Christmas Day

Merry Christmas/Craciun Fericit,

Well hello Family, I know that you are probably not going to read this when you are around everyone else but I will write you as if you were.

We have just had one of the best Christmas day's ever. We started off the day with Elder Russell M. Nelson come and talk to us about the gifts that we need to receive as missionaries and throughout all our life.  We also had our MTC President, President Brown, talk to us and allowed us to email home since there are only 3 phones in the MTC that missionaries can use. He asked us to write our feelings about this Christmas day. So here it is.

Learning here at the MTC as been a fantastic experience for me. While reading in the scriptures I have developed a greater love for my Savior, Redeemer, Jesus Christ. As we came closer to Christmas Day, I thought about all the things that I missed about being home during the holidays.  Family, great food (not found here in the MTC), the movies from stockings and just being with all the people that I love. But then I remember that the greatest gift of all was given by our Heavenly Father. He sent his son to us, and this is the day that we should be celebrating that pure love.

Reading talks, we can see that some of the General Authorities are worried that Christmas has become too commercialized. I have to say that I agree. I had always thought about baby Jesus and the Nativity scene and all the other good things, but before the MTC I never recognized the  perfect gift that we were given from our Heavenly Father. Now, I'm not saying that giving presents is a sin, what I'm trying to say is when we give

 a gift, or receive a gift, we need to remember that God also gave us a gift, one that will last our entire life and beyond that. God gave us Christ, who in turn gave us the Atonement. When we are celebrating Christmas, we should really be celebrating the Son of God and the beginning of his life here on earth. Some of you may already think this and some of you may not, but as you move on throughout the day, try and remember the

love that our Heavenly Father has for us and think about his son Jesus Christ.

I love you all and hope you are having a fantastic Christmas Day,

-Elder Ormsby


(PS from Mom:  click on the red link above to see the Deseret News article and pictures about the MTC Christmas Devotional.  Unfortunately, none of the pictures are of my missionary, but it still makes our family feel closer to him.)