Week 29 - The Spirit of Christ(mas)

Send a quick email to Elder Clark at hayden.clark@myldsmail.net.  He'd love to hear from you!  (Yes, YOU!!)

It's been another great week. My testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel continues to be reaffirmed, and it grows as well.

We saw a lot of miracles this week, but I think that one of the highlights is the experiences that our investigators had at our ward's Christmas party. We had three of our investigators come, one of whom brought a friend. The ward was very receptive to each of them and helped them to feel at home. They enjoyed the games, the food and so on, but I think that the main thing they enjoyed, whether they recognized it or not, was the spirit of Christmas that could be felt there. As President Uchtdorf said in this year's Christmas broadcast, The spirit of Christmas is The Spirit of Christ. That same spirit is the one that invites us to come to Him, and I know that our investigators could feel it there.

This week, Elder Stephens and I were preparing to teach Lola. We were planning on finishing teaching the Plan of Salvation, but I just had this feeling that we needed to ask about her belief in God first. So, at the start of our lesson, we asked about her experience with prayer. She described the feelings she had as warm, peaceful, and happy. With that, we were able to teach her about receiving answers to prayers and how we can recognize them. We continued after that to teach about the Plan of Salvation, but I know that asking about her belief gave her the chance to see her own testimony growing. I'm thankful for the inspiration from God to change our lesson a little bit to suit her better.

Looking back to the person I was the day I started serving a mission, I'm surprised by how much my conviction in this gospel has grown. This week, I've thought a lot about the growth I've made, and the biggest thing I've noticed is the transition from understanding the gospel in my mind to knowing it in my heart. I heard a song last week that described this feeling perfectly.

"I found out what I could not find, when I heard with my heart what I knew in my mind"

Last week in the Book of Mormon, we read in 2 Nephi 16-20. One of the major recurring themes in these chapters for me is the blessings of repentance and the healing power of the atonement.

This week, we'll read 2 Nephi 21-25. There's a few more chapters of Isaiah quoted here, and then Nephi makes some remarks on them. Enjoy!

Have an awesome week everyone,

Love always,

Elder Clark

Thanksgiving day food from home...mac n' cheese, baked potato and pop tarts.  Yum.