receive thoughts, ideas, and promptings all the time of little things here and there that we can do differently. He explained that this is the Holy Ghost bringing thoughts to our mind, and encouraging us to change. The question he posed was WHY? Why does the Holy Ghost constantly show us things we should be changing? When we face the final judgement, President Collings said that none of us will be surprised with where we end up. We will know exactly where we belong. We will see exactly what we did or could have done in this life. The Holy Ghost is trying to tell us what to do to be more like God. As we do those things, he tells us more, and the cycle continues throughout our lives. This is the time for men to prepare to meet God. We are told he will give us line upon line, precept upon precept... If we are becoming closer to God, we will want to continue to repent and change our ways. He encouraged the missionaries that if they have a thought of something that they could change... DO IT! Each time they have a thought, do it! Learn to follow those thoughts. If it's good, it's of GOD.
On Sunday we went to church in the Meganagna Branch. Because it was Christmas, they just had sacrament meeting, which was testimony meeting, and went home. The meeting was wonderful. Many people spoke about President Monson, and bore testimony of different ways he has touched their lives. They spoke about the Savior, Jesus Christ, and the example of love he set for each of us. What better way to spend our second Christmas in a month's time than to be in church?
After church we were invited to go to dinner with Habtu and his family. He works for the church in temporal affairs, and has been a real blessing to us as we have been without a senior couple here in Ethiopia. It was so fun to see his wife and all his kids dressed in traditional Ethiopian clothes. Their home was decorated so nicely, and it really felt festive. The food for dinner was AMAZING. His wife is a very talented cook, and was so kind to us. As we returned to the hotel, there was Christmas music playing throughout the evening. The workers were all dressed in their traditional Ethiopian Clothes, and everything felt festive.
On Monday, we went with the missionaries on a hike above Addis Ababa. It was where they built the first Kings Palace, overlooking the city. The hike was really beautiful. We hiked through a forest of eucalyptus trees, and they smelled amazing. We had a group of young kids come and start walking with us. It was cute at first, and then they started asking for money or our watches, etc. After a while they got kind of aggressive (for kids). And after trying for a good ten minutes, they gave up on getting any money from us and decided they would throw rocks instead. They were not very good at throwing rocks, so nobody got hit. It was actually pretty funny. Some of the missionaries say that when they are proselyting in this area they get hit by rocks from time to time. They assured me that it wouldn't happen this time because we weren't dressed as missionaries. When the kids started to throw rocks, the missionaries were so surprised. I had to give them a hard time for giving me a false sense of security. Haha.
At the top of the mountain, we were taken on a tour of a museum. It was really neat seeing the clothing, and antiquities from 200 years ago (no cameras allowed). Then we walked over to where the first King's Palace was built. It was so neat to see all of the different rooms, and what they were used for. It was a little more humble than I was expecting, but such a neat history to learn about. The view from the top of the mountain was spectacular.
We sure enjoyed our Christmas in Ethiopia. Melkam Gena! (Merry Christmas!)
