Christmas Talk

Hey Everybody,

fyi, when it says "you" I am referring to my mom because I copied and pasted this from my email I sent to her because emails take way too long.

This week was cool. All of our investigators who were on date dropped their dates for the 26th which was a bummer. We got one more on date for Jan 9 with Beau (see Dad's email for details.) Jose who was the most ready to be baptized wants more time to read the scriptures before he gets baptized. Mike Y. needs more time to pray about it. Mike F. is looking at anti material and will probably have to be dropped because he won't commit. It a hard situation or him though. We will see what happens with him. 

In other news, we had a less active member named Bryan come to church this week. He really wants to change his life around. He also brought his friend Lisa who is kind of our investigator. She kind of just sits in. Bryan also brought her 7 year old daughter Lily. We were glad about that. In other news, Brother Barfield is doing super. He has now not only finished the book of Mormon, but the doctrine and covenants and most of the pearl of great price. we will see him again tonight. Next we are going to have him get to the temple to do baptisms. He passed the sacrament again this week. In other news, our bishop was shouting loudly over the pulpit basically forcing people to sign up to do merit badges for the boy scouts since someone quit their calling. I'm not sure how our investigators (Mike, Beau, and Lisa) felt about that. Luckily the rest of sacrament meeting was better. And just out of curiosity, how are the ward councils back home run? Are they effective? because our mission president has been stressing this a lot lately to hasten the work of salvation. Our ward council is pretty ineffective at this point. People just don't get it. 

We were asked to talk in church. I was the last speaker though and so they ran out of time. Which means I didn't have to speak. I had mixed feelings about that.   I gave the lesson in the YSA class 2nd hour of church about what I originally planned to give in my talk. 

I was going to speak about the things you sent me in your last email about building a stable family foundation. I couldn't really remember all the things you said about each of the nativity characters so I sort of came up with my own. 

Mary- she was a pure chosen vessel who was virtuous. She also bore a lot and that's what mothers do. They hold the family together. 

According to Jeffery R. Holland from last conference,  "You see, it is not only that they bear us, but they continue bearing with us. It is not only the prenatal carrying but the lifelong carrying that makes mothering such a staggering feat...Thank you. Thank you for giving birth, for shaping souls, for forming character, and for demonstrating the pure love of Christ.” 

I reecho the words of Jeffery R. Holland to you, mother. For the first time on my birthday this year I realized that I shouldn't be the one being celebrated for, but you should have because you carried me for 9 months. I appreciate your love you give me and I am starting to tear up as I type these words. 

If you are crying now, I'd give you a tissue if I could.

(yes I started to cry when I read this)

Joseph--like you said, he was a just man. Alma 13 (which is a chapter all about the priesthood) talks about how just and holy men were given the priesthood. Also about Joseph, he presided, provided, and protected for Jesus and Mary (see Family Proclamation). He heeded the angels warning to take them to Egypt when Herod was going to kill the newborn babies under 2. He surely provided for Mary as they made the long trek from the city of Nazareth to Bethlehem. He is a good example of what a father should be like. 

Shepherds-- what do shepherds do. They watch over the flocks and prevent their prey from entering in. Likewise, in our families we must watch and pray always as families so temptation and contention doesn't creep into our home. The Shepherds also "came with haste," which means we need to be quick to observe, to obey our parents when they ask the first time

Angel-- a stable family reaches out to other families. They don't keep to themselves. The angel brought "glad tidings of great joy unto all people." As families, we can't be content with just having the gospel for ourselves, but must bring these glad tidings to other families, especially those in the ward that are struggling. The angel of the Lord also said "Fear not." Likewise our home should be a place where we need to learn faith instead of fear. The home should be a place that is sacred and holy where we can enjoy peace and rest. 

Jesus-- Lastly, but certainly not least, Jesus represents Charity of course. The pure love of Christ. Christ must be at the center of our homes. If there is not charity in our homes then our families are useless. Jesus also represents humility since he was born in a manger. Members of a family must be humble enough to forgive each other and look past their idiosyncrasies and shortcomings. 

Another thing I learned this week is that you need to be careful not to misinterpret the scriptures. I was reading in the bible dictionary under "dispensations." It says in there that "there are things reserved for the fullness of times that have not been revealed previously (see D&c 121:26-27). And so I read that which says:

26

God shall give unto you knowledge by his Holy Spirit , yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, that has not been revealed since the world was until now; 

27Which our forefathers have awaited with anxious expectation to be revealed in the last times, which their minds were pointed to by the angels, as held in reserve for the fulness of their glory; 

So I read that and my mind was blown. You see, I read it thinking that it meant that they gift of the holy ghost hadn't been revealed until Joseph Smith. I thought to myself, how could this be? In the book of Mormon it talks about how they got the gift of the holy ghost. As well as in Acts 2 and acts 8. So after rereading ( and I actually prayed to know the meaning behind all of this) I came to realize that the verse was talking about knowledge that had not been revealed before. It wasn't referring to the holy ghost, it was referring to knowledge. The way it was phrased was kind of tricky. So yeah, kind of neat study experience. 

Yeah so send me any cool study insights you get while you read this week. I'll try sending you a separate email every week from now on.

I love you! all

Elder Soutas