Christmas is Coming!!!!!

 It has been another fine day of Zoom meetings, beginning with our own ward sacrament meeting.  The speakers were a young couple from America.  He is doing post-doctoral work at Oxford in Mathematics and they plan on being here for several years.  They each spoke about gratitude, and their talks were excellent.  He talked about some quotes from Joseph Smith and the idea of being grateful for ALL things.  How difficult that is!  And yet how amazing in the blessings derived.

She started with a children's book (young mothers do that even in Oxford!) about Elmer the Elephant, who helped all of the complaining elephants around him change their perspective and found gratitude for their own circumstances.  She went on from there to give an excellent talk.  And see....I remember it!  Children's books often are the best place to find life's lessons.

We watched the Crowley Stake Conference - a stake south of London - and not ours.  Dave and Deb were speaking, and it was well worth watching 2 hours to hear them speak.  I loved their talks.  It ended with Elder Philips - a member of the Seventy in Europe.  He is British and can't even be 50 yet.  He is tall, dark and handsome and has an equally beautiful wife.  

He is such a humble and sweet man, and whenever I have heard him speak, my heart is touched.  He and his wife have seven children, and he told of driving from Oxford one evening two years ago.  They pulled off the freeway into a gas station where the kids piled out to go to the restroom or get a treat.  They all got back in and settled in for the remaining ride home.  After about fifteen minutes, the 16-year-old in the middle set of seats said, "Dad, where's Jasper?"

Five-year-old Jasper, the youngest and liveliest of their children was not in the car.  They said a prayer, called the police and then did their best to get back to the gas station in record time (I can attest that it is not easy...sometimes you have to travel 10 miles on a freeway before you can find a place to get back on in the other direction.)

They were tense, anxious and frightened as they traveled, praying for Jasper to be taken care of.  When they pulled into the gas station, there he was with two very kindly policemen.  Elder Phillips said he was sure they would report them to the authorities, but he didn't care about anything, only getting Jasper back.  

A few weeks later, little Jasper said that he thought his middle name should be changed.  His middle name is the same as his father's and his grandfather's, and so Elder Phillips was curious to see what Jasper was thinking.  The little boy said, "It should be lost and found."  It is a sweet story, and Elder Phillips used it to speak about being lost and being the one to find.  He went to the New Testament and spoke about the many parables used to illustrate being lost and being found.

He paid beautiful tribute to the missionaries who are here "finding."  He said they have come out on these missions and are endeavoring with all their hearts to be good missionaries, with their hands tied behind their backs, with no face-to-face teaching, with no hugs or dinners or positive reinforcement from ward members.  They are far from home.  He then said, "Please reach out to them.  Don't let them be alone."

He finished with masterful teaching about never judging another, and about ministering.  So inspiring!

The last Zoom of the day was a "Why I Believe" fireside for our stake, which included 2 of our sweet young single adult sisters.  They did so well in bearing their testimonies.

That was a lot of online meetings!  But looking on the bright side, I was in Sunday clothes but very comfortable, and we didn't have to get in the car several times today to get to those meetings.

Other than being online for the better part of the day, I've been pulling out a few more decorations to put up for Christmas.  I love this time of the year!  I love looking out the windows at the cold and misty weather and feeling warm and cozy inside.  I've also been communicating with a few other ward members.  


SK answering a dental question!




I love the Sabbath.  I love all the beautiful messages of this day.  Now, before going to bed, I am going to spend a little while in the Book of Mormon.  The perfect end of a lovely day.  


Comments

melissa said…
Those sound like beautiful meetings!! And it definitely makes me want to reach out to the missionaries.
November 30, 2020 at 6:55 AM
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