We had a wonderful Christmas eve! I got to talk in Sacrement Meeting and join in on some choir musical numbers because I was already up on the stand! When we got out of church it was snowing!! And it continued to snow all day! We spent most of the day walking in the snow delivering cookies to people who wouldn't open the door without them, hehe!
We spent Christmas morning with our Branch president and his family. It was so much fun! So much love from everyone! Thank you all for your love filled gifts!!
(I'm writing this as Sister Unferdorfer Skypes her family, so I'm a bit distracted and anxious to Skype my own... Soon!)
OK you can tell I'm anxious because I can't think of any stories to share!! I'll just jump to my spiritual thought. I used part of this scripture in my talk, and I want to share it with you as well...
Mosiah 2:16-25
16 Behold, I say unto you that because I said unto you that I had spent my days in your service, I do not desire to boast, for I have only been in the service of God.
17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.
18 Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?
19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.
24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?
25 And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you.
I just love this scripture! It illistrates so perfectly Christ's perfect love. Even if we are in service our whole lives we are still indebted to him. The love comes by knowingthst he doesn't even ask us to pay him back! Because that would be impossible, and meaningless. He paid the price so we could return home because he loves us and gave this gift to us! All he asks in return is that we try. That we do our best to follow him and live in a way that allows him to bless us!
On this Christmas day take time to remember Christ and the gift he gives freely to all of us! And you can do that, you can show your love to Christ by living by his example and following his commandments.
Okay, now I can talk a bit more about the area...
We have two little girls on date for baptism! We taught them the plan of salvation using the graph on the chalk board. They kind of took it over at the end and drew their own pictures. One of the girls was confused about who Oliver Cowdrey was (not sure why we brought him up with the first place) but she kept calling him "Oliver Cow-tree" then she drew a cow tree (I'll attach a picture) ... They are fun kids.
Jared is the investigator who we work with the most. He is a wood worker and we always meet in his garage for lessons. He has a lot of good questions and it's hard not to go deep deep doctrine with him. I've learned that you need to understand the basics or have that core before you can branch out. It's like climbing out on the branches of a tree, the further you get from the center the less secure you will be.
But he is awesome! We brought him Christmas and we are having Christmas dinner with him and his family.
Another fun thing we did was make "shell flowers" and deliver them as Christmas presents.
OH YES! The Christmas talent show/zone conference! It was amazing, so fun and spirit filled! Sister Unferdorfer and I didn't do anything this year (we sang at the branch Christmas party instead). But it was so great, lots of skits and songs. President Tateoka even sang!! He sang bring him home from Les Miserables. Yes, I cried!
OK now I'm just stalling for time. Love you all!! Merry Christmas!
๐Sister Anna Peterson
Editor's Note: It was so wonderful to Skype with Anna. We all cried at least once and some of us a few times! Here are a few screen shots she took and sent to us....
And here are a few from our perspective... It was so wonderful to share Christmas Day with her ❤️ ๐๐