REJOICING IN CHRIST

9/20/2010 letter
Dear Family,
What's up with life?
First of all I have to say thanks again for my one year b-day package! That was so funny! I got a kick out of it.
So Emma, how's the illustrating of poetry going? I bet it looks great.
Elder Moser was so excited to see you sent him a picture too! He got all excited and said, "What? She drew one for me too?!" Good job! You made him very happy.
Man, I am really impressed with your drawings! They are looking really nice. Way better than I could do!
To answer your question about my one year burning...no, I won't be burning anything. President Pfile has asked us not to.
Well Sam...that was quite the word that you came up with in the Morning Toast. I think I may experience illiteraslovenotation (taking notes so quickly that they are not legible when you go back to read them) during the next Zone Conference or maybe the Temple Study on my jubilee!
Well, we have been working with a new kid. His name is F. He is way cool. He is planning on getting baptized this Sunday the 26th. He moved herE from LA about four months ago and has been looking for a church. He came with us last Sunday and loved it. We are all really excited for his baptism this Sunday.
Man, I can't wait for General Conference! It's so close. Hey dad, I guess it takes a little more to get the men to Priesthood session here. They have a dinner before the session! I'm excited to see how the food is.
So guess what! I found a lady who is going to dry clean my suit for free! Isn't that sweet! She gets them cleaned for free through her work so she said she would sneak ours in. (She's going to do one for Elder Moser too.)
So we went to a pizza place the other day to order a pizza...they had a chicken bacon ranch on the menu and I asked them if they could make it with BBQ sauce instead of ranch. They said, "Hmmm...I've never done that before." I had to talk them into it a little but they finally gave in and made it. When they handed it to us they said, "Man, you'll have to tell us how it is. It smells really good!"
We're going to go back and see if it's on the menu. If it is we're going to ask for 20% for each pizza they sell with BBQ sauce! It was funny. I might introduce bacon pineapple next!
Well, let's see... I think that that's all the news from Ulysses and Hugoton. Things continue to go well. We just go a new branch mission leader in Hugoton and he seems really neat.
Oh, I did get my hands on the new Duty to God book. Man, that is a neat book. I wish I had that when I was going through Young Men's. I think it really helps you become more rather than just doing things. It's very cool.
Well, I love you all a ton!
Love Elder Cryer

P.S. OH, wait. I forgot two letters from you Emma! That would be awesome if you got your scuba license. When are you wanting to do that?
So I've been thinking a lot about what it means to rejoice in Christ. As i spent a morning studying that I came up with this list.
Psalms 5:11 To trust God, to love his name
Isaiah 29:19 To be meek and humble
Luke 1:46-47 To be thankful
John 14:28 To love the lord
Acts 5:40-42 Find pleasure in suffering for Christ, standing up for what you believe, to want to share the gospel
Romans 12:12 To have hope in Christ, always have a prayer in your heart
Pillippians 4:4-8 Be gentle, modest, temperate, seek direction and answers through prayer, give thanks, think righteous thoughts
1 Peter 4:13 To know that you have fully accepted and applied the atonement of Jesus Christ
2 Nephi 9:52 Remember the words of God...study the scriptures, prayer in your heart always, give thanks for blessings of the day and night.
Mosiah 2:4 Keep the commandments
Mosiah 5:4 To be converted to the gospel
Moroni 7:45 To find joy in righteous living...not in sin
Moroni 8:2 To have charity towards others
JS History 1:73 To be worthy of and enjoy the companionship of the Holy Ghost

I think that some things on this list are things we have to do to rejoice in Christ and others are things that will be results of us rejoicing in Christ. In a very simple way I think that to rejoice in Christ we have to understand and love his teachings and then apply them to ourselves. The more we do that, the more we will experience joy and our souls will rejoice in Christ.
Thanks for asking me that question! I've been able to do a lot of study on that and it's been really interesting. I hope I was able to help a little. I would love to hear what you found in your studies.
Well, that was a long P.S. note but I didn't want to forget that!
Well everybody...I love you all. Have a good one!
Love Elder Cryer