As we approach the holiday season we wanted to reach out to the families of our wonderful missionaries to thank you for your support, and to invite you to unite your prayers with ours as we exercise our faith for a Christmas miracle during this holiday season. The desire of our hearts is to have a "White Christmas", i.e., a baptism in every ward or branch in our mission between now and Christmas. We can think of no better gift to give our Savior than to bring many souls unto Him and to strengthen the wards and branches in this special part of his vineyard. The Lord said, "whatsoever ye shall ask in faith, being united in prayer according to my command, ye shall receive." (D&C 29:6) We firmly believe that as we unite our faith and prayers with yours that we can see this miracle.
We have forty wards and branches in the mission, so we have decided to have the missionaries in each area fast on 40 different days during this period. We believe that the combination of our united faith and prayers and this special 40 day fast will help us draw upon the powers of heaven.
We have also put up a special Christmas Miracle Tree in the mission home. As each area has a baptism we will put a wrapped present under the tree to symbolize our gift to Christ. We plan to fill each gift box with miracles and conversion stories that are shared during this period in each area; we look forward to sharing many of these with you. We also plan to make special ornaments with the pictures of those who have come unto Christ during this season, and will display them on the tree. We will update the mission blog with pictures of the tree as the number of presents and ornaments grows.
We hope that by uniting our faith and prayers that we will not only have a "White Christmas", but that you and your loved ones will feel a special bond with your missionary while they labor here in this great cause. As you may know, our mission motto is: United in So Great a Cause. It is our sincere desire that as you pray every day as families for every ward and branch in our mission to see a baptism during this holiday season, that you will feel united with your missionary, with our mission, and with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I testify that this is God's work, that he desires to bless us and the Japanese people, and that Jesus is the Christ. It is our honor and privilege to be in His service. Shall we not go on in so great a cause?
Merry Christmas, and thank you for faith and prayers!
Love,
President and Sister Budge
President and Sister Budge
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