Merry Christmas
• We feel blessed to be in such a spiritual environment here. The talks we are privileged to hear, the people we meet and the experiences we are having are something we will never forget.
• Last night was Christmas Eve. If our children and grandchildren would have been here it would have been just perfect. The snow was falling gently as all the missionaries sang Christmas Carols on the Nauvoo Temple Steps. It was a beautiful sight as we overlooked the Mississippi River with Joseph and Hyrum on their horses in the foreground. Then we enjoyed donuts and hot chocolate and cider at church. We stopped by to see all our friends perform in Rendezvous before coming home to spend a quiet evening together at home thinking about family.
…the best gift I can give is my witness of the Savior. …Christmases I remember best are the Christmases that touched my heart the most. Henry B. Eyring
• I enjoyed working with other sisters last month as we helped prepare for the open house for President Condie. He is our new temple president.
• Gary calls our little 14x21’ historic house “The Mendenhall Mansion.” We love it here. We have a Charlie Brown Christmas tree that takes up half of the living room. Our little 9 year old grandson said something profound. He said, “A Christmas Tree is best when you appreciate what you have.”
Christmas is an ongoing story. …the story is not finished until the Savior’s work has been completed.
• It seems like almost every night has been special as part of the Christmas celebration. We have attended such things as a family home evening at the President’s home; a Christmas Walk along the candle lit streets with stories at each site and bonfires to keep us warm; caroling and goodies at the Family Living Center; a tree lighting at the Visitor’s Center with the mayor, Warsaw High School choir and the townspeople attending; and the opportunity to attend the temple.
…The Lord would like us to reach out to the lonely, the ill, those burdened down by the cares of this world and to reach out in love with an encouraging word, a smile and a listening ear.
• Elder Jaster often comes by and eats lunch with me wherever I am working that day. Once he drove up to Sarah Granger’s Home and after turning off the engine a herd of cows in the field came up to greet him. There must have been 50 or 60 of them, more than you can see in the picture. They were used to being brought hay in the loader because as soon as he drove up all the cows came towards him like they were expecting something to eat. It was an awesome sight.
President Ludwig suggested we have a homemade Christmas …a simple Christmas
• We feel blessed to be in such a spiritual environment here. The talks we are privileged to hear, the people we meet and the experiences we are having are something we will never forget.
• Last night was Christmas Eve. If our children and grandchildren would have been here it would have been just perfect. The snow was falling gently as all the missionaries sang Christmas Carols on the Nauvoo Temple Steps. It was a beautiful sight as we overlooked the Mississippi River with Joseph and Hyrum on their horses in the foreground. Then we enjoyed donuts and hot chocolate and cider at church. We stopped by to see all our friends perform in Rendezvous before coming home to spend a quiet evening together at home thinking about family.
…the best gift I can give is my witness of the Savior. …Christmases I remember best are the Christmases that touched my heart the most. Henry B. Eyring
• I enjoyed working with other sisters last month as we helped prepare for the open house for President Condie. He is our new temple president.
• Gary calls our little 14x21’ historic house “The Mendenhall Mansion.” We love it here. We have a Charlie Brown Christmas tree that takes up half of the living room. Our little 9 year old grandson said something profound. He said, “A Christmas Tree is best when you appreciate what you have.”
Christmas is an ongoing story. …the story is not finished until the Savior’s work has been completed.
• It seems like almost every night has been special as part of the Christmas celebration. We have attended such things as a family home evening at the President’s home; a Christmas Walk along the candle lit streets with stories at each site and bonfires to keep us warm; caroling and goodies at the Family Living Center; a tree lighting at the Visitor’s Center with the mayor, Warsaw High School choir and the townspeople attending; and the opportunity to attend the temple.
…The Lord would like us to reach out to the lonely, the ill, those burdened down by the cares of this world and to reach out in love with an encouraging word, a smile and a listening ear.
• Elder Jaster often comes by and eats lunch with me wherever I am working that day. Once he drove up to Sarah Granger’s Home and after turning off the engine a herd of cows in the field came up to greet him. There must have been 50 or 60 of them, more than you can see in the picture. They were used to being brought hay in the loader because as soon as he drove up all the cows came towards him like they were expecting something to eat. It was an awesome sight.
President Ludwig suggested we have a homemade Christmas …a simple Christmas
…a heart free from bitterness and sin
• The missionaries made donations of baby blankets to the Carthage Hospital and have been working on other humanitarian projects.
Gifts that are endless: The Atonement of Jesus Christ; Peace; Forgiveness; Being called His Children and Eternal Life and Exaltation.
• We got to decorate Sarah Granger Kimball’s home for Christmas as well as the Visitor’s Center. It was an unusual sight to see Elder Jaster hanging garland and decorating trees. What was even more unusual was to see him smiling and acting like he was enjoying it, ha!
Love comforts, counsels, cures and consoles.
• The missionaries made donations of baby blankets to the Carthage Hospital and have been working on other humanitarian projects.
Gifts that are endless: The Atonement of Jesus Christ; Peace; Forgiveness; Being called His Children and Eternal Life and Exaltation.
• We got to decorate Sarah Granger Kimball’s home for Christmas as well as the Visitor’s Center. It was an unusual sight to see Elder Jaster hanging garland and decorating trees. What was even more unusual was to see him smiling and acting like he was enjoying it, ha!
Love comforts, counsels, cures and consoles.
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
• Elder Jaster said he’s keeping Nauvoo going. They’re going to have to either shut it down when we leave or hire a battalion to keep things going, ha!
…spread the message of hope, love, and peace.
• We have had to make adjustments for there being so few missionaries here over the winter. We were down to 101 and now have 115. The sites are all open but the hours have been shortened.
There is nothing we can tell the Savior about loneliness, rejection or suffering.
• Our goal is to make 75,000 gingerbread cookies so there will be enough for the thousands of visitor’s who come to Nauvoo throughout the year. We have just over 70,000.
• We have 1,645 grandchildren in our mission now. At every zone conference, Sister Ludwig says we have however many grandchildren there are praying for us. …and we are praying for them.
I love this picture of President and Sister Ludwig.
If there hadn’t have been an Easter, Jesus would have been just another little Hebrew boy.
President Condie
• Everyday we see missionary’s mailboxes bulging with little gifts of goodies and other simple acts of love and kindness.
The magic of Christmas is not in the presents but in His Presence.
President Condie
• Everyday we see missionary’s mailboxes bulging with little gifts of goodies and other simple acts of love and kindness.
The magic of Christmas is not in the presents but in His Presence.
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