"And God bless us, every one."
As we watched "A Christmas Carol" last night, this quote from Tiny Tim touched my heart.
Today is Chistmas. The past couple of days, I have learned and watched for myself as God has poured out His love on us here at this time of year. It has been such an amazing past two days.
Last night we watched "A Christmas Carol". Under normal circumstances (If I were at home), I wouldn't have been particularly excited to watch this movie. But as our Christmas Eve night went on, that undeniable spirit of Christmas came into that big MTC room, and I felt the Love of Christ witness to me that no matter where we are - with or without family - that this is the time to remember Christ and the LOVE that He has for us. He was born into the world for us, lived a perfect life as an example for us to follow, and died and suffered for us. All because of the LOVE he has for his brothers and sisters - all of us. My moment of realization was a great one, and hard to explain. But I felt the LOVE of Christ all around me. It filled my soul as the night came to a close. What a great experience. My favorite Christmas Eve, bar none. (Sorry familia)
That night, we had a mini residence-devotional with our zone with Brother Monson. He's in our branch presidency - the prophet's nephew. He's an incredible man. He knows the scriptures better than anyone I've ever met! And he always has The Spirit with him. A true servant of our Savior. A great little devotional :)
Following Hno. Monson's sermon, our whole district piled into one room to sleepover! It was so fun. And so special! I will say though, that I thought about all of you a lot, and the fun you must've had at Grandpa's - opening pajamas and what not. I thought about you a lot while I laid in bed :) I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas eve :)
I awoke this morning at 6:30, and turned on the lights immediately! I woke my whole district up :) We all took turns opening presents - one by one - just like at home :) It was the greatest!!!!! Thank you so much everyone!! The presents were all wonderful. Thank you Krissy for EVERYTHING, family for EVERYTHING, Gma and Gpa for the chocolates and money, Garners for the 1st Aid kit, Dave for the tie!! (I'm wearing it right now), and anything/everything else I didn't mention. I just got so much. I'm just way too blessed. Thanks so much - really :)
At 7:45, I then proceeded to go help prepare sacrament with a fellow zone member - Elder Vanderpool. We prepared it for 2120 people!!! Biggest sacrament meeting you will EVER see. It was probly theeee coolest thing.
Before sacrament meeting, we got to watch the MoTab and Temple Square Orchestra perform (Broadcast). It was sweet. I thought of Grandma :) and at the end, they sang The Messiah!! Then I thought of Dad :) It was a good tone - setter for the day :)
In sacrament meeting, we had the privelage to hear from............... Guess who? David A. Bednar!!!! One of my favorites. His talk was absolutely amazing. The Spirit that the apostles carry with them is unreal. I know his message was inspired. He spoke of the character of Christ, and what made Him who and what He was. It was so doctrinely sound, and just filled the room with The Spirit once again. I love how present The Spirit always is here. He also encouraged us to become truly converted, and turn outward instead of inward. So inspiring. Man. If you were there, you'd know what I was talking about!
After the meeting, we went on a quick walk to the temple, came back and had lunch (turkey and potatoes - fantastic), and had district meeting. We read Luke 2.
Well, I would write more, but my time is up on the computer! 2100+ missionaries have gotta use these computers today! The past few days have been truly truly wonderful. Just always remember that our biggest and best Christmas gift of all is our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the opportunity we have because of Him to return to God's presence and live eternally forever as families.
I love you all so so so so so so much and I hope you've had a wonderful day!!!! I'll write again on preparation day.
LOVE YOU AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!
- Elder Clarke
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