Hello dear friends. Sherrie and I just got back from driving around some neighborhoods tonight looking at the beautiful lights and decorations. One ten block area is called the "Fabulous Forties" and is like stepping back into time as we walk down street lined boulevards of stately homes of all sizes and shapes that were built in that era. Each block of homes had decided on a main lighting design for the street and trees and then the individual home owners would decorate their homes around that theme. This was complete with horse drawn carriages and long limos driving people around to see the sights. We even saw a "fleet" of sightseeing bicycle riders go by with their bikes all lit up and decorated. Amazing! Walking down the sidewalks on a full moon night at 40 degrees made it quite magical.
As with any city there is always so much going on at Christmas. Last Saturday we went to a "Tuba Christmas". This was the 40th year for the program that has been held at one of the local high schools at which over one hundred individuals ranging in age from 11 to 83 play tubas or related brass horns of various sizes. There were at least 30 of the big marching sousaphones along the back row, and then below them the next size down and so on. This is one of one hundred and sixty such tuba Christmas concerts that are played throughout the world at this time. What an experience!
This past weekend was also the weekend of a beautiful Nativity display exhibit that is held annually here in one of the big stake centers. There were hundreds of nativities on display. It brought back memories of the one we had in Jefferson City for several years.
If there was a downside of this past week or so, it has been that of our mode of transportation. The car was bucking and snorting like a horse. After having three or four mechanics looked at it and give their opinions and shrug their shoulders we were getting discouraged. Then after much prayer and the advice of a good friend and member of our congregation I bought a new set of spark plugs and wires and took matters into my own hands. Happily we now have a smooth running car, but I still don't want to be a mechanic as a second vocation. Car computers do not give out all the answers of what to fix at times! I'm starting to believe this electric hub that I bought for my recumbent bike that I will be using when we get home sounds better and better. I think I'll get one for the tandem also, and do away with our car!
Switching gears to what Christmas is all about, Sherrie and I are so grateful for all that the Savior has done for us and all of mankind. As we continue to read daily from a book entitled "Infinite Atonement" and we try to comprehend what the God the Eternal Father and His son Jesus Christ have done for us, it is hard to grasp what happened, yet at the same time, how grateful all of mankind must and should be for what they did do.
The fact that Jesus Christ was with His Heavenly Father in the planning stages of "worlds without end", that He then under his Father's direction created heaven and earth, and then was chosen and willing to come here as a baby, grow to adulthood, die and atone for the sins of all mankind, and that he will someday return again to this earth is a lot to comprehend but at the same time it enables us to have the faith to believe that it is all so real.
At a recent "Christmas conference" that all of us in the mission attended last week, we learned to think this time of year as the "The spirit of Christ" rather than "The spirit of Christmas". We were encouraged to think as individuals more along the lines of "What shall we give Christ for Christmas?" One thought we were given as Christians is to offer our whole soul as an offering to Christ, to endure to the end, to sacrifice through service and align our will with Him. Striving to live in a small infinite way like the Savior did when he was here upon this earth is a good start for me in trying to give back something to Him.
As Neal A. Maxwell once said "There is a personalized plan for each of us. Like the Christmas star, each of us, if faithful, has an ordained orbit [a reward for us] if we live a life such that the Savior wants us to live".
My friends, I want you to know that I know that Jesus is the Christ. He has given the ultimate gift to all mankind, His life. And because of that I know that eternal life is possible and that as we endure to the end we will be blessed to someday be in the presence of Him and a wonderful loving Heavenly Father. I know it. I know it.
Love ya,
Elder John
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