"Merry Merry Christmas everyone!!!
To start out this e-mail I want to bear you my testimony of Jesus Christ. He is, truly, my dearest and closest friend. The Atonement is real! He is real! Repentance is the most joyful experience we can have on this earth! I love repenting. I love having a "posture of repentance" every day! I know this gospel is true, it is Christ's gospel. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's church again on the earth. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that he was a wonderful, saint-like man! He gave his life for this church and for his Savior. I know the Book of Mormon is true. Oh how I love that book! I'm reading in Mosiah right now and am learning so much about repentance and pride and the Savior. I want you all to know, that I truly believe and KNOW these things are true. If you haven't read the Book of Mormon, I encourage you to do so! Because if the Book of Mormon is true, then everything else is true! If you are having doubts, read the December Ensign. Really, all of our doubts and questions boil down to one question: Do we trust God? If we do, then there is no reason to doubt! Everything will be revealed according to the time of the Lord. Trust in what we know now. Trust in Him. Trust in Christ! Trust in the Holy Ghost! Trust in Thomas S. Monson!! He is the prophet on the earth today.
Oh, how good it feels to bear testimony! Especially of the Savior! I try everyday to bear testimony of Him. It is the best way to bring the spirit in!
So, I hope you all are getting ready for an amazing Christmas! I know I am! The members in our ward are wonderful and we've had many sign up to have us over on Christmas Eve and Christmas. We're not allowed to proselyte on those days so it's truly a blessing they are letting us into their homes! We've got some fun activities planned with families on Christmas and I'm very excited to Skype home with my parents and hopefully talk to my sister Hannah!
This week has ben a week of wonderful miracles!! The Lord is so great, truly!
Monday: We met with a Less-Active man in our ward. His mother just died about a month ago and he's been thinking of coming back to church. As we taught him, the spirit was very strong. We asked if he would read from the BOM during Christmas and he said he no longer had one. We gave him one and he was very humble and very glad to receive it. We gave him a chapter to read and we're meeting with him in a couple of weeks. MIRACLE! His wife and family aren't members, so maybe this will be the switch point for their family! Or, at least a seed planted!
Tuesday: We met with our investigator Dolores and were pretty blunt with her about coming to church. We got through to her a bit more and it was wonderful!! She said she would come (she didn't show up, again!! Ahh, so frustrating!), but we know she felt the spirit in the lesson and we assigned her to read about the Word of Wisdom in D&C 89. She was very excited to read it and learn about it since she's a health nut! MIRACLE! We did service with a member in the ward and took popcorn around to people and we got to tour the local firestation and meet more people. It was great! We also did service with two less-active, younger sisters in our ward and they invited us back and gave us goodies! MIRACLE! We were finally able to meet a less-active man in the ward who's pretty anit-mormon right now and won't let his kids be baptized. He was really funny and nice to us (the elders told us he was mean). He even said: "I know why you're here. To get me to come back to church!" And I said: "Yes we are and you said it!" He gave us a very....interesting gift (I won't mention what it was) and invited us over for dinner! MIRACLE!
Wednesday: We finally made it out to two small towns that are about an hour away. They're called Deer Trail and Agate. Deer Trail is the town where the first official rodeo, EVER, was held! Super cool! We went out to Agate to contact an MTC referral. When we got to the house, it was gated and the gate was locked. But, right before we left, we saw someone come out of the house and it was the referral! It was a young girl who had requested a bible. She not only accepted that, but also the Book of Mormon and our phone number and she gave us hers! Her family is kinda looking for a church to go to and we invited her to come and see! MIRACLE! We were able to contact everyone we had wanted to visit in Deer Trail and set return appointments. MIRACLE! Then we taught one of our new investigators, Mike, and had an incredible first discussion. He's a bit skeptical about organized religion and he's very intellectual. But, he's very open to reading the Book of Mormon and wants to know why the Bible is missing so much information, is confusing, and why there can't be more scripture! The member we had with us stayed after we left and talked to him for an hour about the Book of Mormon. MIRACLE!
Thursday: We had our Missionary Christmas Devotional and our Zone won the best skit award!!! It was pretty awesome. We did the midget skit with sheets about missionaries searching for Christmas who run into Lord of the Rings characters, Harry Potter characters, pirates, and awkward missionary lesson, Mario, Tron, and a few others. It was super funny! Afterwards, we taught a less-active in the ward and her non-member husband. Their names are Kathy and Joe. Kathy told us that Satan has been working really hard on them since they agreed to take the lessons, and that tells her that they're doing the right thing and they'll continue to meet with us. Thank you.....Satan? Haha! MIRACLE!!! We also ate dinner with an adorable family and their kids had given out five Books of Mormon, a bunch of pass along cards and videos to their friends!!!! MIRACLE of little children doing missionary work!
Friday: Our precious, golden investigators: Sarah and Jeff, cancelled on us this last week because Sarah went to the hospital. We got to go visit them and Sarah's mother was also there. We had a wonderful time with them and our Zone Leaders came and gave Sarah a blessing. Our Relief Society president was also there with us and instantly made friends with all of them. The spirit was so strong as Sarah received her blessing and they asked us if we could come over as soon as she gets out of the hospital. Jeff walked us out and told us he's been listening to the Book of Mormon on his phone and he's in Mosiah. He said he loves it and can't wait to learn more. MIRACLE!!!! I love this beautiful family!!
Saturday: We had an incredibly busy day!!! MIRACLE! Saturdays are never busy so it was wonderful. We had about 7 appointments all in a row and were on time to pretty much all of them! MIRACLE!! We met with less-actives, active members, and a recent convert. His name is William and he's 13. He was just adopted by this amazing family and we had a wonderful lesson with him. His dad came up to us in church and told us William has memory and learning issues, but since we've been teaching him he's really improving. MIRACLE!!! Another miracle was I had a dog try to attack me and bite me, but the Lord was watching over me and I got away! There's my dog story for the mission. I'm sure there'll be more to come!
Sunday: We had a less-active family show up to church that we were not expecting and they stayed for all 3 hours and loved it! MIRACLE!!! We got a referral from a member whose neighbor asked him to send the missionaries over to her because she wants to investigate the church. MIRACLE! Our primary and youth are taking off with these missionary competitions!! They've given away a ton of Books of Mormon and other materials and have invited their friends to activities. MIRACLE! We met with tons of families and felt the spirit in every lesson. We also got to meet with a less-active younger gal in the ward and she's going to the single's ward. Her sister, who's also coming back to church, went to the temple this week for the first time! MIRACLE!
So, those are my miracles for this last week! There's a bunch more but I don't have time to write them all. I am so grateful to be here and to see all of these miracles happen! What a tender mercy from the Lord! I have two things I would like all of you to do for Christmas. One is find a way to serve someone on Christmas day. A lot of the time, we just relax on that day and are lazy, but the best way we can celebrate Christ's birth is to serve Him! "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God." And two, is read the account of Christ coming to the Americas in the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 11. That day was Christmas for the people there! They got to see Christ's face! It is truly a wonderful account of the Savior and will bring you closer to Him this Christmas.
One more thing I want to share is about Commandments. Our speaker at the devotional talked about commandments and obedience. He said that basically a commandment is God's will concerning us. Sometimes we look at it as so many rules; as a huge plate of vegatables waiting to be devoured (quoting Pres. Uchtdorf). But it isn't! To break it down, a commandment is a command from God ment to help us. If we obey His commandments, we are more free and blessed than if we don't! So, please be obedient! Give that as your gift to your Savior. The best way we can show we love God is to obey Him!
Well, I hope you all have a wonderful, merry Christmas! I love you all and I love this time of year!"
