19 December 2007

Merry Christmas!

Although I am very far from the many friends and family that I love so dearly, I am grateful to be serving the Lord this Christmas. It has already been a wonderful and beautiful experience for me, one which I will never forget.

This past week I have felt many of my highest highs and my lowest lows. I have been thinking about what Christmas means to me now as a missionary. I was reading in the Ensign, an article by Elder Maxwell entitled, "Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King". As I read the article everything clicked for me. It's as if I had never understood the true meaning of Christmas before, even though I thought I understood, now I really understand. This is such a wonderful time of year because we are remembering the greatest gift that has ever been given to us, the gift of our Heavenly Father's Son, Jesus Christ. Never before has this hit me as it did this past week. I feel that I finally know why I feel so wonderful at Christmas time because I now understand why I desperately need this gift from my Heavenly Father. I need my Savior because without Him I cannot progress, I cannot live with my loved ones and my future loved ones forever, and I cannot become what I desire to be. Without this gift I am nothing! Mosiah 4:11-12. I am so grateful for the gift of our Heavenly Father's Son. I am grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. May we all remember Him this Christmas and resolve to better ourselves and center our lives around Him.

Everyone has gone home! All of our investigators, recent converts, and most members! We will be combining with a family ward for the next two Sundays. We are blessed to have the VC and we are loving our time there. I feel with my new perspective on Christmas, I am a more effective missionary. Erica and Abraham are both doing well. Erica is still scheduled to be baptized on March 2nd. She told me on Sunday that she wants to be married and sealed in the temple. She also told me how excited she is for me to attend the baptisms of her own children. Abraham is blessing his family. They are seeing the changes in him and they are very pleased with his dedication to the Lord. Abraham also told me that he wants to begin preparing himself to serve the Lord as a missionary. He loves teaching others about the gospel and he loves the Lord. He will be a wonderful missionary. The joys of this work are so sweet and beautiful. I am grateful.

Revi is also doing well. We had a wonderful lesson with her this past week. Adam, her boyfriend, was also present for the lesson. He is the friend that currently attends Harvard and is a faithful member of the church who also worked in the MTC teaching. It was wonderful to have him there. We really appreciate him and how he faithfully supports Revi. I shared with Revi part of Dad's letter that he recently sent about his love for Christmas and his testimony. I shared my own new thoughts about Christmas and our Savior. We set a new baptismal date with her for January 6th. I have never felt such love as I did for Revi that day. I feel that the Lord blessed me with an incredibly small portion of the love that He feels for her. Please keep her in your prayers as she has already left town for the holidays with her family in southern California and will be away for some time. We have invited her to read the entire Book of Mormon while she is gone and Adam will be doing the same. She also came with us to the VC that night and loved it! I love her so much and only desire for her happiness.

We had zone conference yesterday. It was a conference full of Christmas music and the spoken word. It was a beautiful program and I was grateful to be able to share my testimony through song. I have really felt the impact of this gift that Heavenly Father has given me recently. One of the pieces I sang was a duet called "Christ Child". I love singing about Christmas and I especially love singing about our Savior. The spoken word was also wonderful. President Mansell shared his thoughts of Christmas and the importance of beginning Christmas traditions within our own families that will enable our children to become stronger disciples of Jesus Christ. They shared a Christmas tradition of love with us. They are wonderful. I will always be grateful for the impact that the Mansells have had on my life, I love them. Food after the conference was a delicious Christmas feast, all catered. We had ribs! I was so excited that we were fulfilling a family tradition of my own. President also had peppermint ice cream made from Cold Stone just for us! It was delicious! We are so spoiled and most importantly we are very blessed.

Funny story: This past Sunday a jazz band came to perform at the VC. They played Big Band Christmas music, my absolute favorite! I was able to usher for the performance and I loved every minute of it. They also had guest singers, one of which was Sam Warren, an original member of The Drifters. I had met Brother Warren before and wanted to take a picture with him after the concert. I thanked him for his performance that really made my Christmas season wonderful and before I knew it he gave me a big hug. I was so excited I didn't know what to do, so I hugged him back. It was hilarious! He is a cute, old man, completely harmless. Never in my life would I have thought that the one man who would hug me on my mission would be Sam Warren!

Christmas has always been a special time for me. I have always loved Christmas, however, now I will love it in a different way. I am so grateful for my testimony of my Savior. I love Him and hope that I can bring the gift of the restored gospel to prepared souls, my brothers and sisters. May the Lord bless all of you, my loved ones, during this beautiful Christmas season. May our focus remain on Him throughout the year. I know that the joy, peace, and happiness of Christmas comes from within and only comes because there was One greater than us all who was willing to sacrifice His perfect life to redeem us. I love Him and I love you.

Merry Christmas!
With love, Sister Hogge