Love for my Savior

DECEMBER!!  No way!!!   Every year I find myself saying the same thing:  Where has the year gone???   Time is such a strange thing.  It seems I just came to New York just a few days ago, but here I am beginning my second Christmas season here.

The temperature is in the 40’s.  There are still leaves on some of the trees but after a heavy rain/wind storm on Tuesday and Wednesday, I found these colorful leaves decorating the sidewalk.

We have a nasty virus taking its toll on the mission. A lot of sore throats, congestion, headaches, body aches, and coughs.  It seems to take a couple of weeks to run its course.  I can give the instructions for care in my sleep:   

Use 1/2 tsp salt in a cup of warm water as a gargle for your throat.  Do not swallow it.  1 tablespoon of plain honey also helps soothe your throat and calm a cough.  2 ibuprofen with food helps with fever and body aches.  Increase fluids.  The juice of 1/2 of a lemon in warm water with honey helps a cough.  Sip this.  You may use over the counter medications for colds and congestion.  If you have questions or concerns, let me know. 

Tuesday was temple day so I got to go to lunch with some of the sisters whose companions were at the temple.  Laura and I had finished an English lesson so she joined us before she went to work.

I started the month and the holiday season in a fun way this year.  Sister Shapiro, Sister and Elder Williams and I went to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.  It was a fun evening.  The music and scenery were spectacular.  It ended with a manger scene and classic Christmas carols.  Beautiful night.

Foyer of The Hall

Elder and Sister Williams and Sister Shapiro

The stage is huge!  There was a full size trolley/bus that the dancers were in.
The scenery changes as the trolley went around the stage showing different city scenes. Amazing!!

Dance of the wooden soldiers. A Cannon fire knocked down the first soldier and they fell like dominoes.

Organist playing while waiting for the show to start. The snowflakes were projected onto the ceiling.

The Sugarplum Fairy

The toys come alive

Finale manger scene

Blurry pictures - real camel

Real sheep

Before the show we went to Rockerfeller Plaza to see the tree. 

Wooden soldier overlooking the skating rink.

Macy's behind the angel.

St Patrick's Cathedral.

Saturday after grocery shopping, I was in such a Christmas mood I listened to Christmas music on Pandora and I bought a live tree to decorate with the ornaments that my grandchildren made and sent to me last year.  A poinsettia and candy canes add a finishing touch. 

This week the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ has caused me to think a lot about my Savior.  As I was reading Mosiah 14, I was overcome with such emotion that I couldn’t read.  Abinadi is teaching from Isaiah and even though I have read this before, the Spirit testified so strongly to me of the Savior, His divinity, and the Atonement.  Abinadi taught that God should redeem his people, that God himself would come down from heaven, take upon himself, by birth, the form of a man, and go forth in mighty power upon the face of the earth. I would encourage you to prayerfully read Mosiah 14.  I pray that you will receive that same confirmation as I have received. 

As I pondered more about this I read other items and because I cannot express my feelings adequately, I am borrowing from others. 

From Promised Messiah by Bruce R. McConkie, we are told how Jesus Christ appeared to others:  “There is no mystique, no dynamic appearance, no halo around his head, thunders do not roll and lightnings do not flash at his appearance.  He is the Son of the Highest, but he walks and appears as the offspring of the lowest.  He is a man among men, appearing, speaking, dressing, seeming in all outward respects as they are.”

From Mortal Messiah by Bruce R. McConkie:  “Jesus had come unto his own, and his own received him not! The leaders of the people rejected his words when he preached in the temple at Passover time.  The common people of Nazareth hardened their hearts against his words when he spoke to them in the synagogue.  And so it would be throughout his whole ministry; save for a few believing souls, he was despised and rejected of men” and eventually his own would lead him before Roman overlords, as they raised their voices in chants of ‘Crucify him, Crucify him.’”

From We Will Prove Them Herewith by Neal A. Maxwell:  Jesus Christ “knows by actual, personal experience, because not only did He suffer pains, afflictions, and temptations of every kind during His second estate, but He took upon Himself our sins as well as our pains, sicknesses, and infirmities.  Thus He knew, not in abstraction but in actuality, according to the flesh, the whole of human suffering.  He bore our infirmities before we bore them.  He knows perfectly well how to succor us.  We can tell Him nothing of pain, temptation, or affliction: He learned according to the flesh and His triumph was complete!”

From Symbol of Our Faith by President Gordon B. Hinckley:  “No member of this Church must ever forget the terrible price paid by our Redeemer who gave His life that all men might live—the agony of Gethsemane, the bitter mockery of His trial, the vicious crown of thorns tearing at His flesh….the cross, the instrument of His torture, the terrible device designed to destroy the Man of Peace….We cannot forget that.  We must never forget it, for here our Savior, our Redeemer, the Son of God, gave Himself a vicarious sacrifice for each of us.”

I do testify with every fiber of my soul that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.  Through Him and because of Him, I know the path I must follow to return to my Father in Heaven and to be united with my husband and family for eternity.  I know that by studying, pondering, and praying about the scriptures in the Book of Mormon, I can be lead and taught and helped along that path.  I feel in my heart deep gratitude and love for my Savior.  My heart aches for the pain and suffering he felt.  The Holy Ghost has testified of the truthfulness of these things to me.  

I pray that you will have the Spirit with you during this Christmas season and always.  I love you my family and friends.

Sunday dinner