Christmas is...

While a lot of traditions have connected themselves to Christmas, it's not really about tradition. Let's not celebrate tradition instead of Christmas. Celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ can be done any number of ways without being wrong but the key to a good Christmas does begin with the first syllable, Christ. 

Christmas is a celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Although the giving and receiving of gifts, the beautifully sparkling lights, bright cheery colors often seen at Christmas time and wonderfully prepared family meals are things that we all can appreciate. Christmas is not really about bows, ribbons and great excesses of the just right food, prepared in just the right way. It's not about getting or even giving the most, and biggest gifts and it's not a time to gossip about the absent members of the family, or to bring up past grudges.

Instead of overburdening ourselves or each other with preparations or expectations in excess, we can celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and perhaps remember how the Lord prioritized a similar event with His presence (Luke 10:38-42): 

38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.

40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

If you have the opportunity and live near your family, be with them and build some good memories together. If your friends are your closest family, spend your Christmas with them and put aside your differences, be kind and friendly. Help each other build good memories and then cherish those memories together in the years to come. 

Christmas not about being better than your neighbor, it's about being good, kind, friendly and helpful to your neighbor. It's not a competition. 

As many people are in the middle of their annual Christmas preparations, getting everything just right for that perfect experience, sometimes with a focus slightly diffused by trying to be (and do) too many things in too short a time. I leave you with one little thought. Harold Samuel Kushner, a prominent American rabbi once said: 

The purpose in life is not to win. The purpose in life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasure you have brought into other people's lives than you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them. 

May you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Good Tidings of Great Joy: The Birth of Jesus Christ

May you all have a Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. May we accept His sacrifice and teachings in deep gratitude, take His name upon us and remember Him always, that we may carry this feeling of Christmas with us for the rest of the year and have His Spirit with us always. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Christmas Devotional 2012

Set aside an hour, sit back and enjoy and have a very enjoyable contribution to your Christmas. You'll be hard pressed to find a better Christmas program. Merry Christmas to you all!

O Come, Emmanuel - (Piano/Cello) - ThePianoGuys

A special feel-good treat for you at Christmas. May you all have a Merry Christmas. Seek God in sincere prayer and find a lasting peace that can extend far beyond Christmas.

The Spirit of Christmas, or the Spirit of Christ

An Oglala Sioux, Black Elk (Dec 1863 - Aug 1950) said:
Grown man can learn from very little children, for the hearts of little children are pure. Therefore, the Great Spirit may show them many things which older people miss. 

May you remember the Spirit of Christmas that you may have in your heart and in your home, the Spirit of Christ. Merry Christmas to you all.

Elder Jepsen: Mission Entry 105 - Remembering Jesus Christ our Savior during the Christmas Season

Elder Jepsen with sister-in-law Brittany and brother Paul, both returned missionaries. 

This last week has been a lot of fun but also frustrating. Christmas is a beautiful time when more people are friendly, happy and open to talk about the Christ in Christmas, while others get so busy with arranging and preparing for Christmas that it leaves no room for Christ. It saddens me to see our Savior forgotten at the very time that we have set aside for remembering Him. 


In the New Testament, Luke, Chapter 10, there is an excellent parallel to what has sadly happened to many people's Christmas as preparations for the event begins to overshadow the Spirit of the event: 


38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. 


Here in Denmark, Christmas is celebrated December 24th in the evening, focused around a big family dinner, followed by a reading of the Nativity Story and an exchange of the presents from under the Christmas tree. The event has for many generations been the time when family gathered  at home for the evening, remembering the birth of our Savior. Singing hymns and fun traditional songs about Christmas together. Unfortunately, the reading of the Nativity Story, singing the many beautiful hymns are disappearing and other traditions are taking their place.


This, the first Christmas of my mission people cancelled our few teaching appointments, or people were not home. It's saddening that at a time when so many are celebrating the birth of Christ, that we as bearers of His message are cancelled, forgotten or ignored. But, we'll just keep on trying! 


While we didn't get to talk about our Savior as much as we would have liked during Christmas, our hearts and stomachs were filled to capacity. A lot of good people invited us to their home for dinner during Christmas and we enjoyed all the good food, mandarins, clementines, treats, and sweets. Ay! Christmas was fun. 


Happy New Years!


Love,
Elder Jepsen

Elder Jepsen: Mission Entry 104 - This is it--I am on a Mission!

I am on a mission and this is the best Christmas present I could wish for. But, there is another and not quite so common potential in Christmas presents:  When my family fist came to Denmark, I was very young and my parents had spent a lot of money on airfares and freight for us to come here. We didn't have much and this was the year when Christmas presents took on a whole new meaning to us all. Dad came up with a plan, shared it with us and we all agreed that it was a good thing. We were celebrating Christmas and all presents were to be to the Saviour, just like the wise men brought their presents to Jesus. Dad proceeded to give us examples of what kind of presents our Savior might appreciate. My sister suggested that all secretly bring a straw and place it in a little basket, representing the crib where Jesus would lay every time we had given our Lord Jesus a present that we thought would please Him. Throughout the month of December we all saw this crib slowly fill with straw and when it was time for Christmas it was as full as it could be. It was our best Christmas ever and by time Christmas came around, Dad had fashioned a special letter as if it came from Jesus, thanking us all for the many gifts and that He was very grateful that we had spent this Christmas thinking of Him, by serving His brothers and sisters. In return we received a small little porcelain platter marking the year, so that we would all remember Him and this Christmas, always.


This year I am the recipient of my personal gift from the Saviour and I couldn't be any happier. I am actually on a mission and I have looked forward to this time for as long as I remember. Because of US-visa problems I am still here in Denmark, no more than a half an hour from where I used to work and live but I am a real missionary on a real mission. A mission anywhere is still a mission and eventually "Elder Jepsen goes to Washington."


Although my trip to the mission field consisted of hopping on a local bus for a couple of blocks--I still feel plagued by jet-lag and have felt a constant need for sleep since the first day here. On the upside, I have no problem falling asleep at the end of the day. Starting a mission is hectic, demanding and hard work. This is why you didn't hear from me last week, sorry.

It's now fifteen days since I was set apart as an Elder, my trainer's name is Elder Tolman and I really enjoy working with him. We were both moved here to Frederiksberg at the same time and we're both new to this area. I love being a missionary and thanks to the Lord and Elder Tolman I already feel like I have been doing this all my life.

We are in the Frederiksberg area and congregation, the Mission office is in our area and we share an apartment and area with the Assistants to the President. We also have a married missionary couple in the area and two Sister missionaries.


Because we are close to both the mission office and the Temple, there is always a lot happening here and with the population density so high in our area, there is always lots of people to meet and teach. We have been spending much of our time teaching people in the streets and knocking on doors.


Yesterday, I had my first real teaching appointment. It actually came as a surprise to me when we were invited inside but it was very pleasant surprise. They were very friendly people, there was a welcoming and pleasant Spirit there and we taught them about the Book of Mormon. I am looking forward to meeting with these people again. I so enjoy being a missionary and I can hardly wait for tomorrow, next week, next month and next year--this is all I had hoped for it to be. I am happy and grateful to be here and be a part of this mission.

It's not easy to begin an area where we both have moved in on the same day. Fortunately, Elder Tolman has experience in being a good missionary and that's a good place to start.

I hope you are all doing well and  may you all have a Merry Christmas!

Elder Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 89 - Blessed Beyond My Imagination

Once again it was time to call home for Christmas and it was so nice talking to you all! Something that I especially warmed my heart to hear was Dad's happy tone. He sounded more like his old self than I have heard for a long time.

Christmas was awesome and I learned so much from the wonderful people here. Thousands of miles from home I find brothers and sisters showing me by example what is meant by brotherhood. I felt more than welcome and I was well taken care of. I can't imagine people here treating their own sons better than they treated me and I have been blessed beyond all hopes and expectations this Christmas. I have met a lot of great missionaries here that I would find it impossible to measure up to. I'm not as good a missionary as I would like to be but I do my best. Yet, I'm being blessed in abundance beyond my imagination. I feel so very small next to so much greatness.

I'm glad that you had an amazing Christmas. Thanks for the rundown of how it was, I enjoyed sharing in your Christmas even from this far away! I have so much to be grateful for.

Tadaaa! Here I come 2011. My guess, it'll be another year full of firsts!

Love you all!

Elder Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 88 - Everyone Can Know for Themselves that God Lives

Merry Christmas everybody and thank you all for being there for me in the past year! Thank you for your greetings, prayers and support. It is really a rather impossible experience to share in just a few words but I hope that sharing even a little from my mission experience has allowed you some of the feeling that I get from doing this. I wish there was some way that you all could share the beautiful feeling it is, when someone you have taught is beginning to know for themselves that God lives. But, there is no words for it, sorry.


It is amazing to me that everyone can know for themselves that God lives and I find it very motivating. This week we were once again blessed with a baptism. Every baptism is amazing and I find it commendable when someone has made the necessary effort to draw closer to God and discover some of the potential given us in faith and prayer.


This was a great baptism. The whole program went well and there was a good turnout. There is a great group of people ready to welcome her into the congregation and she was unusually well prepared for her baptism. It was awesome!


It was a busy week. We attended Christmas conference in Duluth (I've had both of my Christmas Conferences in the Duluth Zone). President Howell was once again playing Santa Claus and we all got to sit on his lap and ask for a Christmas wish...


Yesterday I went way past my comfort zone as we went Christmas caroling. We caroled for more than a hundred people, all people we have never met before and you apparently meet a lot of friendly people when you carol. Singing has never been my forte but my heart is in it and the friendly people here warm right up with a Christmas tune or two. 


This week is Christmas week and everybody here are taking good care of us and we certainly feel welcome and appreciated in the congregation. Wonderful people!

Thank you for the Christmas package, Grandma! You know I love you!

Love y'all


Elder Jepsen 

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 87 - Know That the Book of Mormon is God's Words to Us

Once again God has chosen to bless our efforts and we had another absolutely amazing week: 


At the beginning of this week we had no prospective baptisms in our calendar. 


Well, I have before told you about a member attending the law enforcement program at the local college. Having recently returned from a mission he has proven a valuable teaching ally. You'll remember that he introduced his girlfriend and some of her friends to us at church. We began teaching her and her friends while he carefully helped them in many of their questions along the way.  They have all listened with an open heart and allowed for the Spirit to find room in their lives, as they have followed the challenge given us by Moroni in the Book of Mormon. After familiarizing themselves with God's teachings, weighing the principles carefully, they approached God in prayer and they now know what to do next!


The week has passed and we were blessed with six prospective baptisms!


I know that you know this, as you have taught it to me. But, knowing that you publish my mails on the blog giving others a chance to share in this, my heart demands that I open my mouth: When you read the Book of Mormon (the whole thing from the title page, introduction and 1. Nephi to Moroni, it really doesn't take long), consider the teachings and principles found there and then with an open heart (well, chances are that you'll feel the Spirit telling you in your heart--long before you pray about it) approach God in sincere prayer, if these things are the truth. I find it difficult to understand how anyone can read it, pray about it with an open heart and not with an overwhelmingly strong feeling know that the Book of Mormon is God's words to us.


Last night we also were able to assist in administering a blessing to a member that went to the Hospital Emergency. I am grateful to Spirit of God leading and guiding us to where we need to be... Because, if I have to be brutally honest, without the Spirit to help me out in my missionary work there'd be no purpose to me being here. It is futile to work or do anything without the Spirit. And I am so grateful that God finds me worthy to serve Him and His Children.


Merry Christmas, I love you all!

Elder Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 42 - Baptisms coming up!

I have experienced the coldest day in my life -29° Celsius (-20.2° Fahrenheit), but things are great! We are teaching some people that are very much looking forward to their upcoming baptism this month, I know I am looking forward to it! Applying the gospel changes people so much! It's amazing to see how the gospel has such an impact on peoples lives.

So you have snowy white beaches in Denmark now? Isn't that just my luck. The one year where I am not in Denmark and you get both a WHITE Christmas and ICE! Not that it's in short supply here in Thunder Bay. Well, I hope that life is well in the now cold Denmark. I've recently been battling a bad cold. I was man-challenged to buy the nastiest medicine out there to get rid of it. Can you guess it, Mom? Buckley's, it's almost worse than the cayenne and garlic mix Dad used to make us take to get well (which I must admit was EFFECTIVE). Well, this was particularly nasty, but it works too - and you don't get garlic breath! I suppose straight cayenne might have done the job just as well.

The Olympic torch came through Thunder Bay, but we were late for the ceremony and saw it really quick. It was all right, nothing fancy. They had some local musicians play some stuff while we were there and it was nothing really to write home about, but here I am doing just that. Now I can say that I've seen the Olympic flame and I guess that's something. :)

We spent New Years at a recent converts place. He made us a lot of food, and sadly enough I was not well, so my enjoyment of the good stuff had its limitations. Oh well! We went home afterwards and went to bed early, as is appropriate for missionaries. This was my first New Years Eve where I did not stay up 'til past midnight.

I love you all! It was really nice talking to you and hearing and seeing you all again. Time flies way fast over here. I am afraid that one day I'll wake up and be home, wondering where all the time went!

Love y'all

Elder Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 41 - Merry Christmas to You All

It was awesome talking to you on Christmas day. It was truly a pleasure hearing and seeing all of you again. I soon realized how much I miss you but that my place isn't to be at home right now, but over here working. This is what I am supposed to do right now and I am happy doing it. I love you all and I know that I will have plenty of opportunity to spend time with my wonderful family after my mission. Now is not that time and I am way to busy enjoying myself here, so I don't feel trunky or homesick at all. I hope that dulled your fears.

I received so much attention at Christmas that I feel terribly spoiled and really wish that I could have reciprocated faster and to a much greater extent. But I feel in my heart that you all understand that I am not throwing my time away on lazing around in the sun. If I am slow in responding to your kind prayers, thoughts, encouragement and NICE treats it is NOT that I don't care. You're all with me in my heart and prayers and I feel stronger knowing that I (and the work that I do) has a place in your heart and prayers. I try hard to put my mission first in the time that I have available here. Two years is a very short time and it will soon be all spent, leaving me with only the memory and I want to make it a GOOD memory. I want to thank especially Grandma, the Meline family, the Price family, the Esbjerg Junior Sunday School and you, Mom & Dad for your special attention at this time, Thank you!

Christmas has indeed proved a time of being Christ centered for me. For the first time ever, I honestly didn't care what I did or did not get but what I could give, regardless of the size of my offering. Elder Marsh and I have done a small little Christmas shopping for our investigators, to show that we appreciate them. We made some cookies as well. The cookies didn't turn out as great as I may have wanted, but they were all right. We anticipate people might appreciate the thought more than the cookies themselves.

Christmas, in a whole, was wonderful. I enjoyed every little bit of it, and we all had a lot of fun and opportunity to get to know some of our investigators on a different level end they us. There were also so many wonderful members that also made Christmas a wonderful experience for us by getting some small Christmas stuff that they they thought we could use. We had Christmas dinner, SEVERAL TIMES and I was asked to carve the turkey. I thought "They spent hours preparing this wonderful meal that they enjoy only once a year and they ask ME to carve it??? I took a long look at the turkey. I really didn't want the responsibility and I didn't want to ruin their Christmas meal with the next chance a whole year away. The turkey both looked and smelled as perfect as possible for a turkey at Christmas and I finally thought: This will taste great no matter how I cut it. I still don't know the right way to carve a turkey, but every last bite of it tasted fabulous.

The weather here has been perfect weather for Christmas. It finally got down to -10° Celsius (14° Fahrenheit) again today while it was averaging in between -2° and +1° Celsius before, which isn't cold at all! I finally had a WHITE Christmas again, it probably snowed every day all through Christmas! This meant of course that there were plenty of opportunities to serve by shoveling driveways. Needless to say, my body is sore now.

Something that I really enjoyed was the opportunity to see the movie "Joy to the World." I have lost count of how many times we've seen it but the message has sunk in by now, I hope. I am grateful for Christmas and more importantly the spirit of Christmas, which essentially is the spirit of Christ. Remembering Christ should never be necessary, if we never forgot Him in the first place. So many things in our lives are impacted by the degree that we manage to retain, nourish and nurture that spirit so that it stays with us all year round. The world would be full of better and more unified families and packed with tightly knit caring friends.

You can't be much of a missionary without Christ-like love (charity) and I have so much to learn about just that. As missionaries we are in a very privileged situation, allowing us to focus all of our available time and attention on serving God, remembering Him in all we do to always keep His Spirit with us. It's the only way to truly represent the Lord and it leaves you with an absolutely GREAT feeling. That is why we are here and that is what we do. It is our calling as missionaries to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places. But everywhere around us are people struggling with everyday lives, problems and obstacles that can be not only difficult, but sometimes overwhelming. How different people handle different problems in life varies from person to person; I am not in their shoes and I don't think I would last long if I was. Yet it is so easy to judge things from afar, although I know I have no right to judge. I am to love unconditionally, share my testimony and teach the gospel, then the Lord in time will judge me and those around me. The gospel holds the directions for accessing God's help and mercy and I know that we have all been promised that if we stay close to the Lord, He will stay close to us. With God by our side, we will never have to face bigger challenges in life than we can handle, WITH HIS HELP. Life can take your breath away, but is anything too hard for the Lord?

Happy New Year, love y'all.

Elder Lee Jepsen

Christmas - What Shall We Give... ?

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 40 - Merry Christmas to you all!

Thank you for all the mail. It's been wonderful and I feel both spoiled and appreciated. It's good to know that I have all your love and prayers with me and it warms the heart nicely on days when the cold bites to the bone. I really try to do my best, knowing that you're all with me here on my mission. For the weather update, the coldest temperature we've had so far is -22° Celsius or -7.6° Fahrenheit (that's NOT counting windchill and Lake Superior gives the wind a LONG flat stretch to pick up speed).

I feel so privileged and grateful to be here on my mission at a time of year when many parts of the world are celebrating the birth of our Saviour. I can't imagine a better way to celebrate the Saviour's birthday than sharing His message. Everywhere people seem to be rushing around to find gifts for each other, or wondering what they are going to get. Yet, I wonder if Jesus really likes His birthday and is He happy with His share in all the presents? If I had a birthday party and all the guests just gave presents to each other and none to me, I would be disappointed. But, mostly people are happy and cheerful and it's a good time of year for reminding people that Jesus is the Christ, that He lives and that's worth celebrating.

When I was first transferred to Thunder Bay I was told by other missionaries that an average Thunder Bay turn around usually is six months. While I kept thinking that I might get transferred sooner, when I heard of other transfers in the mission. I was wrong and I have now been informed that am definitely staying in Thunder Bay for another seven weeks. I WILL then be transferred to somewhere else in the mission, and I will have been in Canada for six months and on my mission nine months. Not that I am counting, I like it here and time flies by far too fast. There is so much to do and just not enough time.

We are allowed one phone call home to family at Christmas and I expect to be making my Christmas call around 10 AM, Thunder Bay time on the December 25. but double check the time difference, PLEASE? It might take me some time to find my Skype info again, but what I can do is log on my MSN account and Eric can log on his to sort it out, and we can work it that way. Is your audio working?

I love you all and stuff. Take care and have a Merry Christmas! I don't have much time, gotta go! Sorry about the short mail this week. But I'll try to make up for it when I call for Christmas.

Love you all!!!!!

Elder Jepsen... in a Christmas'y mood!

A Christmas Message from Missionaries Worldwide

May you all have a Merry Christmas, a Blessed and Happy New Year!

Jepsen Family