the First Noel 12-22-14

Dear family and friends,

                  Thank you for all of your great emails! We have had a great week! We have seen a lot of successes of sharing he is the gift! Elder Pope and I used that on exchanges and we found two new investigators by showing he is the gift! Something I have noticed about that great video is it brings the spirit. You can always ask someone "how did you feel as you watched that video?" and they will always reply something along the lines of peace, happiness, joy. Which are evident feelings that only the spirit of God can give to us. When I was on exchanges in Bagley, MN this past week we were able to use the he is the gift initiative and find a new investigator with it! My testimony of the birth of our savior Jesus Christ has grown so much this Christmas season. We had a great special musical number in Sacrament Meeting this week. Elder Havens, Elder Lee, Elder Cannon, Elder Pope, and I sung "We three kings of orient." I was glad it went so well! Also Matt came to church! Apparently his pastor didn't go too hard on him. And we will be meeting with him on Tuesday. So that is all good signs! We met with Johnathan. He is the unbaptized child of record. We still haven't set a date with him yet. They don't know when the grandparents will be flying in to see the baptism. And they want the grandparents to be in attendance at the baptism. But they assume they will be here in February. Which is a long time a way for a baptismal date. But that's okay! As long as he gets baptized that's all that matters! 

                 I am so thankful for this time of year. Any missionary will tell you this is the greatest time to be a missionary! People are nice! And they are all in remembrance of the Savior Jesus Christ. Recently I have been really happy whenever I see a nativity. Before my mission a nativity was just a nativity set. But now every time I see a nativity I think to myself "he is the gift." I am so thankful for the Savior Jesus Christ, and I rejoice that he came! I am thankful for his atoning sacrifice. I know that that is truly the gift of Christmas. I am thankful we all can become clean from sin, and have potential to live with God again. I am thankful for the Gift of the restored gospel in these latter days. I am thankful for the Book of Mormon. Recently I have been reading that in depth. What an awesome message it contains. I know that this Christmas season as we read the Book of Mormon we can come closer to the Savior. I hope this Christmas season is a great one! I wish you all a Merry Christmas this week with safe travels! I love you all! And Merry Christmas!!

Love, Elder Barber