Happy New Year/Feliz Año Nuevo

Janeen had her gall bladder surgery on 30 December.  Roy's DBS implant (brain surgery) is after the trip to Ecuador.  Confirmed: arriving Guayaquil 11 January.

Merry Christmas/Feliz Navidad 

The word "Praise" appears 233 times in the Old Testament; for example: "Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises." (Psalms 47:6).  In the new year, let us praise God for the birth, ministry, atonement, resurrection, and look forward to the second coming of our Savior.

CONFIRMADO.  Roy Howard (el jaguar silvestre) va a llegar a Guayaquil el 11 de Enero a las 11:45am.

Cientos y cientos de los versos de escrituras nos llaman a cantar alabanzas a Dios; por ejemplo: ¡Cantad alabanzas a Dios, alabanzas cantad! ¡Cantad alabanzas a nuestro Rey, alabanzas cantad! (Salmos 47:6). En el año nuevo, demos alabanzas por el nacimiento, ministerio, expiación, y resurrección, y prepararnos para la segunda venida del Salvador.

"But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.  And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good---to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted." (Jacob 2:18-19)

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"If I had only seen in my young days an interest manifested by those who had wealth, power and influence to reach down a hand to take the suffering, ignorant poor and elevate them to the standard they occupied, and to place them in possession of every comfort, it would have been a matter of great joy to me.  But it was not so then, neither is it now.  Men generally use their wealth for selfish purposes, and do not seek to devote it to God and to the glory of his name" (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 315-316).

Gifts of Christmas

"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." Romans 13:8

"I wanted something to please them, and to mark the Christmas day from all other days---but not a cent to do it with!  I walked up and down Main Street, looking into the shop windows . . . and then slunk out of sight of humanity and sat down and wept like a child, until my poured-out grief relieved my aching heart; and after awhile returned home, as empty as when I left, and played with my children, grateful and happy only for them" (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith, p. 163).

"No debáis a nadie nada, sino amaros unos a otros: porque el que ama al prójimo ha cumplido la ley". Romanos 13:8

"Quería algo a favor de ellos, y para conmemorar el día de Navidad de todos los demás días --- pero ni un centavo para hacerlo! Me acerqué y por la calle principal, mirando los escaparates... Y luego se escabulló de la vista de la humanidad, se sentó y lloró como un niño, hasta que mi derramada dolor alivia mi corazón dolorido, y después de "un tiempo regresó a su casa, tan vacío como cuando me fui, y jugar con mis hijos, agradecido y feliz sólo para ellos (Enseñanzas de los Presidentes de la Iglesia: Joseph F. Smith, p. 163)

Feliz Navidad

Man of Sorrows

I often sing "Silent Night", but I really believe that His birth went unnoticed by most due to the noise and distractions of the day.

We can depend on Christ to understand our sorrows, because he suffered all his life, and overcame all for us.  The singing shepherds in this video are the young men of Bel Aire ward, Kansas, and their YM president, my son Jess.  The setting of Christ's birth is a stable in a busy, noisy city, too crowded and busy to make room for a mother to give birth.  That was the beginning of the sorrows that prepared Him to understand our needs and atone for us.

Isaiah prophesied that the Savior would be "despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." Isaiah 53:3

 "... and thus we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of death and destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto life." Alma 28:14

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.  A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.  And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you."  John 16:20, 21, 22

"...Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ." Acts 17:3

Let's not allow the noise and distractions of our day keep us from noticing that which is most important.