What can we give to Him?

Merry Christmas!!!! I hope you all have a wonderful day and season to celebrate the Savior. I always thought it was nice when people said to remember the true meaning of Christmas. It is not until now that I have come to fully understand what that means. I think before I tried to do both - enjoy the material side as well as celebrate Christ. Now, the material aspects just doesn't matter at all. We give gifts to one another to express our love. The best thing we can do to celebrate Christmas is to do what Christ would do. Serve one another, do something to lift someone else. There's a lot of people who are sad and lonely this time of year. What a wonderful opportunity to help them remember that they have a Savior.

I love the incredible members of the church who exemplify Christ's love. I get a little teary because I am just so amazed at all the people here do for our investigators! It is amazing. They know what it means to represent Christ for others. Last week we helped our investigator Carl move into his new house, but because of his arms and back disability he couldn't unpack. So we brought a bunch of sisters from the Relief Society and went to town! They are SO good at organizing. When we showed up it was a disaster, and by the end it looked amazing! I loved their example of consecrating their talents to the Lord. Sometimes we don't even realize what talents we have to give, but these sisters were able to use theirs to fulfill a great need - for which Carl was so grateful. As sisters in Zion, we all worked together! It was so much fun to help Carl have some peace this Christmas and remove some stress. They brought him a tree too :) I know we can all use our talents to lift up the hands that hang down. That is what Christmas is about.

I've seen the power of God manifest this week as He continues to answer my prayers. I continue to see the blessings that come from obedience. This week He has taught me to be submissive, grateful, and full of love. I love the patience He has with us. I am grateful for the power of the atonement that enables us to improve each day.

Yesterday we started the LDS Stop Smoking Program with Andy! It's a great program. We're all really excited about it. He hasn't had a cigarette since 9:00 am yesterday! We've got a family fellowshipping him and each person is praying for him each day. Could you pray for him too? I know he can do this, and I know through faith and the atonement he can quit. He is so close. He is AMAZING. He is going to be such a great member of the church and inspire so many people with his example.

I love you so much!

Hna. Cannon

P.S. from Vida: We had a great visit with Amanda on the phone on Christmas day. She sounds great! She said a prayer for us and we really felt the spirit bless our lives. Tears of joy :) She's so awesome!!