Well a big hello and a MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!!
This week was a big week for me as I celebrated my second and last Christmas in Chile. I celebrated it in the same place as last year with the same people, so it was all with good friends. I also got to Skype my family for the 3/4 times in my mission. My companion keeps talking about how old I am in the mission. It´s really weird. But above everything else I had some time to reflect on the importance of the Savior in my life. I´m so glad I can take 2 years of my life and give every second of them to Him and it saddens me to see that they are flying by so quickly.
During this week I thought a little about the act of gift giving and why we do it. It´s been on my mind a lot recently. For a few reasons I have now come to have a better love of the Christmas tradition of giving gifts. (note I´m not talking about getting them) These reasons are:
1. We give gifts to remember and honor the gifts that our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ have given us. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son..." That´s a huge gift to give, your only begotten. Then Christ gave His life for us. He gave everything he had, capping it all off with the Atonement, giving us the chance to obtain eternal life.
2. When we give gifts we find a new love for those people. We take time to think about their needs, their desires, there feelings as a whole and then we try and appease those.
3. "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." I like to think of service as a gift too. Christ served all of us, so in return we can give service to those around us. We put their interests above ours. It´s another great way to spend Christmas.
I love you all and hope you all enjoyed your Christmas. Enjoy your New Years too!
Feliz navidad, prospero año, y felicidad a todos,
Elder Forsgren
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