Sunday, June 3, 2018

Email setenta y uno: ¡Feliz Navidad!

December 25, 2017
Merry Christmas y'all!
I can't believe Christmas is already here again. This last year sure has gone by so fast, and that's such a typical missionary thing to say, but it's true.

This email won't be long, but I wanted to take the time to share a few things with y'all.
For the first time in my life, I thought profoundly about why we celebrate Christmas. A few denominations down here choose not to celebrate it, due to the proof that Christ wasn't born on the 25th of December, and the tradition of a Christmas tree comes from pagan worship of wood spirits.
So why do we celebrate Christmas? People make the argument that we should always remember God's perfect gift of His perfect son, which is a very good point.

I offer this as my personal opinion, not as doctrine by any means. Most of the United States, and a large portion of the world celebrates Christmas today. This winter holiday slowly evolved from a pagan tradition into a Christian custom to commemorate the birth of Christ. In the last century however, Christmas is once again deteriorating into a holiday that has almost nothing to do with Christ to the majority of the world. I believe the restored Church celebrates Christmas in order to help the world remember the way Christmas should be: about Christ. It tries to help the world think in it's Savior instead of the worldly, materialistic, and and selfish characteristics that are now associated with Christmas. The world uses Christmas as an excuse to focus on what we as individuals want, whereas Christmas really should point us to the most precious gift of all, our Savior Jesus Christ.
I testify that Jesus Christ is the most precious gift of all. We can partake of this gift by living what he taught. I have seen this in my own life. For this reason, we must come to know what His teachings are. This is why the Book of Mormon tells us to feast upon the words of Christ (2 Nephi 31:20).

I testify that this is the truth. I love my mission, I'm so grateful to be here, and for the time I have left to serve the Lord full time. I'm so grateful for my family and that I was able to Skype them today. And most of all I'm grateful for my Savior, and for his Gospel, and my life has been blessed from coming to know Him and His teachings. To know Him truly is to know all that is good!

Merry Christmas y'all!

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