Sister Michelle Christine North: PURE, SWEET, SPARKLY, JOY‏

This week I had the coolest experience with an Atheist, Diego, on the micro (the micro is starting to become one of my favorite places). Our conversation started about the gym but quickly turned into, “Do you believe in God?” He explained to me that he believed that there could be a ser superior [Superior being] but that he never thought about a Heavenly Father, because he never has a need. I asked him, if there was a God, if he would like to know and he said, “Yes, but how can I know that?” I taught him how to pray, but not just any kind of prayers, a prayer with FAITH (Alma 32 came in handy at this part). He thought that it was impossible for him to have faith because he said that he thinks rationally but it’s not impossible because he already had a HOPE that God or, like he calls, a Ser Superior existed. If we have hope, we have faith- if ye have faith, ye have hope for things which are not seen, which are true (Alma 32:21). He was surprised to hear that this whole time he has had FAITH. I shared my testimony of God's love for His children and how He answers our prayers. I told Diego that once he finds out for himself that he has a Father in Heaven that it will change his life one hundred percent, whether he had a need to know or not. He agreed to pray that night and told me, “I’ve never had a real need or desire to know if God exists but that is because I have never met anyone so sure that God exists. Just hearing your beliefs and seeing the happiness that you have from that makes me want to PRAY and know or myself.” The coolest past of this whole story is that he lives in our sector! I was so surprised to find this out because we got onto the bus in the centro of San Bernardo, which is about 20 minutes outside of our sector. So we made an appointment with him for two days later. When we got to his house he told us that he forgot to pray, but we fixed that with a heat shaped post-it that said “ORAR.” We had a testimony meeting of how we all came to our lovely conversions to the gospel- his heart was touched again as he expressed to us of his desire to know what we know. It didn’t take a lot for this atheist to have a change of heart and to ACT; all it took was a sincere testimony of what we already knew.

What a blessing we have in our lives to be able to bear testimony to those around us; especially at this time of year when everyone is celebrating Christ’s birth. The sprit of Christmas is everywhere, so maybe we should take advantage of that and express our sincere testimonies to those around us:

I know that Christ lives. He came to this earth, paid the prince for our sins, died for us, and was resurrected. I cannot express my gratitude or love for Him in words but, over and over again, in my life He has given me strength and support that I will forever be grateful for. I know that He loves us and as we use the atonement, through repentance, in our daily lives we can come to feel that love and come to know Him. Our Heavenly Father has a plan of happiness for each one of us and only through Jesus Christ can it be fulfilled.

Christmas has been different for me this year, as you guys can probably imagine. But different because the spirit of gift giving has been different. Instead of material gifts I have been able to give spiritual gifts to my loves here in Chile. I have felt so much peace instead of stress and hustle. And while I LOVE the traditions of Christmas from back home, I can’t help but think that this is the way that God intended us to celebrate the birth of His son Jesus Christ- to receive Christ in our hearts, just as we receive gifts from our loves. It’s my wish that we can gift our best elves and act to the Lord this year; in doing this, pure, sweet, sparkly JOY will be part of our Christmas season.

I LOVE MY SAVIOR; JESUS CHRIST.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, Theeverlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9: 6)

Les amo con todo mi corazón! Feliz Navidad.

Xoxox, Hermana North

Picture 1: Our ward is so good to us!