Weekly letter (Christmas edition)

Merry, Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your holidays were amazing! What a wonderful time of the year! I felt unbelievably blessed and quite spoiled this year so, with that, let’s talk about the week!

• Elder Jensen and I went to the NRA museum. Typically, I don’t have any interest in this kind of stuff haha. But Elder Jensen has always wanted to go, so we went! And it was actually pretty cool! I learned there’s such thing as a vampire gun, which is kinda cool haha!

• I was able to go back to my old area (Crystal City) for an evening this last week and I was able to meet with my old friend Nelson (Yuan Pei). He wanted to go to the mall and there was this cool Love sign there! 

• Santa came! Funny story... Santa in Chinese is 圣诞老人, which translates to "Christmas old person." I feel like Santa wouldn’t be super flattered about that, but what can ya do. 

• I was unbelievably spoiled by members this holiday season! All of us Chinese-speaking Elders went to the Turley’s home to have lunch with them on Christmas. Then, that evening, Elder Jensen and I were invited over to Brother Meng and Sister Wu’s house for dinner! They are the sweetest! 

• I finished reading the Book of Mormon in Chinese! I haven’t gotten to the characters quite yet. But I read the whole Book of Mormon in the romanized version of Chinese:) It was really cool to finish that! 

Now, as you all know, there’s a true meaning behind Christmas. That true meaning is… gifts. Everyone loves gifts... some people like receiving them and some people like giving them, but a huge part of Christmas is all about gifts! My amazing and very best friend got me this wireless bluetooth keyboard that I’m using right now! I’m now able to write this email in about ⅓ the time I used to haha! Gifts are fantastic! I think gifts are a great way to show somebody you love them, you care about them, and you’re thinking of them. 

One of my favorite songs to this day is, “He Sent His Son.” Here is the first little bit of the song:

How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?

He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness.

How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go?

He sent his Son to walk with men on earth, that we may know.

How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?

He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.

I love how this song lays out a question and then the answer. How could God show us that He loves us? How could he show us his tenderness and care that he has for each of us? What is something he could do that would truly show us the ultimate love he has for us? Well, He sent His son... a newborn babe, bringing peace and holiness. 

In church yesterday, this young boy got up to bear his testimony. He told us how cool he thought it was that Jesus was born where animals stayed and how his crib was where the donkey’s ate their food. What a humble place for the Savior of the world to be born. He could have been born an heir to a throne, but He and His father chose for him to be born under the most humble conditions possible. What another great way the Father shows his love to us. No matter our background, we can grow to become something more through Christ. 

The second question in the song is, "How could God tell us the pathway we should go?" Which direction should we travel; what decisions should we try to make? He sent His son to walk with men on earth. He said goodbye to his only begotten Son for a time to come and walk about sinful and imperfect people.  He let His Son come down and walk among us and teach us. Because He knew we would need an example... someone we could follow. 

The last question we are asked is, "How could Heavenly Father tell the world about sacrifice and death?" I like to think of the first part as, "How could Heavenly Father show us His love through His sacrifices? He knew that we were going to endure trials, pains, afflictions, temptations, and all manner of bad things. How could He show us that He knows what sacrifice and trials look like? Furthermore, how could He tell us about death and how it’s truly just a step... not our final destination? Well, the same answer rings true once again. He sent His Son. He sent His Son to die for us. He allowed His son to come to earth and go through everything we ever have and ever will go through. He allowed His son to suffer, to be tempted, to have pains, trials, afflictions, and to be surrounded by imperfect people and imperfect situations. He had to watch as His son was wrongly accused and sentenced to death by crucifixion. I can only imagine Heavenly Father’s sorrow’s during this time. But He did this to show us that sacrifice is a thing. It’s difficult but essential. Sacrifice is uncomfortable because it is growth on a higher level. He needed His Son to die, so that the miracle of Him coming back to life through the resurrection would show us all that we weren’t lost. We were all going to be okay. We WOULD be able to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again!

Now, as we can see, Heavenly Father has given us a lot, He has given us His Son, whose birth we celebrate on Christmas. So, the end of the song then asks us, what can we do? Here’s how the song ends: 

What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say?

Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way.

What does he ask? Live like his Son.

Question number one: what does Heavenly Father ask of us... or what would he like in return? What do the scriptures tell us? He first asks us to have faith. He is well aware of the trials and challenges we are about to go through. He wants us to have faith in Him and turn to Him. He then asks us to have hope. There is hope in Christ always! In the moments of despair, hang on! Keep holding on to that little bit of hope... even if it is as small as a mustard seed, that is enough! We’re going to momentarily skip over the third thing we are told and jump to the fourth: Help others on their way. Jesus Christ told us that the greatest commandments are to love God and love our neighbor. Heavenly Father has given us so much, He just asks that we give a little bit of ourselves, our efforts and energy, to those around us. When you see service opportunities, take action. See a need, fill a need. 

The song ends with the final questions, "What does He ask?" What has Heavenly Father asked of you and I? Are you wondering right now in your life how you can strengthen your relationship with God? Are you wondering how to have more peace or joy in your life? Well, we are given the clear answer in this song: live like His Son! Follow Jesus Christ’s example. Angle your life to put yourself on a path that points you to the Savior. I also think it’s good to point out that we are not asked to BE Jesus Christ. We aren’t asked to do what He did. We are not asked to only be perfect. We are asked to be LIKE Him. To resemble him in our actions and words. To STRIVE to be better each and every day. To repent and then continue on, trying to change and be better. Christ’s love is sufficient! 

So yes, I do believe that Christmas is all about gifts. I believe it’s a time we can celebrate the greatest gift the world has ever been given. The gift our Heavenly Father gave us long, long ago. The gift of the life of His Son. I’m so grateful that we had the opportunity to reflect extra on the greatest gift our Heavenly Father has given us. With the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ, we can have faith, hope, an example, comfort, knowledge, love, and so much more! 

To wrap things up (Christmas present pun), I want to invite you all to do two things. Thing one: Yes, Christmas has passed, but that does not mean we need to stop celebrating the life of the Savior! Keep the spirit in your heart as much as you can and continually share it! The feelings we get during Christmas time aren’t limited to Christmas time! We can keep those feelings in our hearts as often as we would like!  Thing two: What gift can you give Heavenly Father? I’ll help you out... look back to the very last question and answer in the song. Live like His Son. What is something you can do in your life to live more like His Son? How can you better strive to act like the Savior? If you need some suggestions, ask Heavenly Father. He’ll let you know! 

Merry Christmas everyone! I am so grateful for all of the kind Christmas wishes I received, and the love that was shared with me. Although it was hard to be away from my family and my very best friend, I am so grateful I could celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with those in this area. I am honored to continue to share this message. I am grateful I can use the atonement and restart as often as I want, as long as I humbly and sincerely ask Heavenly Father. I am grateful for the greatest Christmas gift we have ever received. There were no ribbons, no boxes, no tags, but rather inside of a stable the Savior of the world came to redeem us His siblings from everything, including life itself! 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

神爱你们！

再见，

司长老 (Elder Steadman)