Message 12 December 2011

Message—12 December 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

This past week we were blessed with the opportunity of having time to get caught up on a number of things that have had to be set aside for a while.  We had some apartment records that needed to be updated and filed; and copies of some of the apartment record forms made for President Christianson; and variety of other projects to complete.

Thursday we attended our District Meeting at the chapel in Greece NY; and Sister Christianson attended the meeting with us.  President Christianson was not well enough to come with her.  We had a very good meeting.

Saturday evening we were invited to dinner at Brother and Sister Petranek’s home.  Brother Petranek was the first counselor in the Bishopric up until a month ago.  He is now our Ward Mission Leader.  We had a great visit with the Petranek’s and learned a lot from each other which will be helpful as we continue trying to work in unity to do more missionary work with the help of the members.

Sunday evening we had a District Meeting to organize and prepare a short missionary related skit for our Christmas Training meeting on Tuesday in the chapel in Amherst NY.  We will be meeting together with the Buffalo Zone from 9am to 3pm Tuesday.  We will also be attending the Palmyra North and South Zones on Wednesday, also from 9am to 3pm.

In our mission office staff meeting today we were asked by the President to find a new apartment in the town of Fairport.  We were able to find a few possibilities after the meeting and will be following up to determine which one to rent.

While we were at the Petranek’s, a question was asked by Sister Petranek about the Nicean and Athanassian creeds and how confusing they are in describing the nature of Heavenly Father , Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.  We shared with them part of the instruction President Christianson gave in our last zone conference about Heavenly Father.  We asked Sister Petranek how she felt when she read the words of the two creeds.  Then we read the words of Joseph Smith concerning the first vision, and also verse 22 in Doctrine and Covenants Section 130; then we asked her how she felt after reading those words.  The statements in the creeds are confusing and make no sense; the words of Joseph Smith and the verse in the Doctrine and Covenants lead you to feel like they are true and perfectly logical.  This is a good example of how we can know the truth of anything in any circumstance.  Just like it explains in Moroni 7:15-19, we can know what is right and good and what is not good or evil.

We have been told that all those who attended the family Christmas party last Saturday had an enjoyable time together; including a visit from the real Santa Claus.  We were thinking of you and missed being with you; but we were able to talk for a few minutes with some of you on the phone and we heard your Merry Christmas wish to us.  We are anxious to hear from Lynne and Chris whether they will be having a girl or boy in April.  We hope Olivia continues to hear well with her hearing aid and will begin learning to talk.

We love you all and pray for you daily, and we appreciate your prayers for us.  We hope you enjoy the coming days leading up to Christmas and feel the love and peace of Jesus the Christ.  We know He lives and has given us the greatest gift possible; the atonement and the promise of the resurrection, and perfect example to follow.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine