December 18, 2009

Hey Family :) How is everyone. I hope all is well in the Aspen 8th ward and at Home. This week in the MTC there has been some very interesting changes. Yesterday Elder Helvey received a notice to go to the travel office where Sister Law works and when we talked to her she gave us some good and bad news. The good new is On Tuesday Elder Helvey is leaving to Salt Lake City South until his visas for France and Belgium come and the bad news is now I wont have Elder Helvey as my companion so for the last week I will get another new companion. Elder Helvey or Grandpa Helvey as we like to call him has been here for 11 weeks now so he is very happy to be leaving. After about the 6th week of being here you really get an urge to just break out for a day LoL. It wouldnt be so bad if we could get a little change in the schedule or in the food any change would make the stay here better.

Thank you so much for my packages Elder Helvey and I love them especially all the food :) and Soeur Chugg and Soeur Hurst love the advant calendars. This yearis going to be one of the most weird Christmas's ever. The one thing I am looking forward to however is hearing a member of the First Presidency speak. I hope and pray every day that it will be President Monson but who knows they are all great speakers. This Christmas I would like for you to think about not Christmas but Christ and remember the 3 gifts that God has given to us.
1st gift Jesus Christ His only begotten son and His Atoning sacrafice for us.
2nd gift Gift of the Holy Ghost. As long as we live worthy the Holy Ghost can always reside with us and help us make the right choice and lastly but most important The greatest gift of all the gifts of God.
Eternal Life where we will reside with God, Jesus Christ, and our Families. Isnt that what Christmas is all about? Remembering God giving up His only begotten, Jesus and His Atoning sacrafice for us that we may be perfected and live with our Father in Heaven for Eternity.

The most impoartant thing I will be missing this year Family. Spend as much time as you can with your family. Tell them you Love them. Give your children a hug tell them how special they are to you. Have a circle of love. The circle of love is something we do in the MTC where everyone gathers in a cirlce and we choose one person to go first and that person sits in the middle while everyone takes turns going around and telling them how much they have impacted their stay at the MTC and tell them how much they love them as a Elder/Sister It is a very spiritual experience when we do this you can really feel the Holy Ghost filling the room. It is an amazing thing to experience. So this Christmas I would ask you to maybe open presents on Dec. 26th and on the 25th Remember who this Holiday is really about Jesus Christ Our Savior.
Elder VanDyke