MISSIONARY TRAINING CENTER, PROVO, UTAH
COMPANION: ELDER HURD
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!
We get a special 20 minute writing session today. Not enough to read any of your kind, thoughtful, and nourishing emails, but enough to say MERRY CHRISTMAS a couple dozen times and share a thought or two. (:
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Last night we had a devotional that was entirely devoted (hehehee, a devoted devotional) about how to write letters, so I hope this one measures up. While the speaker was talking though, my mind wandered (as it often does during Christmas time) to the wise men from the east, who celebrated the first Christmas in a unique way. Angels rejoiced, shepherds wondered and testified, Mary and Joseph held their baby, but the wise men were nowhere to be found. Because the wise men were just beginning.
That first MERRY CHRISTMAS may have been one of singing, or of dancing, or celebration or of gift-giving. But I'd be willing to bet it was spent walking. I would bet that men who had anticipated the holy birth their entire lives, who had spent every night searching the skies, who dreamed and wondered and cried out for their God, saw that star in the west and did not lose a moment. Carrying great burdens (try hauling gold around sometime), they began their journey to catch a glimpse of the Babe of Bethlehem.
I have pondered their journey and their lives many times. Wondering over them, contemplating them, garnering comfort from their love of Jesus, their willingness to sacrifice, the way they chased their stars. But this Christmas there is something more. This MERRY CHRISTMAS I am just starting a journey. A journey that at times seems so very long. Guided by an obvious, blinding light at the beginning, I am mindful that that star will not always fill the sky. That some days will the frustrating, will be confusing, and that little section of my sky will not glare with such obvious significance. Perhaps the things I carry will seem heavy, maybe my camel will spit on me.
I have pondered their journey and their lives many times. Wondering over them, contemplating them, garnering comfort from their love of Jesus, their willingness to sacrifice, the way they chased their stars. But this Christmas there is something more. This MERRY CHRISTMAS I am just starting a journey. A journey that at times seems so very long. Guided by an obvious, blinding light at the beginning, I am mindful that that star will not always fill the sky. That some days will the frustrating, will be confusing, and that little section of my sky will not glare with such obvious significance. Perhaps the things I carry will seem heavy, maybe my camel will spit on me.
But I know why they walked. Walked and walked and walked every day. Why they defied critics and kings, time and space, to arrive at a simple home, and lay their burdens at the feet of a babe. One whom they loved more than life, more than comfort, more than all; and to find those burdens were gifts; gifts that pleased the Christ child.
MERRY CHRISTMAS. It is amazing here, and I have learned more than I could possibly have anticipated. I love and miss my family, I love and miss my friends. But I have come to adore Him, and I have never had a happier Christmas. My companion is doing well. He takes lots of pictures so I told him my parents would love him forever. Thank you Scott, Paula, Kylie, and Cayden for the packages. I wish I had time for a letter just to you, but know they made my birthday and Christmas so special. It snowed a TON over the weekend and it has not yet completely melted. My first white Christmas of memory.
We walked to the temple in a snowstorm (a light dusting to the natives, but it might as well have been a blizzard to me), and I got the chance to stare up at that beautiful pure structure. The angel moronic was disappearing into the fog/clouds/inversion/falling snow or whatever it was, and I had the opportunity to think that those who sound His trumpet, often find themselves disappearing into His realm. What a gift. What a privilege. What a Christmas.
Merry Christmas. I love you. I did not give gifts, and I am sorry. All I have to offer is what missionaries are stuffed to the brim of: invitations. Remember the smell. Remember to laugh. Remember to give. Remember to receive. Remember to love. Remember to sing. Remember to adore Him. My Jesus. My Christ. My Immanuel.
~Elder Jorgensen
MERRY CHRISTMAS. It is amazing here, and I have learned more than I could possibly have anticipated. I love and miss my family, I love and miss my friends. But I have come to adore Him, and I have never had a happier Christmas. My companion is doing well. He takes lots of pictures so I told him my parents would love him forever. Thank you Scott, Paula, Kylie, and Cayden for the packages. I wish I had time for a letter just to you, but know they made my birthday and Christmas so special. It snowed a TON over the weekend and it has not yet completely melted. My first white Christmas of memory.
We walked to the temple in a snowstorm (a light dusting to the natives, but it might as well have been a blizzard to me), and I got the chance to stare up at that beautiful pure structure. The angel moronic was disappearing into the fog/clouds/inversion/falling snow or whatever it was, and I had the opportunity to think that those who sound His trumpet, often find themselves disappearing into His realm. What a gift. What a privilege. What a Christmas.
Merry Christmas. I love you. I did not give gifts, and I am sorry. All I have to offer is what missionaries are stuffed to the brim of: invitations. Remember the smell. Remember to laugh. Remember to give. Remember to receive. Remember to love. Remember to sing. Remember to adore Him. My Jesus. My Christ. My Immanuel.
~Elder Jorgensen