December 24 – 7:30 am and Mary finally found the Christmas window decorations so she could put them up. 8:00 am – we arrive at the office and we are the only vehicle in the parking lot. But that will change!

  

8:30 am The mail person called and asked if we were going to be open. She was greatly relieved when we were. About an hour later she showed up with 54 packages. Elder Rippstein carefully put them in zones while keeping an eye out for a package for him. Sometime between 9:30 and 10:00 help arrive in the form of young and slightly older elves…I could not pass up taking this picture of sister Stegelmeier with sister Bare, her daughter who is visiting and elder Sommerfeldt in the back ground. After elder and sister Evans and Mary put labels on all the packages the four sister elves – Herrera, Holyan, Stegelmeier and Johnson, helped elder Evans put them back in zones for delivery.

  

We went on our Christmas Package tour at about 11:00 and sometime after noon found us in Belle Glade giving elders Palacios, Edwards, Maki, and Krafton some packages. They invited us in to see their apartment…nice and tidy. Notice the interesting ornaments on the tree. Missionaries are very resourceful. Elder Palacios is probably one of four elders who is shorter than I am, but he has a much better smile.

  

We had lunch at Popeyes and then it was up to Okeechobee where elders Bowen and Duncan are being so successful that their chapel will not hold all those who come to the branch on Sunday so they have to put people in other parts of the building.  When I went in to look at the chapel I saw this beautiful Nativity set. Our last stop was in Jupiter where we met elders Shaffer, Toeava, Grant and Doman outside the bowling alley that they thought they were going to have a P-day activiity but found that it was closed. We hope the packages we brought helped make it a better day. Elder Grant truly hit the jackpot for packages – at least those we delivered.

The Evans, Sommerfeldts and Bares also went out delivering to other parts of the mission so that if at all possible the wonderful Fort Lauderdale missionaries had packages to open on Christmas. I asked them to take pictures so I could post them later so their families could see that their sons and daughters got their packages. Of course most of them plan to Skype their families tomorrow – one of the two times during the year that they get to contact them directly.

We arrived back at the office at about 4:30 where I found the mailbox filled with letters and a few more last minute packages. Unfortunately these will mostly be delivered some time during the coming week. But there it will just make the holiday season last a little longer.

 I am famous or perhaps infamous for taking lots of pictures…at least when I think about where I am and what is going on. So these are just some of the pictures I took during the week.

  

The assistants are busy doing exchanges with all the elders in the mission. Elder Rippstein dropped into the office with elder Stewart. On Wednesday night we had the opportunity to pick up some young sisters who had been baptized but not yet confirmed and bring them to Fort Lauderdale so they could receive the Holy Ghost. After that Bishop Brown – a scouter all the way – took some time to teach them about what just happened and how the Holy Ghost could work in their lives as long as they kept the commandments. On Thursday we went over to the Rampton’s so Mary could give her piano lesson. I took this beautiful picture of their roses and bougainvillea that are in full bloom.

  

On Friday I took this picture of the clear blue sky. What it does not show is that the temperature was only 55 degrees which is about as cold as we have seen in the 14 months we have been here. On Saturday we went over to the temple site to drop off some Books of Mormon only to find it closed. I did get pictures of a coot and a beautiful Blue Heron in the canal in the front of the temple lot.

These are the experiences that President Anderson shared in his letter to the missionaries this week…

“Isn’t it wonderful to know as representatives of Christ, especially this time of year, that we are bringing precious souls to Him. Giving these souls the opportunity of Eternal Life is “the most desirable above all things”.

 

Just as the Angels gave the vision to Nephi and later announced the birth of Christ to the World, we are Angels to those who are looking for Christ:

 

“We were harvesting because some appointments fell through. We got a few doors slammed in our faces and so on. Then we said a prayer with this lady … She was about to cry, we testified of the Spirit and invited her, she accepted a date and to come to church, and she told us that she received revelation that week saying that two angels would come to her door, and boom here we are!!”

 

Angels of Christ who have been sent to help them on the right path:

 

“We Harvested a woman named Janet, who after the prayer, said, ‘You know those Christmas movies that always have angels in them? The ones God sends to change people? I know that you two is my Christmas Angels.’  We invited her to be baptized. She said, ‘The Holy Spirit is here.  He’s been whispering to me that it’s time for a big change for days now – I just didn’t know how it was gon’ come.’  She accepted baptism too.”

 

Angels who bring the truth to those who may not see with their eyes, but see with their hearts:

 

“We went harvesting and found a man, Marshall, who is legally blind and practically had the word elect stamped on his forehead… We prayed for him and then asked him who he knew that needed a blessing.  He pointed to his neighbor and then we asked him to accompany us to bless them.  We knocked on his neighbor’s door and when we talked to them, they first tried to shut the door on us.  But then Marshall chimed in and said that we just wanted to pray for them.  They reluctantly let us in and we knelt down to pray.  The spirit entered the room and I was grateful for the blessings that exact obedience brings.  It was awesome.  Marshall is blind, so it was very difficult for him to leave his house.  But he knew the importance of the spirit that the harvest blessing brings, so of course he wanted to share it with his neighbors.  After the prayer, we helped him back to his house and continued to teach.  He came to church yesterday and he’s getting baptized next week.”

 

Our gift to others is the “Gift of Christ”. As his representatives, we can give this gift to all those elect who are prepared to receive his Angels. Those Angels are you, the elect are those that receive you, and “The Gift of Christ” is the “priceless gift of joy” that Christ can give with His Gospel.”