Week 48: CHRISTMAS MIRACLES

12/26/2022

Wow the last two weeks have been crazy, adventurous and AMAZING! They have gone by SO fast. I realized the other day that I only have 4 transfers left on my mission! Ahhh so crazy. I’m not quite ready for that yet. (sorry it’s long)

Thank you all so much for the love and the messages sent for my birthday. You made my day so special. For those of you who don’t know, I had the biggest surprise of my life! A member asked if she could take us out to lunch. So sweet! We went to the Idaho Pizza Company. When we got there she just walked in… I was so confused! Before I even could comprehend what was going on I heard a big group of people singing Happy Birthday. I thought it was the ward or even the workers but to my surprise it was MY FAMILY! I am so grateful for the opportunity to share that moment with them, to get my momma’s hug, see the triplets( even though they were shy) and to be with them. Although it was just a short time it was the most special hour. It gave me a boost of energy and strength.

EXCHANGES! We have had quite the adventure with exchanges this transfer. It’s such a busy time of year! I first went to Emmett with a Spanish-speaking sister, Sister Gutierrez. She is amazing! I had so much fun being around her, and she even went out of her way to make it a special exchange for me. The second exchange I got to stay in Star and take around a little greenie named sister Klimes! She is hilarious! We got to experience a miracle together. We finally got to go to a lady from Russia’s house. She is so cool and is interested in learning more about gospel! Lastly, I got to take our biking sisters out on a finding adventure. I was the sister on foot in 28 degree weather. I FROZE but I also had a blast. I went with Sister Hatch who is basically me lol. I love her!

A MIRACLE! The last little while has been quite difficult for missionary work. It has been very hard to find people who are home and who are already to receive the Gospel. Jayden is our little friend who wants to be baptized so badly. Every time she gets really close her grandma sadly withdrawals. We got a text from her grandma saying that she needs us to come over and teach her whole family about the Plan of Salvation. What! Her great grandmother passed away. While it was a hard time for the family it was such a tender mercy for us to be able to teach her entire family. It really is in the hardest times we grow closest to God.

ZONE CONFERENCE AND CHRISTMAS

Wow! This last week has definitely been a week to remember as a missionary. We first had Zone Conference on Wednesday and it was so amazing. We got to have a little bit of fun with the other missionaries and create a parody about missionary work. We definitely enjoyed a good laugh and related on many topics. Then we got to give our Zone training which went really well. Lastly, President and sister Maxwell put together a very special Christmas program centered on music and on Christ. It was very spiritually uplifting!

What are the odds that Christmas falls on a Sunday, the only Christmas I am missionary? Christmas was a very special day. Thank you all for your Christmas wishes and for your gifts! To start off the day we went to church. I have really grown to love church. I couldn’t think of a better way to start off Christmas. We then went to Sister Woodard’s house and we enjoyed a Christmas breakfast, Santa, and gifts. We had an amazing time with a member family for dinner and a spiritually uplifting member message to end the night. I’m so grateful to have been able to share a message about our Savior on Christmas. Although I am far from home I am so happy and so grateful to be here.

One more quick Miracle share … Here in the Star Nampa Boise area the roads were awful yesterday! So bad that many churches were canceled. During the closing hymn and prayer I got an overwhelming thought that I needed to go home and turn off my curling iron. I was annoyed because I knew we had an appointment to get to. I also swore I turned it off. I couldn’t ignore the thought though, and my companion was very patient with me. We came home and it was in fact unplugged and turned off. Why are we here I thought? We wandered around the house making sure everything was good and that we didn’t forget anything. On our way out the door we got a call from Sister Woodard and she said there has been a car accident on the corner by my house. One of our members. You need to drive extra carefully and come on the back road. I looked over at Sister Erickson and said we would have been on that road at that time if we had not gone home first. What a miracle to have witnessed on Christmas Day. I don’t know if we would have been hurt but I do know that God protected us.

Love you all! Have a great week! And a happy new year!

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