Christmas Week

The Week of Christmas is over, and what a week it has been! It has been super cold and windy here in Lancaster, but we have kept busy and it has been great!

We did a lot of tracting this week but didn't get to talk to a lot of people because hardly anyone was home to answer the door, and those that did seemed pretty annoyed with us. You would think people would have more time for Jesus this time of year, but apparently not.

One of the families we ate dinner with this week was doing "The 12 Days of Christmas" for another family in the ward (the 12 days leading up to Christmas they would leave some treat or gift or something at the family's door, then ring the doorbell and run away.) We ate dinner with them Christmas Eve, and after dinner we went with them to make the final delivery. It was pretty fun, but the other family opened the door as we were running away and said "GOT YA!" We were caught!

At another member's home they had a wood burning stove inside their house and we went over and roasted marshmallow with them and their grandkids. (We used Peeps instead of regular marshmallows, which is a really great idea and I don't know why I never thought of it before!)

On Christmas we got to Skype home. It was really nice, but an hour is just not long enough!

But the biggest thing that happened this week was:......RICHARD GOT BAPTIZED! Afterwards he told us that he felt "new." It was a wonderful thing to see—an 80 year old man coming out of the water, as pure as a newborn baby. He also told us that it wasn't as hard as he thought it would be (I'm not sure what he thought he would need to do exactly, but I'm glad he had a good experience.) It was such a privilege to teach him and help him prepare for this important ordinance. Here is a man who has known the Gospel is true for most of his life, but because he felt inadequate of this great blessing, held himself back from taking part in this wonderful Church and all the blessing that come with it. This past week, I was reading in 2 Nephi 26:24-28, which to me seemed like it was speaking directly to Richard's concerns: 

"He doth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation. Behold, doth he cry unto any saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price. Behold, hath he commanded any that they should depart out of the synagogues, or out of the houses of worship? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to repentance. Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but all men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden."

God wants each of us to be able to receive these great blessings. It doesn't matter what sins someone has committed in the past, all are free to repent and come unto Christ, and to partake of his Salvation. In Richard's case, there wasn't even that much he had to change in his life in order to be worthy of baptism. He is kind, loving, humble, and knows and loves the Lord. He loves Joseph Smith and loves the Book of Mormon. He loves to learn, and has a burning desire to understand the Gospel more deeply. We should not let our inadequacies keep us back from moving forward. Christ has his arms wide open to us, we just need to allow ourselves to accept him and his atonement.

Love you all! Hope you have a wonderful New Year!

Sister Daelemans