Feliz Navidad!

Letter from December 23, 2014

Hola familia y amigos!

Are you all stoked for Christmas? I know I am! I love that this time of year we have the oportunity to talk with everyone about our Savior Jesus Christ. I love that during this time the people are a little more open to listening to us; a little more sensitive to this theme. Its pretty beautiful.

Anyways... I learned something this week:) I learned that the power of a testimony is huge. That really when we testify, there is nothing that the people can say to contradict us. For example: Yesterday we ran into a guy who says hes christian but we are pretty sure hes Evagelical. And he wanted to talk with us, but only to Bible bash. Granted, he isnt one to raise his voice or anything, but still he just wanted to contradict, or confuse us. But to every question we had an answer and then he would change the subject all of a sudden, lol. And after about 20mins of our time we told him we needed to go. But during this time neither of us had testified to him of these things. And I remembered the promise we have that when we testify no one can contradict us. That we can bring the spirit and we wont be confounded before men, but our words will counfound the wise. And so I testified to him. And he couldnt say anything. And then my companion testified and it was like, I dont know. He was definitely confounded. And I learned, well more like solidified, my testimony of this promise. That the prophet and the 12 apostles have given us. And it doesnt matter who comes to me and tries to convince me of thier beliefs or change mine. It doesnt matter. Because what we have learned according to the spirit, we cant deny. And NOBODY can take it away from us. And I think I understand a little bit more of how Joseph Smith felt after his vision. That thousands of people tried to tell him that what he saw was false, that he was wrong, confused, disilussioned. But he KNEW it. And he KNEW that God KNEW it. And he COULD NOT DENY IT. And now I really KNOW that its true. That what the Spirit testifys to us brings us the absolute truth. And when we know and feel this truth in our hearts and souls, we cant deny it. And people can try to take it away, but they cant. And thats the power of God. Of the Spirit. Of a testimony. 

I know Christ was born. That he suffered. He died. And then he rose again. I know that He LIVES. That he has come. AND HE WILL COME AGAIN. I know that what I know was given to me by the Spirit. And I CANNOT and I WILL NOT deny it. 

BECUASE HE IS THE GIFT.

I love you all and I look forward to seeing my wonerful family in two days!!!

Con todo mi corazon y amor,

Hna Logan

He is the Gift

Letter from December 1, 2014

Hola!!!

HAPPY BITHDAY MOMMA! 

And Im super glad you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!!!!!

Okay so this week was interesting. First of all we found this young guy (25 years old) who has a ton of problems. He's a drug addict, a smoker, an alcoholist, and he is addicted to robbing. He has three kids from three different women and he doesnt live with any of them. And so we were talking with him and asked him if he really wants to change, to see his kids more, to be free of these horrible addictions. And he told us yes, yes, yes I want to change, I want a better life, but Im not a bad person, yada yada yada. And really we shared with him that no, he isnt a bad person, he is really special. That he has a father in heaven who really loves him. Who really knows him. And that we want to help him and everything. And by the end of our prayer with him he was in tears. But the bad thing is there isnt much we can do for him. He lives in a place where there is constantly people coming in and out with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, all of it. And its just horrible for him. We told him that he needs to leave this place and get clean. But who knows if he will actually do it. And he has been in prison for robbing and such so it would be a REALLY long process for his baptism and everything. But not impossible. But the ward told us that we cant visit him without another member with us. But I feel really strongly that we need to keep up with him and help him. Because really he wants this. But there is only so much we can do for him. Its just so sad that he is so young and has all of these problems! All of these harmful addictions! Ugh, its aweful! 

But on the other hand we found these two kids the other day when we were tracting and they kept asking us questions about God and Jesus Christ and everything. And they each are 11 years old so we answered their questions and off we went. And a little while later we were helping a women to clean her garden and these kids came to us again. And asked us if they could come to our church. And so we gave them the address and we didnt really know if they would come because they need the permission from their parents, ect. So off we went. Then came sunday. And the sacrament finished and we thought, yeah okay they arent coming. But suddenly there they were! And the topper, WITH THEIR PARENTS! And so after sacrament meeting we talked with their parents and they told us that they have no problem taking their kids to church for all three hours and that they can come to but can only stay for the first hour, but they will come pick them up afterwards. Literally it was a miracle! So this week we are for sure going to their house and hopefully we can teach their parents, too! 

And I dont know if you guys have heard but there is this huge thing happening with the church on the 7th of December. The church has bought youtube for this night to show a video called "He is the Gift" and its going to be shown in Times Square and all sorts of things. But its a christmas video, really short, but powerful. And I dont really know that much about it because I just found out in reading the emails of my freinds on their missions. But Im sure we are going to have a training on it soon. Here is the link to watch the video http://www.mormon.org/christmas and really its about the true spirit of christmas. That all the gifts in this world on Christmas started with ONE. The gift of the Lord Jesus Christ from our Father in Heaven. Its really a beautiful thing. And really something that I have learned this week is that many people know about Jesus, what He did, about His life and teachings, but they dont know WHO He is. Here in La Serena, Chile most of the kids go to a Catholic based school. And so they watch videos about Christ and learn of His life. But they dont understand WHY. That really God GAVE His son to suffer for our sins, to die for us. EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US. And because He suffered for us, we can repent, we can be free of our sins-clean of our unperfect and sinful state, and most importantly we can live once again in the presence of our Heavenly Father. And He was resurrected so that after our mortal death our spirits can be reunited with our bodies. That we can have a perfect and immortal body. And all of this because HE CAME, HE LIVED, HE SUFFERED, AND HE DIED. FOR. YOU. And this is the Gift. HE IS THE GIFT. I KNOW IT. And I know that every single person can know it for themselves. 

So this Christmas find out about this grand gift that you have been given. And remember WHY we even have CHRISTmas. To remember HIS GIFT. 

I love you all with all my heart and I am so thankful to have you all in my life!!!!

Until next week, con mi amor, testimonio, y corazón, 

Hna Logan