Before we were born, we lived with Heavenly Father and He told us that we could come to earth and we would gain bodies and we would have families, and we could have so much joy. But He also explained that it would be hard here and that we would have to learn to walk by faith. But Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to return to Him so He gave us some things that would help us along our earthly journey. He gave us prayer and he gave us the scriptures and prophets. One of the greatest gifts that Heavenly Father has given us is the Holy Ghost.

One thing that the Holy Ghost does is help us to know when something is true. In this world there are a lot of competing voices trying to convince us of truth. The feelings of the spirit will help us know without a doubt of somethings truthfulness. The book of Mormon prophet Moroni said that the Holy Ghost can help you know if the book of Mormon is true. Moroni 10:4-5 says, “And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.”

Can the Holy Ghost help you know that the Book of Mormon is true? I know he can. When I was a teenager, I read the Book of Mormon every day and I prayed to know if it was true. I felt the Holy Ghost speak personally to me and I knew without a doubt that it was true.

Another purpose of the Holy Ghost does is to warn us. Satan is so tricky and tries to confuse us. The Holy Ghost will help us not fall into Satan’s traps.

In the air force Elder Hales learned how to fly. On one flight lesson his instructor quickly flipped the plane upside down. They were going so fast that he couldn’t tell that the plane had flipped. With his plane upside down when he tried to pull up the plane went down, when he tried to go right the plane went left. This is what Satan tries to do to us. He tries to confuse us, and he tries to make the good and right choices seem wrong. But one of the Holy Ghost’s jobs is to warn us when Satan is trying to trick us. The Holy Ghost helps us know the choices that we should make every day to help us keep our plane right side up.

The Holy Ghost is a gift given to us from a loving Heavenly Father. The Holy Ghost will help us know what is true and will warn us of Satan’s traps. If we listen to the Holy Ghost, we will be guided home to live with Heavenly Father again.

Leavenworth

This was our second year going to Leavenworth at the end of Christmas break. This year it was us, the Redds and Lublins. We stayed in the Bavarian Lodge again. I love this cute hotel with all the lights and the outdoor pool.

The drive up highway 2 is so beautiful anytime of year but is especially beautiful with the snow and the raging river. We got into Leavenworth around two o'clock, checked in and then waited for the Redds and Lublins in the hotel lobby. Tate immediately began beating up a stuffed bear and Quinn knocked over a display of hydroflasks. The hotel staff were probably wondering who let these hooligans in. When the Redds and Lublins came down we bundled up and headed out - all 17 of us. We took those tiny shops by storm - by the time we rolled through they didn't know what hit them, haha! The shops are super cute and fun to walk through. We saw this puzzle in a toy shop with 18,000 pieces! We joked about buying it and doing it that night. I think the dads about had it by dinner time.

We went to dinner at a fun hamburger place and then walked back to the hotel for some night swimming. The pool at this hotel is so fun because they keep it super heated. It's fun to swim in an outdoor pool when there is snow on the ground. It's nice for the adults because we can sit in the hot tub and talk and the kids can burn off all their energy swimming and playing in the pool. Tate was running back and forth between the pool and hot tub and slipped on the wet ground and hit his head. He was fine but it was kind of scary right at first. It was a good lesson for all the kids to not run around pools.

After swimming we all went back to our rooms and got the kids in pajamas and headed back down to the lobby where we took over a conference room. We set up tables and we played games and ate food that we had all brought. We stayed up way too late playing Cover Your Assets and Codenames. After games we all went up to our rooms for the night. Our family barely slept - we are just too big to sleep in one room anymore. In the morning we swam some more, had breakfast then headed out for pretzels at Munchen Haus. It is a really fun tradition. I love wrapping up our Christmas break making memories with people that we love.