Christmas time is a wonderful time of the year. It is a time when so many people think on the birth of the Savior and what it means to them. I would like to encourage us all to think about that. Every year we hear from somewhere "What is the true meaning of Christmas?" I think we hear that so often because it is so easy to forget. We have to constantly check that we remember what it is really about. That is a celebration. We celebrate the birth of the Redeemer of the world. An event that was the begining of His earthly ministry, which culminated in the single most important event of human history, His great and last sacrifice, the Atonement. It is no wonder that at His birth angels sang their songs of praise and that years later we continue the same tradition. Let us then prepare ourselves to share this joyous message with others. The greatest gift ever given to mankind was the Savior and His Atonement. The greatest gift that we can ever give, is to share with someone how they can recieve this gift. We can help them to recieve that great gift.
I was reminded of these things this week. From the P-day walking among the Christmas decorations of the mall and central train station, to the Christmas markets everywhere, from our Christmas zone conference, to our branch Christmas party there was much that was Christmas. Yet the feel of the mall and the Christmas markets is very different from the Spirit of the meeting where we discussed how we can better share this joyous message with the world and the quiet playing out of the nativity as it has been played out in church buildings so many times before. I think that I had a small glimpse of what it must have sounded like to hear those heavenly hosts, as one hundred missionaries stood and sung Stille Nacht. There were definitely angels joining their voices.
One small miracle of the week. Elder Davis and I ran into a problem. We had six boxes of Book of Mormons that we had to transport from the office to home. We did not want to take the time to go into Berlin and pick them up. (We were not even sure how we would get them home if we did.) We needed to have them by Sunday. We were thinking about this problem. Suddenly I recieved inspiration. "Call Brother Bentke and ask if he is going into Berlin any time soon.) I told Elder Davis. He called Brother Bentke. Turns out he was going into Berlin that night, and the next night, and probably Sunday morning. Elder Davis asked if he could pick up the boxes for us. He said that he could. Small miracles.
I hope that everyone is doing well and I wish you all a Fröhliche Weihnachten!
sincerely,
Elder Perez
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| Nativity at the Branch Christmas party |
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