Greetings from Nephi (at least, two Nephites) ;)‏

We had a spiritual day at church, as always, beginning in Sacrament meeting and moving on through our other meetings of the day. Bro. Paul Sutorius spoke about the great gift the Savior gave each of us: the atonement. He spoke of the wise men (we really don’t know how many there were) and how they were “seeking” of the Savior when the star appeared. They knew it for what it was, because they were prepared to recognize it when they saw it. They went to Herod who had, apparently, either not seen the star or had not attributed it to anything of import. However, the wise men did understand its significance and did follow it seeking the Christ. 

Bro. Sutorius spoke of the many stars each of us have to guide us, chief among those the scriptures, our families, our teachers, the prophets and others who love and serve us. Those are stars we may follow in our own seeking of the Savior. First of all, we must seek the Christ and then He will grant us the stars we need to lead us to him. Our stars, in addition to the scriptures, are usually people.

We have a young woman in our ward who was injured in a terrible car accident a couple of months ago. For awhile, it was not certain whether she would live or, if she did, if she would walk again. She is now on crutches and is our ward miracle girl. At any rate, Bro. Sutorius asked her to hop to the podium and asked he a few question. He then asked her what she saw when she looked out at the congregation and she replied, “Stars.” She did so a bit tearfully and many of us shared her tears.

His main message? We must remember that the Savior can only be found if we are looking. 

He was also our instructor in Sunday School. We discussed charity and its meaning. We learned from the Book of Mormon that the word atonement can be substituted for charity. Because charity is the love of Christ for us, expressed by his willingness to atone for our individual sins and for our pain and suffering. We must accept the gift he bestowed upon each of us and each day of our lives we should try to emulate our Savior in our daily living. If we seek Him, we must try to be like Him.

We also learned great lessons about charity in our Relief Society lesson.

We are enjoying your letters and we know that you are serving others as you serve our Savior. Certainly, you are having experiences that will help you all of your life. We are also enjoying your letters and that we are grateful that you include us in your circle of loved ones. 

Judging from the many young women coming to the temple to be endowed prior to their going on missions, many of them coming in your direction, you will soon have an army of young women there to assist you in your efforts to bring the gospel to the Latinos in California.

Take care and know that you are loved and that we pray for you often each day. We love you!