Well there were no questions this week so I'm almost at a loss of how to start this letter! I guess getting to talk to me over Skype on Sunday kinda took all the questions away huh. Oh well all is good over here in the Spokane area of the world.
OK not a ton of stories for this week, naturally everyone has been super busy the week leading up to Christmas and we didn't get a lot done in regards to the work, just snip-its here and there and helping people remember the true meaning of Christmas. its absolutely amazing how many people don't get it anymore, how they just try and make it a "family holiday" without remembering the real reasons for why we have this day to begin with.
Oh well people will be people and there is not a ton we can do about it, we can only exhort (strongly encourage/invite) people to come unto Christ and leave the decision up to them.
I guess I really just want to use this time to give my testimony of the Savior. I can only marvel at the amazing impact that he has had in the history of humanity, if looked at as only a man, there has never been another individual like him who has altered the course of human culture so dramatically, and with such influence has been remembered for more than two thousand years. And it's not that he is just remembered, think of all the people you have ever heard about in history, how many of them are remembered with love? how many of them are more than just facts on a page about certain events, to which they have been given credit. The Christ is a man who has been remembered because he lived, and taught. And not because of some sort of prestige or high rank in society, he started his life being born amid the stables in Bethlehem, a small out of the way city, and laid in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. I think just from looking historically there has never been or ever will be another personage to really compare with Jesus the Christ. I know his teachings, not perfectly I am still just a student in his divine word, but it is remarkable in its simplicity and clarity and through living those precepts and principles we are able to receive more peace and joy than from any other source. I know not just of his magnificence as a teacher though, I know of a truth his divinity and place as the son of god. I know that he literally was and is the son of god, and as such he is our savior. he performed miracles through the power of the priesthood and showed forth many signs and wonders to signal to the people where they might look for peace and hope and salvation. He preformed the atonement, where he sacrificed himself for the sins of the world and gave us the opportunity to go back and live with our father in heaven, i know of a realness that the atonement is not just words on a page or a free ride, but something that we can apply into our lives and come out clean, obtain divine help and feel his support lifting us higher than we imagined possible. I know that there is a God, that he has a plan for us, and that Jesus Christ came down to fulfill that plan and allow us the opportunity to choose for ourselves if we would follow that plan. He loves us dearly, more than we can possible imagine, he understands us, he has felt everything that we feel and knows how to succor us. He exhorts us and says come unto me, but leaves us the choice to accept his helping hand or to struggle through on our own strength. My only desire is that some day I will be able to meet my savior and be welcomed into his warm embrace and feel of the potency of the love that he has for me, and then be able to hear him say, "You did it, you made it." And to be able to show my gratitude to him for everything he has given me is a small price to pay, that's one of the reasons i try so hard on my mission. Because I know this is true, I know that it will bring people to him, and I know that I need to share what I have felt with everyone else.
I love my savior, and I love my family.
Well I am looking forward to the New Year, for the chance to make some resolutions and revamp myself and start with a new determination to become better. Not sure what my resolutions will be quite yet, but I will probably have them by next week. And I will try and let off at least 1 balloon, who knows maybe I can get more people started on the tradition! I remember you guys in all my prayers and hope all is going well. I will try and write letters by hand as well, I think my big hold up is the fact that I don't have very many interesting stories to share but I will try and do better.
loves!
