Dec 8th Christmas Devotional

Well, hello everyone!

We only had one investigator at church this week... but there is no reason to complain because she is great! It is the lady with "cancer." Her name is Mari and she found out that she actually doesn't have cancer... one doctor said that she did and then later she went and had some tests done and they said that it isn't cancer just a sore (probably an ulcer or something) in her intestines. Well that, I would say, is a lot better than cancer don't you think? I do! so anyways, she totally came to church and is really excited for her baptismal date and all that good stuff. She told us that she talked to her "husband" (they aren't married) and he said that if she gets baptized they would separate and he would leave her... and she basically said  "Ok well if you think that's what you want to do, go ahead, you are an adult and can make your own decisions." Wow... that for me is a ton of faith... we talked a little bit about the law of chastity (we hadn't gotten to that part yet) and informed her that she wouldn't be able to get baptized if she was living with someone that she isn't married to but it isn't much of a problem in this case...

Anyways... We got to go to the Christmas devotional if we took an investigator and we were looking and inviting and looking and inviting but we couldn't find anyone... Luckily the other elders in the ward had a reference to pass us of an investigator in our area that had gone to a mutual activity on Saturday and said she would go to the devotional :) We got to go and meet our new investigator and now we have an appointment to teach her and her family! We will see how it goes :) and we totally got to go to the devotional! It was great wasn't it? I really liked all the stories they shared about examples of how we should live and how we can bring joy into the lives of others through service and giving of our time and attention to the people that really need it, and we all know that everyone needs it so we can confidently share those things with everyone and try to show our thanks to God for the wonderful gift He gave us when he gave us His Son. 

 

I don't know if you have all heard about the campaign the church is doing (you probably have) of (well in Spanish it's "Él es la Dádiva") He is the Gift. It is really great and it is a video that helps us realize how blessed we are to have received Christ as the first Christmas present and what this whole season is all about :) Our Heavenly Father gave us the gift of a Redeemer, someone that can help us achieve eternal life, all we have to do is accept Him, have faith in Him, love Him, and obey Him. Even though we have so many sins and mistakes and defects, he can cleanse us and make us pure, all we have to do is follow Him. I hope that we can all keep in mind this truly amazing Gift that God has given us and do all we can to change and become more like Him.

Elder Sampson's new home

I love you all and hope you have a great week! :)

-Elder Sampson