{"id":888,"date":"2013-12-09T14:30:45","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T14:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deegardner.com\/new\/?p=888"},"modified":"2013-12-09T14:45:04","modified_gmt":"2013-12-09T14:45:04","slug":"how-can-i-give-this-christmas-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deegardner.com\/new\/2013\/12\/09\/how-can-i-give-this-christmas-season\/","title":{"rendered":"How can I give this Christmas season"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I approach this Christmas season, I look around and I see and know of many in need. \u00a0 \u00a0My son is serving as a missionary in Mexico;<\/span> One of his friends is in Africa, \u00a0and even here in Salt Lake City I see and know of people in need. \u00a0My son’s friend in Ghana Africa tells us about the people there that don’t have food in there houses, or clean water to drink. \u00a0I think he feels uncomfortable because he had grown up not realizing people had lived like that when he grew up in a place where we enjoy so much abundance. \u00a0I see and know of people in need right here in my city. \u00a0There are the homeless and the panhandlers I see every day. \u00a0I know of people suffering from Alcoholism and drug addiction. \u00a0I know of people suffering from loneliness and depression. \u00a0My first thought is, “I wish I had more money so I could do something that would help them.”<\/p>\n

I have been thinking about this subject over the past couple of months as my son, and his Friend have been serving as missionaries in countries where people enjoy so little. \u00a0Then yesterday in church I remembered something that had happened to me in my own life that may be the answer. \u00a0One of my companions, when I was a missionary, was from Papua New Guinea, another one of those places where they don’t enjoy many luxuries. \u00a0Jimi Kairi remembers him, his mother, his brothers and his sisters going without food because his father would spend the little money he earned on Alcohol. \u00a0One day an older couple, who were missionaries from the US, \u00a0invited Jimi’s sisters to primary. \u00a0Primary is the meeting for children in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. \u00a0The girls enjoyed primary and told their brothers and sisters about it. \u00a0The whole family was taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. \u00a0The family, \u00a0 including the parents made a commitment to follow Jesus Christ and joined his church. \u00a0Jimi said that this made a tremendous difference in his life because his father stopped drinking alcohol. \u00a0And used that money to buy food for his family. \u00a0Jimi said they were never \u00a0hungry again.<\/p>\n

In America, and throughout the first world, \u00a0we don’t have a famine of food like many areas of the world, but there does seem to be a famine of happiness and peace. \u00a0Some places have a famine of all three things. \u00a0 This I do know. If people make a commitment to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, they will stop the famines in their lives. \u00a0Making a commitment to follow Jesus Christ does not stop life from being difficult, it will not bring you worldly possessions, but it will bring us happiness and peace to our lives. \u00a0Some may argue the teachings of Jesus are old fashioned and explain they don’t need the binding chains of Christianity to make them happy. \u00a0I say let them try, maybe they can find happiness. But I can make you a guaranty. \u00a0If you make \u00a0a commitment to follow Jesus Christ, it will make you happy and bring happiness to your life.<\/p>\n

So at this season of giving and throughout the year. \u00a0 Even when I have no money to give. \u00a0I can give others hope for happiness and peace.<\/p>\n

Think about the basic teachings of Jesus Christ. \u00a0If all people would follow these principles, it is easy to see that the world would be a better place.<\/p>\n

Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. \u00a0Treat others the way you want to be treated. \u00a0 Do not lie. \u00a0Do not Steal. \u00a0Do not Kill. Do not sleep around.<\/p>\n

And a couple from the modern era. \u00a0Do not take substances into your body that are dangerous and addictive. \u00a0Eat healthy<\/p>\n

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple and easy to understand. \u00a0 It is almost impossible to argue if all people would do those things then the world would be a better place.<\/p>\n

My admonition to all the young men serving missions in these areas of famine; \u00a0 Remember, the message you carry will have more effect for good in the lives of people you talk to, than any amount of money, food, water or electricity could ever have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I approach this Christmas season, I look around and I see and know of many in need. \u00a0 \u00a0My son is serving as a missionary in Mexico; One of his friends is in Africa, \u00a0and even here in Salt Lake City I see and know of people in need. \u00a0My son’s friend in Ghana […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,69],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-journal-entry","7":"category-testimony","8":"entry"},"modified_by":"D. Gardner","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p32Jie-ek","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deegardner.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deegardner.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deegardner.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deegardner.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deegardner.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.deegardner.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":892,"href":"https:\/\/www.deegardner.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions\/892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deegardner.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deegardner.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deegardner.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}