Ultimate Gratitude - The Atonement of Jesus Christ

This is the ultimate gratitude.  But in this and nine preceding blog entries, we have tried to capture just ten "gratitudes" of the lone two and a half months of absence from the blog.

Children and youth enjoy dressing up to enact the nativity
 at the Bedford-Manchester Creches, Carols and Cookies

The Reason for the Season.  We celebrate the birth, the life, the Resurrection and the Atonement of the Jesus Christ.  We invite all to know him better by viewing http://www.lds.org/bible-videos  or the wesite http://mormon.org/christmas.    President Wilkey had an especially meaningful scripture study to play the part of one of the wise men or magi who brought gifts to the Savior who was then a young child.(Matthew 2)  He shared his feeling from having read from the Bible Dictionary: The magi or wisemen were "righteous men sent on an errand to witness the presence of the Son of God on earth....They were able to see the star when others could not; they knew its meaning, and brought gifts to the young child..."

At the transfer meeting, outgoing missionaries share "one golden truth I have learned on my mission that will change my life forever."  Here are cuttings from that which they shared: "The gospel is all about change and improvement.  It is through the Atonement of Christ we change."  "I have come to know the Atonement of Jesus Christ." "I know that God knows more about me than I will ever know.  Through his Son, we can be cleansed from sin." "The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real.  It offers joy and hope."

 

 

President Wilkey= one of the wisemen stands by the inn keeper's wife,
another one of the kings alias Elder Smith and Samuel the Lamanite (Helaman 14)

President like to share simple magic tricks with children and then
explain that magic is an illusion but that miracles are not magic but
are "manifestations of divine power" that follow prayer and faith.