To our friends on Facebook, we have sent each of you a letter from Fiji. We hope you enjoy the message and celebrate the real meaning of Christmas... Decker Christmas Letter 2014 As 2014 quickly comes to a close and as we complete a year in the mission field, we wanted to write this letter to our family and friends and express our love and support that you have given us. This experience has been life changing and extremely rewarding. The experiences have truly been spiritual and has provided an opportunity to interact with many different cultures that make up this world we live in. We have a greater understanding of the phrase, “we are all children of our Heavenly Father.” We would like to give each of you a short recap of some of our experiences that have shaped our mission so far: • We have had the opportunity to travel around the main island and experience the beautiful scenery as well as interact with the native Fijian people. • We have seen the poorest of the poor and experienced their generosity to us with food and gifts. • We have experienced the most grateful and humblest people we have ever known. We have met people we have never known and who are NOT members of the church and it is like we have been friends our whole lives. • Since we are not allowed to teach BYU-Hawaii courses, we have been inspired to do professional development with both teachers and administrator. (This inspiration story would be to long to explain here but we can tell all of you that it was an experience that came directly from Heavenly Father.) What we developed in Fiji we are now seeing the Area Office in New Zealand as well as the South Pacific Area Presidency talk about to other schools in the South Pacific. What is amazing is we have not had any contact with the Area Presidency or the Area Office in New Zealand. • While we have been here we have had at least eight to ten experiences sharing the gospel to non-members who have stopped us on the streets and in stores wanting to know more about the gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We have also had the opportunity to teach some missionary lessons in some unique environments. • We have had the opportunity to listen to and shake hands with general authorities who have come to the South Pacific to visit these wonderful people. • As missionaries we have been treated like royalty, which we do not deserve. They honor us at school, at church and at special events that we attend in the community. These are truly grateful and humble people. What little they have they want to share and be of service to their fellowman. A lesson we can all learn. During this time of year we pray that you will understand that Christmas is more than a commercial holiday. It is about the birth of Jesus Christ. It is about the birth of our Savior. It is about our understanding of why we are here as well as an understanding of where we are going when our time is up in this life. Understanding the true meaning of Christmas is understanding the birth of Jesus Christ as well as His life. The Gift of Christmas is the Gift of Christ! Jesus Christ was the greatest teacher on earth. He was not only a great teacher, He modeled what He wants us to become. Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ loves us and knows us individually. They love us unconditionally and wants each of us to return home with honor. Heavenly Father knows that we are not perfect and that is why the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior is so important to our understanding and the true meaning of Christmas. We all have the opportunity to repent of the things that have not made us perfect and we have the opportunity to make things right in the sight of Heavenly Father. Our Gift to you and your family is to watch a couple of videos with your family, the first is “He is The Gift.” https://youtube/watch?v=uzjFEMmM0Xs&index=15&list=PLX_ktrxEuVKc0ndx46HErWBCJNmx1hjtf This next one is very special and one that tugs to our heart strings, “Good Tiding of Great Joy: The Birth of Jesus Christ https://youtube/watch?v=xCxV9CbC180&list=PLX_ktrxEuVKc0ndx46HErWBCJNmx1hjtf&index=1 The last video is very special also, “The Nativity.” https://youtube/watch?v=YijgnaGk2Us&index=10&list=PLX_ktrxEuVKc0ndx46HErWBCJNmx1hjtf A very special gift to you is to watch and listen to a group that we came across that sings Christmas hymns in a special way, enjoy… https://youtube/watch?v=PrLoWt2tfqg&index=16&list=PLX_ktrxEuVKc0ndx46HErWBCJNmx1hjtf https://youtube/watch?v=n543eKIdbUI&index=19&list=PLX_ktrxEuVKc0ndx46HErWBCJNmx1hjtf May the Lord bless you and your family as you progress in this life. The Lord loves you and your family. Rereki Siga ni Suca (Merry Christmas) Elda and Sista Decker
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 00:16:16 +0000
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