Here are the amazing experiences that the president shared in his current letter. I was especially touched by the one where the lady called the missionaries who helped her and mentioned the card they gave with their phone number was in Spanish so it did not help her…showing love does not need words only actions…

“I know God is blessing us as you Share yourself and his blessing as a Representative of our Savior:

“Yesterday as we walked into church, the Branch President handed us a note that was posted on the door from somebody. And here is what the note said. ‘A couple of your followers came to my house and recited a prayer for me. I asked for a little financial assistance from the Lord. This past week I’ve received extra hours at work. I just wanted to thank them for their words. Also to let everyone know that I believe it was their kind prayer and belief in God that gave me the help I needed.’ And I still have that note. And will always keep it. It is just an amazing assurance that God is there. He answers prayers when we pray in faith.”

God truly blesses those we share His love and Gospel with:

“We harvested and as we were harvesting we met this man. He let us in and after the prayer he told us that he had been talking about how he needed to feel closer to God and needed a prayer. That is when we knocked on his door. He accepted baptism and committed to church! God puts people in our paths! Then later that day we were going to follow up with a lady who we had blessed and she said ‘before you start I got to tell you guys. After you left last time I got a phone call with the best news that I have heard in years and I knew it was because of your prayer.’ God truly did answer our prayer on her behalf. He always does! It was amazing to see her so excited about how he had answered the prayer.”

God will trust us to find and bless others in need as we act and do:

“We decided that we would be creators of circumstance for 30 extra minutes we had. We went straight to the map and chose a street to harvest. Speedily, we got into the car and drove to that spot and knocked. A man let us in and asked us to pray for health and work. We said a sincere prayer and boldly testified that Christ had sent us to Him. Thomas accepted baptism right away. The following day he had already asked his boss for the next Sunday off; his boss (who He said never changes the work schedule) gave him Sundays off! His daughter, who has been looking for work, got 2 calls for interviews the day after we prayed for his family. Both Him and Her came to church 20 minutes early on Sunday and exclaimed that they have found the truth. What a miracle, WHAT A LIFE CHANGING MIRACLE! The Lord knows who he wants in His church, and if we had decided to just sit and wait that 30 minutes we probably would have missed out on that miracle.”

God will bless those that we serve:

“The other day we were out harvesting. We passed this woman taking some stuff to the trash. We turned and offered to help. She seemed really startled and said she was fine. We left her with our card and continued on. Thirty minutes later she called us and said, ‘You know, there have been 2 people in my life who have ever offered to help me; some 10 year old kid and you. God must be telling me something by putting you in my path. This card is in Spanish which doesn’t really help me. . . Can you come over and expain a little more?’ We have been teaching hr all week! She came to church and is preparing to be baptized this Sunday!”

President Monson teaches us the importance of “giving, not getting”:

“Our celebration of Christmas should be a reflection of the love and selflessness taught by the Savior. Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. We feel more kindly one to another. We reach out in love to help those less fortunate. Our hearts are softened. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than in things. To catch the real meaning of the spirit of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the Spirit of Christ.” (President Thomas S. Monson, December 2013 Christmas Devotional)

A wise friend years ago told me â€œYou give, and give, and give, and give until you have it all; until you are rich,”. I know “rich” in this case is being rich with the blessings of God as we give ourselves unselfishly in this great work we’ve have been called to.

It’s our prayer this Christmas season that we may take the example of the Savior Jesus Christ, and put others first as he told his Disciples in Mathew 25. Give of ourselves to others, until “we are rich”, and then we can become “the richest” person “in town “.