Joyeux Noel!!! "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." I finally understand this scripture now my dear family and friends. What a spectacular time of year this is! I have had the privilege for the past few weeks now, and especially this past week, of telling everyone I talk to this beautiful truth. Have you ever noticed that Christmas has a special spirit? Everyone just feels happier, more loving, more kind...more like He who is the Master of all those traits. Have you ever wondered why? Well, I finally learned why. And I finally learned why I'm so happy as a missionary. We had the huge blessing and privilege this past week of having a mission Christmas Conference in which we got to listen to the one and only David Archuleta! We all went in like a bunch of fan girls going to a concert, but every single person came out of that conference as a changed person. Our President and his wife spoke to us, and then David spoke to us. Our President's biggest focus for us is to just spread love around France. His montra is "love is the key" and to "create love where it never existed before." That's what he defines as missionary work. And I couldn't agree more. Then David spoke. I will be honest, public speaking isn't his talent. He mixes his words a lot, he stutters, his message isn't super clear...but that was the greatest thing about it. He was speaking from the heart, and he told us in his plain and simple speech a profound statement. He told us that as disciples of Christ, we promise to always try our best to follow Christ, and when we do, we have His spirit to be with us. His spirit is LOVE. We are promised to always have love with us, and not just any kind of love, HIS love. The pure love of Christ. And then David sang. When he sings, it is literally more powerful than any testimony I've ever heard. He would teach and testify as he sung, and it was so incredibly powerful. He doesn't need to be a perfect speaker, because his spirit radiated through his songs. There was a moment as he was singing where he sang the line "truly He taught us to love one another. His life is love, and His gospel is peace." He sang it in a way that just made me realize, that's it! That's what Christ is. He is love. Then it all clicked. God loved Kristen Shields so much that He gave me His Son, so that I could believe in Him and have eternal life. Christ loves me so much that He came to this world, suffered my every pain and affliction, because I can't pay for my imperfections. Only He who is perfect could perform such a thing. I know that God and Christ performed these two acts of selfless love for every single one of us. That's what I'm out here telling people every single day. And I realized that that's why I'm so happy, and that's why it's so incredible how easy it is to love people here. When we teach of Christ, we are remembering Him. When we remember Him, we are promised to have His spirit with us. His spirit is love, and therefore we can always have His love with us. Not just for ourselves, but to share with others. That's what Christmas is all about my friends. Share His love. He didn't do all of that for nothing. Every person on this earth is equally loved by God, and deserves to know that beautiful truth. And guess whose job it is to tell them? Our's! So, this Christmas, show Christ your love for HIM. We know how much He loves us, but how much do you love Him? Just like He told Peter, if you love Him, feed His sheep. I am so eternally grateful for the opportunity I have to be serving the Lord this Christmas. I have never had a more joyful Christmas season. I know you all can feel this same joy if you share His love with everyone! Joyeux Noel everyone! Love always,Soeur Shields
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