Sister Sienna Hawkins : Feliz Natal Everyone!!!!

MTC companions!!! Sister Menasco. Ahhh. such a fun reunion!

Is it really Christmas? It's 85 degrees and sunny.... where's the snow?? Where are the coats and sweaters and woolen socks?? I'm really missing the cold. Honestly I didn't even know that I liked the cold until I realized it wasn't going to get cooler here. Yay for summer in Brasil!

What a week! Yesterday we had our Christmas conference in Juiz De Fora and it was awesome! I got to see Sister Menasco and it was such a sweet reunion... holy cow it's only been a whole year since I've seen her! We also had a little conference with a few talks and musical numbers. We ate food and took pictures and ate more food... goodness our Mission President's wife, Sister Cascardi really went through a lot to pull it all together. I'll post pics! It was a great get together as a mission family!

I've been thinking a lot about what I wanted to share with you this Christmas season. I've felt it appropriate to simply bare to you my love and appreciation for Christ. I invite you to share your testimony of Christ with someone or record it on paper. I promise it will help resolve the "How can I really remember what Christmas is about" concern.

Yesterday in our President's talk he included the video, "He is the Gift" (posted on blog sidebar). I can't tell you how many times I've watched that clip and how many times it has touched me but this time it seemed to hit me the most. What is more important in this life than the ultimate goal to live with God again. Alone we are incredibly incapable, immeasurable and doomed to a death with no hope of life to follow. What a miserable thought! Death and nothing more. The scriptures call it the "sting" of death. It's no wonder the world mourns deeply at the lose of a loved one-too many lack faith in the gift we've been given.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son." Imagine! God let his son, Jesus Christ, come into the world, knowing what he would do. He let Him pass through incredible trials which we as humans have no capacity of comprehending the kind of suffering He undertook. God watched His Son suffer, bleed and die for one reason only- because He loves us. What immense love the Father has... goodness it pains me to watch a child fall and scrape his knee! But Christ was and is our only hope, our only chance we have to live with our Father in Heaven. God gave us Christ, a symbol and manifestation of the love and sacrifice He is willing to make to bring us home. Through Christ we have hope, we have love, we have life! What greater gifts are there than these?

I love the Lord. I know He came here to redeem us. How one can redeem billions, how that is physically and spiritually possible I can't explain. But I can say that I know He did it and I know it through the witness I've received of the Holy Ghost. I believe in His all-powerful and mighty gift. I believe in His love- the love of Christ and of the Father. I know these things are true.

Merry Christmas friends and family! Don't forget to share your testimony this Christmas!

Oh,and Happy New Year!!!!

Love,

Sister Hawkins