Week #14 Christmas Cow Tongue

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas this year and were able to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and his life.

This year has allowed me to focus much more on the true meaning of Christmas. It's been an amazing opportunity free of the distractions and noise that follow Christmas and made it much easier to grow my testimony of Jesus Christ.

Not to say I don't love the distractions and noise surrounding Christmas of course. Many of you know it's my favorite holiday. But it's been a refreshing change-up.

Anyway, I wish you all a very merry Christmas again and hope you had time to visit with family and celebrate together.

A Brief Summary:

This week started out with a drive from Windhoek to Swakopmund. The Zone leaders came with us (Elder Gibbs and Elder Otema) so it was a fun drive. They stayed from Wednesday until Friday morning to mix companionships for a few days to freshen things up. These are called "exchanges" for those of you who don't know. 

The Wednesday we arrived in Swak we had a member meal and we had another interesting food, this week it was tripe. It is cow stomach lining and intestines, it looks like a fuzzy carpet. We almost threw up while we ate it but we were determined to get it down. Their family was laughing at us the whole time because they just wanted to torture us since Elder Tolbert told them last week he never had and never would try it. Luckily there was also good chicken and pap so we ate a lot more of that.

Thursday morning Elder Gibbs and I went to a members house and were demoliting one wing so they could move it to another side of their home. We helped for a couple of hours that day and they continued working after we left and finished demo and rebuilding it in one day. It's always fun to go serve by doing something physical because it gives us a little change up from our routine. Elder Tolbert stayed home with Elder Otema while we were there because Tolbert was deathly sick from the tripe. I bought a belt made out of kudu that has the big 5 etched on it so that was very cool. Of course, we had to show the Windhoek Elders Fork n nice and get them some fish n chips while showing them the beach. For the rest of the day I was with Otema and we taught a lesson every 30 minutes so it was very fun.

Friday started out by us showing the Elders our donut shop since Elder Tolbert was feeling marginally better. We always plan on buying one donut each and walk out with 4… it's a problem. One member even told me my butt is getting too fat and I need to stop eating haha. Anyways, we walked to the edge of the pier while we ate and even caught some video of dolphins which was very cool. The Windhoek Elders left this morning and me and Tolbert went out teaching. An awesome member, Johanna, I can't remember if I've mentioned her, knitted me a tie so that was sick.

Today we had to drive halfway to Windhoek because the Zone leaders left their flat keys in Swakopmund. So that took like 4 hours out of our day which sucked. We got back in time to have plenty of lessons which was nice. The only difficult thing is that everyone is either in the north for the holiday or very drunk at this time of year so it makes it hard to teach. One guy was basically falling all over us while we were teaching someone. We ended the night by getting a huge sushi platter. It was my first time having real sushi. The raw fish was definitely not my favorite thing but it was OK. 

Christmas Eve! We started our morning with one hour of church which went really well. We had many talks on Jesus Christ of course and his example. Afterward we went to a members house and helped them cut dozens of 2L coke bottles in a way where they could stack them up and it made a Christmas tree. We ran a few errands, taught some lessons and had a mission wide devotional which was very uplifting. We ended the night by blasting Christmas Music while we ate dinner. 

Christmas Day!!! Started out by calling the family for a while and then we went grocery shopping and normal shopping. Only problem was every shop was closed so that was no good. We ended up finding an outdoor auditorium where an Afrikaans band was playing Christmas music for a huge crowd so that was very fun. We went to a members house for Christmas lunch where another family from Uganda joined us. We had chicken, potatoes, beef, sparkling cider, cake and custard, but my personal favorite was cow tongue. Another new food under the belt, it was actually quite good despite feeling and seeing the taste buds in my mouth. It was very nice to have a Christmas meal with them. We went into a mini-mall that was closed but had an ATM inside with rugby on the TV so we went and watched for a while. We taught one lesson today because someone really wanted to have one on Christmas and then we went home to bake cookies and make gingerbread houses. Once we arrived home I called my family for a while and got to see all the cousins and family which was nice. Merry Christmas everyone I hope you enjoyed your holidays.

Scripture of the week:

Luke 2:1-20 (the birth of Jesus Christ) 
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. 15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.  18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Spiritual Thought:

I know that Jesus Christ came to this earth to redeem us from our sins and that he did this because he knows and loves each of us so perfectly. That he didn't only come to this earth to die for us, but he came to this earth to live for us. That his life was the ultimate example and pinnacle of what we need to try to become. That when we act with Christlike virtues and strive to be better each day we will see a dramatic change in our lives. We will be more blessed individually, as families, our friends, our work, and in every other aspect of our lives. I know that Jesus lives and this gospel is true and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

I'll see you all in the new year and hope you had an amazing Christmas!

Love, 

Elder Miller 

Our exchange group with some of the other Namibian Elders.
I love being in Swakopmund. 
This is the house we helped demolish so that they could rebuild it. Video below in the link.
One of my favorite friends, Puta. 
Our exchange group in front of the jetty. 
My gingerbread house that I made on Christmas Day.





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