FORT the WORTH of Souls: A flat tire and Christmas 👍🎄

Well, this was an eventful week to say the least. Last P-day, as Richards and I were driving home, Richards made a sharp turn and hit a curb (which is not out of the ordinary) but this time, we heard a loud BOOM and the next thing we know our PSI starts slowly but steadily declining and our tire goes flat. Despite my dad's many attempts to teach me how to change a tire, I still had no clue how to. Luckily, the ZL's were able to come to our rescue :) The next day we went to Firestone to get our tire replaced. We were there for 2.5 hours and we ended up not even getting it replaced because there was some conflict between firestone and our Elder in charge of the automobiles. So that sort of sucked and we still have to find a time to get that replaced.

Sister Richards and I also made cookies and cards for a lot of people. We went caroling this week, ate with a lot of people who were kind enough to take us in during the holidays. We definitely ate too much food and we still have literal buckets of candy and sweets that we don't know what to do with. We had 3 Christmas breakfasts which was kind of awesome because breakfast is my favorite meal. So yeah, this week was busy in a different way than usual.

One of my favorite parts though was delivering presents to Cora and her kids. She was so grateful for them and I know that her kids were too. This week, I've been thinking a lot about everlasting joy. Matthew 20:28 says "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." One descriptive word used for Christ is "servant." His purpose in coming down to Earth was to save us all, but I can't imagine that he did this begrudgingly or sadly. True charity brings everlasting joy no matter the trial. You will never have regrets about helping and giving to other people when you are doing it with love. Every now and then, it's good to reflect back on our lives and to remember the moments where we had everlasting joy and to pick them apart and understand what caused that joy. For me, many of my most joyful moments are moments with my family, moments that I accomplished something hard, and especially moments where I served and was able to make someone else's day. I invite you to do the same and reflect and figure out what makes you truly joyous.

Pics from this week