I feel like it is finally time to be able to celebrate Christmas and enjoy the holiday season. I love seeing the decorations all around, not to mention all the good food! It is honestly a great time to be here in England, and I am excited to learn some English holiday traditions that I will hopefully be able to share with you. I am especially grateful to be sharing the message of the Savior and charity at this time of the year. How often do people get wrapped up in the presents, parties, and people and forget the true meaning of Christmas? I asked myself, what is the true meaning of Christmas? Yes, it is to celebrate the birth of the Savior. However, I feel that it is something more--charity. Some may say that charity is doing good for others. In The Book of Mormon, charity is defined (in Moroni 7) as the pure love of Christ. I have come to know that charity is more than an action, it is a way of thinking. As we think about others with love and kindness, we are motivated to action. The starting point is our thoughts though. Once we get the right mindset and see the world with rose-colored glasses (as Grandma Shelley always did), we have developed charity and the rest is history. That love that we see the world with will be demonstrated by the way we live our life, including the service and good we do for others.
This week I have spent some time calling people that missionaries have met in previous months. From this experience, a few people commented on my accent. The phone calls went about like this.
Me: Hello ____, my name is Sister Jack and I am a missionary from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and you met some of my friends a few months ago. We are sharing about The Book of Mormon.
Other: Oh yeah. I remember them. Where are you calling from?
Me: From England, but I am originally from America.
Other: Yes, I could tell...
Okay that is not the exact conversation, but it is close enough. Bottom line, people kept asking me where I was calling from. It's funny because I thought I would be all set to understand and speak English, but clearly our idea of English is a little different than here. For whatever reason, I have a thick American accent so while I may be able to pronounce aunt correctly (rather than ant), people still recognize I am not from around here. I hope you are able to feel like you are part of the work happening here now and appreciate our unique heritage.
Well life is great. I look forward to speaking to all the family on Christmas! Keep up the good work and I hope each of you are able to develop a little greater charity in your own lives this Christmas season.
Love always, Becca
p.s. We even got to decorate some cookies this week. So I attached pictures of Sister Gallozo and me with our decorated cookies! Tis the season :)
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