Lift up your head and be of good cheer

Thank you so much for the news and updates on things going on at home. It sounds like a lot of really great things are going on, in addition to that whole Christmas thing.

We actually have been having a great week. This ward, and my companion, are awesome, and I'm really enjoying serving here. The majority, or at least half, of the work that we did last week, in terms of teaching, has been with members, just sharing Christmas thoughts with them and encouraging them to share the testimony of Christ that they have. We've also been visiting a few other people, though, including a couple of really awesome families who don't attend regularly, and one or two recent converts. One of those recent converts has actually invited us to his house for Christmas, so we'll probably be skyping there, from his Xbox, which could be cool.

There's also a couple that we actually taught twice this week, and they are seriously the most awesome people ever. The first time we met with them, only he was able to make it. So, we shared the Plan of Salvation with him, using this little visual aid thing that my companion has. Then, we asked him if he could take it home and share the Plan with his girlfriend, and he agreed. Then, just yesterday, we met with them again, and she had the whole thing completely down! They are really open to the gospel, and just really want to learn more.

This coming week should be pretty great. Monday, we're allowed to watch a movie off of a list that President Toombs made (which list is actually pretty sweet, if a bit short--it includes stuff like Toy Story 3, The Princess Bride, Remember the Titans, A Christmas Story, and some more. It'll be awesome.).

Then on Christmas I'll be able to Skype with you guys, which will be great! (Caveat emptor, though, we're only allowed ~40 minutes.) We'll also be going Christmas caroling as a zone on Christmas, which will be super fun.

So, things have been going pretty great. All is well in Zion, I suppose.

This is a message I've been sharing recently about Christmas. Sometimes, when we think about Christmas, even after we've gotten over the whole Santa, Christmas tree, presents, thing, and focus on Christ, we find ourselves really only focusing on the nativity. We'll read Luke 2, we'll talk about the wise men, we'll remember Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. Sometimes, though, we forget that thousands of miles away, there was another Christmas story going on among the Nephites and Lamanites that we can read in the Book of Mormon. 

It had been five years since Samuel prophesied that there'd be a night without darkness, and the people who didn't believe him had set a day where they would kill everyone who did believe. (This always seemed a little extreme to me, but oh well.). So the night before that was going to happen, the prophet Nephi prayed to God. He "cried mightily to his God in behalf of his people." The response that Christ gives him is one of my favorite passages of scripture ever. He tells Nephi: "Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world." 

I think that we can use the same advice now, even though we don't have people trying to kill us because we believe in Christ. We can always "Lift up [our] heads and be of good cheer," because of Christ. Because of his birth, because of his life, because of his death, we can be happy. We can be completely clean. We can live with our Heavenly Father and with our families forever.

I love you, and I'm super excited to talk to you guys on Wednesday.

Love,

Peter