4 January 2010

I have really good news for the entire world. The Spirit made it manifest after I read the family newsletter. I’m sorry it didn’t come to me until after reading it. In like 2007 I wrote a Christmas letter that never got sent out. Send that next year. Or use it as a back up next year, Plan B. Who knows? 2010 might bring a really funny year. I mean everyone loves baby jokes.

But I enjoyed the Christmas letter. Honestly I wasn’t rolling on the floor laughing, though. It was interesting to know that Weston busted his knee this year. That was new news. Is he using the torture chamber? Good thing Dave has good advice for all that.

I want to share how I learned again this week that God loves me and he loves me a lot. I was cleaning the house and I found a conference Ensign from October 2007 and a church magazine from 1974 explaining temples. How does God know I love studying conference issues and temples? And how did they just happen to be hiding in our house? One thing I would love to study is the topics hit by the apostles to see if there is a major trend to show how as members we still don’t get a lot. For example, in October 2007, President Hinckley talked about anger in the priesthood session. Sound familiar?

And here’s another thought I had while studying. I’ll share it. Jesus Christ was God’s first spirit child. So in the eternities we spent in heaven before we came to earth he was there the longest. I read somewhere that we will have to study and learn a ton in heaven after this life before we will be ready to create our own planet and all that good stuff, for eternities possibly. All this post-earth learning will take place in the celestial kingdom. We were in the celestial kingdom with God before we came here, and Jesus Christ was there longer than the rest of us. Now my idea is that Jesus Christ spent those eternities taking those mandatory classes that the rest of us will take after we die, the classes that are the prerequisites to perfection. I think he might have took them before he came to earth and that’s how he was so much better prepared than the rest of us. I’m still working it out in my mind but at least for me it helps explain how he did it. If there’s a talk that talks about this I’d love to read it.

Oh, Steven, thanks for the letters. 2 in one week. I was in heaven. I want a step-by-step guide of how to beat the third dungeon. I’m in withdrawal from useless Zelda knowledge. Oh, and you’ll love this. In my BYU ward was Travis W. He’s really smart. He’s in my zone. And he has a BYU math headband. I saw it. It completed my life . . . almost.

So my birthday present from President this year is on the 19th we are going to the temple. It’s like 30 minutes away from here on the bus.

And tell Kyle T. that I love his guts. We live 3 or 4 blocks from the beach. I’m going to put a letter in a bottle and hope he gets it. But Kyle, I don’t understand Brasilero so I need a translation in English in parenthesis to understand the random words you throw in those letters. Other than that I love hearing from you. I love your guts and I think I wrote you a letter. You’ll get it eventually.

And say hi to Brother P., but don’t tell him that I’m still working on my goals. When I feel good about them, I would love to share them with him. Tell him thanks for being a good home teacher.

Oh, and this week we did a sweet service project as a zone. We dug a water pipe trench. It was a foot wide, two and a half deep, and like 80 yards long. It was fun. I enjoyed myself and the exercise. My back is ripped. Luckily we were digging in sand and it wasn’t hard at all. It kind of reminded me of Florida and Africa with pine trees and everything. I said to myself, “I’ve hiked this before.” They were some wonderful moments.

Well, I love you all. Thanks for all the prayers and support. Good luck adjusting back to normal life. Just try to remember Christ still.

Elder Whitaker