Lit the World!

A good week in McDonough.

Well we will start with quick highlights.

#1 Ate a Baby Octopus... very chewy. The tentacles or arms or whatever you call them were very very chewy... the head was cake to eat.
#2 We gave away about 250-300 cups of hot chocolate for free at the McDonough square! It was also during the parade so it was super fun!! Gave away Books of Mormon and all the good stuff. We lit the world!
#3 I nailed a bulls eye while playing with our new magnet dart board in the apartment... pretty cool
#4 We did an Escape the Room. But it was a lot different than normal ones. It was a huge camera museum that the people occasionally turn into an Escape the Room type of thing. Pretty fun.
#5 TAUGHT OUT FIRST LESSONS THIS WEEK FINALLY
#6 I have a NEW NIECE YES BABY PENNY BEST THING OF THE WEEK

That is basically my week. I do not have a lot of time today. But we taught a few lessons this week. We taught an older man who played linebacker for Alabama way back when. We also taught a sweet single lady who is going through a TON right now but is very receptive and kind and wants to feed us. And then we taught another lady who also has a lot on her plate and was not very receptive but hey, we taught. The names I will use for these folks is Martin, Lauren, and Reagan. When I get in Brazil I probably will not use fake names but I feel that here in Georgia I will need to. It was a week full of biking and meetings. It is amazing the amount of revelation that can come to you while you are on a bike. It has become one of my favorite things. A time to almost be alone, because we can not talk to each other that well while biking, and a time to think and ponder.

One of the biggest things I am learning(definitely have not learned or mastered it at all) this week is that we can truly choose to be happy. In the Christmas Devotional on Sunday the wonderful reminder that Joy does not depend on the circumstances of our lives but the focus of them. I am learning that I need to have a better focus on the Plan of Salvation, and being at the center of that plan is both the Family and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Maintaining an eternal perspective is critical in our ability to feel and appreciate both Joy and Sorrow. As many of you might have also studied in church this Sunday, the talk by M. Russel. Ballard which is titled, Giving our Spirits Control Over our Bodies, struck me deeply. I thought of even more ways my Spirit could be even more in control of my Body. It has been a very neat thing for me to think about the events of my day during my nightly prayers, and see where the Body was in Control vs. the Spirit. Then to repent and try to change it the next day. There is Joy to be had as we continually repent and try to become better.

Alright well,

Have a fantastic week

Elder Hixon