Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!


What an exciting time of year this is! A time to ponder on the past
year, to recognize God's hand, his tender mercies, to recognize change
and progression and of course a time of celebration! To celebrate the
birth of the Only Begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ. I love the
Christmas season. I learned an important lesson from our Elders Quorum
President yesterday at church. He said "Do we celebrate Christmas? or
Xmas?" To keep it brief he said "Lets all make sure in this great
season to let people know that we celebrate CHRISTmas not Xmas" Lets
keep Christ in our Christmas. I loved that lesson. Its so true and it
made me think about how I can also have more of an emphasis on CHRIST
during this season. Another thought occurred to me as we sat in Gospel
Principles class. What is the "christmas spirit" that we talk so much
about? Why is Christmas such a happy time? My own personal opinion is
that it is the HOLY GHOST. And why is the Holy Ghost so much more
obvious" in this season. Of course it is because of what the TRUE
meaning of christmas is but also I believe it is because we catch the
spirit of giving. The Holy Ghost is a giver of truth and happiness.
Some people who dont even believe in Jesus Christ feel this same
spirit because they are also giving. We know from experience that it
is fun to get presents but the real JOY comes from GIVING presents. So
what was the Greatest of ALL presents that has been given to the
Children of Men? The ATONEMENT of course! "For God so LOVED the world
he GAVE his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall
not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent NOT his Son to
condemn the world but that through Him all mankind may be saved." I
know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and that He lives.
Its not a fairytale. Its truth. I love this great work and I'm excited
to be able to talk to my family this week! My new ward is great. Its
really strong and really diverse. We had a pretty rough week because
almost all of our appointments fell through but we had some miracles
and Elder Christiansen and I got to know each other a bit better. Have
a Merry Christmas! Cheers!

Elder Nelson