December 27, 2016

Hello everyone, 

Christmas was awesome!!    Had the best time, meeting up with all my old friends I met in the mission when I first came in.  All the missionaries met up together and we had our Christmas Conference with our President on Tuesday.  Whats more is that we had some Christmas dinner parties in the branches that we serve in.  But the best is being able to help everyone stay true and faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ by remembering His birth into  the world and remembering and understanding why He came to do it.  My two favorite scriptures with a strong invitation to come unto Him say

 26 "And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved."   Omni 1:26

32 "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

 33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot."    Moroni 10:32-33

I know that while these are the invitations, we have the choice ALWAYS to accept and follow it or not.  But everyone is able to receive that divine help and healing IF they want it.  Just as any parent gives the blessing promised as well as any consequence should a child choose the other way, so does our Heavenly Father lovingly warn us of what will come as a result of our choices.  I love how clear and simple the gospel is to know that the Savior is the Shepherd to lead us through the darkness, that we wont fall.  

I hope that everyone had an awesome Christmas with their families and friends and remember who it is that created us and our home, this earth.  He should be first and foremost in our lives more than any of our possessions or material things or our jobs.  The reason being that you can go back to your home, your heavenly home, where we once lived, and we can live in His presence.  Living the Gospel of Christ is the way to do this and no other way.  Absolutely no other way exists.  

Last thing is that I am being transferred!  Im leaving to a place called Los Fresnos, close to Brownsville TX   way on the other side of the mission and close to the gulf of Mexico.  Will be very humid.  uh oh. =/  Have a good week everyone.  Love you 

Elder Newman