Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from our family. Well Christmas is in 12 days and the weather has been so nice that it just doesn't feel like Christmas. Yesterday the missionaries spoke in church and they did such a great job. One of the elders told a story about a boy whose brother gave him a nice fancy car for christmas. The car was parked outside in a public place and one night just before christmas he came out to see a poor unkempt boy looking at his car. The other boy asked him if that was his car and he replied that it was and that his brother gave it to him. He was feeling smug at the time. The poor boy began to make a statement "I wish that" and the boy felt that he knew what the poor boys statement would be, " I wish that I had a brother like that". But the poor boy went on to state "I wish that I could be that kind of brother". The statement took the boy off guard. The poor boy then began to make another statement " I wish that I could" and the boy felt that the poor boy was going to say "I wish that I could go for a ride in the car" and the poor boy stated "I wish that someday my brother could ride in a car like this". The boy was again caught off guard. He began to soften a little and asked the boy if he would like a ride home. The boy smiled so big and said that he would. When they arrived at the poor boys home the poor boy ran into the house and scooped up his polio sticken brother, ran him out to the car and the three boys drove around looking at the beautiful christmas lights together. The boy was truly touched and realized how good it felt to give to others.
Today was a good day for me. My Bonco group decided to all pull our money together and give to a needy family. We normally draw names and exchange gifts. We were able to come up with $240.00 and I proposed to them that instead of just one family, we could donate the money to Parenting Arizona which is a group that sponsors about 70 families in the area. They do a christmas party for all their families and feed them and buy all the kids involved a toy. I had to the opportunity to call the head of that group and tell her that I had the money for her. She was so touched and told me that she and her staff were just dicussing how they were going to pull that off and that we were an answer to her prayers. It was so awesome. It felt so good. So thank you ladies of my Bonco group. We did an awesome thing and we will be blessed.
I challenge all of you to find someone in need of a few minutes of your time over the next two weeks and do something nice for that person. It does not have to involve money, just a little bit of your time. Pray for the opportunity to serve and then listen when you are given the prompting and no matter how busy you are there is ALWAYS time to serve others. Happy Holidays to you and yours. We are truly grateful this holiday season for friends and family. We love you all.
Tausinga's, Filipe, Kristi, Kyli, Kelly, Cooper, and Ana Ray

My Journey

Friday I began a "Journey". I bought a book through the LDS Bookstore, 21 Days Closer to Christ. I began my journey on Friday and honestly after just two days I am feeling better already. I have been really struggling lately, not being able to go to church for the last five months and attending my meetings regulary and attending Relief Society, has really taken its toll on me. I have not followed up with my own personal study as I should have and I am feeling it.
So I began my journey on Friday and have Filipe on board. We spent some time Friday reading the first chapter and it talked about Jesus and his deciples and his invitation to Come and See, Come and Follow Me and just trusting him and following him with all your heart.
I am so blessed in my life and I know that I have some issues that I need to work on, but I am blessed.
Day two of the journey talked about the different names that Jesus is called and about knowing your name, honoring it and being true to it. Bring honor to yourself and family and be able to know and be confident that when someone hears your name, they will have good thoughts, and know that you are respectible, honorable, dependable, charitable, sincere, faithful, and all that you can be.
I love my heavenly father and am making a vow to not let myself get into the situation that I did. I may not always be able to attend my meetings because of work, but that doesn't mean that I have to go without getting spiritually fed.