Merry Christmas!

What a beautiful time of year!

We had a very fun ward Christmas activity Friday night. By very fun I mean there were cookies so I was happy. It was cool though because we had a bunch of non-members there both among the people we meet with and just with friends of the members. It was cool to see it be a community thing and not just a Mormon activity.

There's a question that I heard a teacher use in the Missionary Training Center that we have been using a lot in our teaching recently. The question is "if god were sitting right here beside you, what would you ask him?" When I first heard that it blew my mind! What a question! If I could get the answer to ANYTHING what would I want to know? It's been cool to see the reactions of our investigators as they think about what the biggest questions they have are. So often they are the same questions of the soul that I am convinced everyone has.

We asked this question to a man named Gene. Gene believes in God, he relies on God, he feels God has watched over him and that he has a personal relationship with him. His life has not been easy and he is having a rough time right now. He lost everything in the recent flooding late this summer in northern Colorado and is now homeless and living in Rifle with a less-active member of our church. His question was "Why does God let us Suffer?" We had a really good discussion about it and then came back a few days later and continued talking about how Christ suffered and even he asked that the bitter cup would be removed. He asked if there was another way. Even in the midst of agony he knew he would not grow without going through that trial, and so it is with us. Our trials refine and perfect us. As I studied his question between our two visits I came across a scripture that spoke to me:

"Nevertheless, Jacob, my firstborn in the wilderness, thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain." (2 Nephi 2:2)

What I learned from talking with him is that God knows our trials and will give us the trials we need to grow. Ultimately it comes down to our decision whether we will power through them, relying on Christ, and grow or if we will let our trials get the best of us and knock us down. Either way we can always get back up and keep pressing on. I truly believe that.

Merry Christmas everybody,

Love,

~Elder Della-Piana