The Prince of Peace

 December 8, 2014

Family and Friends,

Joy fills my heart as we dive deeper and deeper into the Christmas season. As we come closer to Christmas, we should also become closer to our Savior.  "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called wonderful counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting father, the Prince of Peace" (Isaiah). I love the several names given to our Savior to describe his nature and actions.  One that has always intrigued myself is The Prince of Peace.  Peace is something that we all desire greatly.  However, how do we build a foundation to obtain this peace? What must we do, where must we go, and how must we behave?  Peace can only delight our soul if we express an everlasting love for The Prince of Peace. There is only one source of true and lasting peace. Peace is not exclusive, but open to all of Christ's brothers and Sisters who embrace his open arms. “There is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus Christ,” President Monson said. I simply love the CHRISTmas season:)

Our week has been nothing less than rewarding. We are continuing to find new investigators, seven new ones this week. Our Zone is encouraging us to get 10 oyms every day. An OYM means "open your mouth." Therefore, we have been doing our best to talk to 10 new people every day. It's actually very difficult when you have so many people to teach:0 I guess that's a good problem to have right?;) Elder Caskey and I are continuing to the love the work here in Quincy. We had the opportunity to put Billy Bob Joe on date this week which was a blessing from the Lord. Billy Bob Joe is a made up name due to privacy issues. I'm pretty sure all of our Hispanic investigators would not have the name of Billy anyway:) One of my highlights of every week is playing RumiKub with our Cambridge peeps. Cambridge is a senior living center here in Quincy. You'd think that maybe I would have a chance of winning maybe once, but they school me every time. "Come on whippersnapper, you can do it!:)" Man, they sure give me a good laugh every week!

Well I hope you all have an amazing week. Stay Classy and Choose the Right!

Love Always,

Elder Smith