Two more days!! Can you believe it?
Man...this week has been CRAZY. We went to Kirtland on Wednesday for transfers and I found out my new companions would be Sister Jensen and Sister Smith! Weird because Sister Jensen was serving in the area right next-door in Solon, and we were in the same district. So I already knew her a little bit. Sister Smith was serving in Ashtabula which is way up by the lake by the Pennsylvania border. So we didn't see each other except at sites once in awhile. So it's been fun getting to know them both better. Also I was friends with Sister Jensen on facebook before the mission because I saw that she was coming to the same mission as me! Crazy right? They are both amazing missionaries.
So since they've gotten to the area things have gone really well! They are both new too and just finished training. They came out a transfer after me so they have been here since October. So we're all new and figuring this out together :) And I'm the designated driver! It feels soooo good to drive again. For the first day or so I felt like I was learning all over again since it had been so long. But I think I've got the hang of it now. Haha.
We were in Kirtland for like 2 days before we finally got to come to the area, so they've only been in Hiram since Friday. But it's been an adventure. We are super low on miles this month so we haven't been able to go to as many appointments as we would like, so we tracted a lot more than usual this week. But we had the most success I've ever seen tracting. We stopped by an old potential and she let us in to share a message. Her name is Glenna and she is from the Philippines. She is Baptist and they are looking for a church. She wants her daughter to grow up in a church that teaches strong morals, so we left her with a family proclamation and asked if we could come back and she said we could! Then the next day we were tracting and this guy answered the door and told us he was Christian already and that our time was probably better spent talking to someone else in the neighborhood. But as we talked about the Restoration briefly and how unique our message is, he totally changed and opened up. We mentioned the Book of Mormon and he said, "yes, tell me more about this book." And then he let us in and we taught a lesson about the Book of Mormon. His name is Jean (pronounced like Jean val Jean) and he is from India. He seemed super interested after we were done and was excited to read! So we are coming back to him too! It was so cool to see the change in him from when we first knocked on the door to when we left his house. Amazing! Then we went to another potential from a long time ago and she let us right in as well! Her name is Candy and she also super cool. She loved us and wants us to come back. We just talked about Jesus Christ and what our role is as missionaries, and she shared her life story with us. So we gave her a Restoration pamphlet and she said we are welcome to come back anytime! She said "come back on a Saturday before new year's so I can wish y'all a happy new year!" So we're going back next Saturday :) I think this companionship is working.
Saturday night we went to the Christmas party at the Lorenzo Snow home. The Ehlerts own it and throw a Christmas party every year for the LDS missionaries and the local Bishop. They aren't members but they are friends to anyone who wishes to come and see the home. They live in the home and keep it up, but they give tours in it for anyone who stops by. Seriously some of the nicest people I've ever met.
Then yesterday we went to the Johnson Home to give the new sisters a warm welcome to Hiram. The Packers gave us a tour and we studied in the Revelation Room. It's in the back of your scriptures in case you're wondering what it looks like. Along with the Kirtland temple and the Whitney store. It's just crazy because I've looked at those pictures since I was 8 years old and never once thought I would serve a mission there. But here I am! And it's wonderful!!
So! This week is Christmas, and I want everyone to remember the reason we celebrate. I know that's so cliche but as a missionary I am understanding that concept better than I have in the past. There's very little focus on presents, and no focus on Santa or Rudolph. I don't have any family around. I didn't watch
Elf or
White Christmas or
It's a Wonderful Life this year. So there is nothing distracting me from focusing on Christ. Anyways, I know I'm kind of cheating here by sending you to another source for this week's little spiritual thought, but I love this talk given at the Christmas devotional a few weeks ago:
http://www.lds.org/church/news/far-far-away-on-judeas-plains?lang=eng&country=ca
I love the story about Brother Macfarlane, who wrote the Christmas hymn "Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains". Singing that song is different after reading this. There is so much more to Jesus Christ than His humble birth. The reason we celebrate His birth is to celebrate His life as well. In the talk, Elder Christensen talks about the second verse, which reads
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