Merry CHRISTMAS!!
Sorry I broke all your hearts yesterday when you didn't get an email from ME. Because yesterday was Christmas, our mission president moved our preparation day to today until 1pm. I can't imagine how awful it felt when your inbox didn't receive an email from THE Elder Milius :(
We were blessed with a lot of opportunities to minister and serve this week. We have been trying to teach this family and we went by last Tuesday and got the news that he had just lost his job. RIGHT before Christmas ughhh. Then later that night we talked with a single woman in our ward and apparently the night before her brother passed away. It was a rough night, but I'm confident that there was something we could do for these people and there is a reason the Lord led us to them that night.
Wednesday night we had dinner with this young family and a family they invited over. The father wasn't there because he was helping someone move. He showed up and said that only TWO people showed up to help so we immediately left with him to go help them out. Again the Lord blessed with a service opportunity. That night we had some Elders over because zone conference was Thursday and they needed a place to stay.
Zone conference was great as always. The theme was "faith in Jesus Christ" and my love in my Savior grew even MORE. Honestly one of the biggest internal struggles I have is that I will never be able to express in words the amount of love I have for Jesus Christ. AND every day on my mission that love and faith grows. At zone conference we had a white elephant exchange. Story time: Me and Elder Chinbaatar put turkey feet in jars and wrapped them. Elder Ufland acquired the feet a couple weeks ago and put them in a jar and wrapped it. But he decided he would let us have them. But problem: there were two feet in a jar that had a very small opening....and the moment I took the lid off....the smell....i cannot even describe it. We had to take it outside and then we broke the jar to get to the feet. When the jar was broken the smell amplified and we ran inside. I was honestly worried that if someone walked by they would call the police, the smell was so bad. We let it air out for about a half hour, then went back outside. New problem: the feet were too large for the jars we had. So we had to hold our breath and break the legs and cut them....the knife we used was thrown away. Anyway....we got them wrapped and the smell wasn't too strong. I taped some money on the outside and Elder Chinbaatar out Mongolian money on the outside. Two sisters opened ours up, and mine actually got stolen by another sister haha.
Friday we had a lesson with Mei and Jenny. We are going over the lessons with them again and are on the commandments. So with the commandments there's a lot and you can teach them in multiple lessons. We decided to just teach prayer and scripture study....ended up to be PERFECT and exactly what they needed. The Lord guides His missionaries...even when we don't realize it. Later that day we had a lesson with someone and we CRUSHED the Restoration lesson. He was very religious and had a lot of questions and we answered every single one....i don't know how....well I do: the spirit. I undersrhood the phrase "you will not be confounded before men" that night. It was sad though because afterwards he told us that our church answers a lot of questions he had. Then he told us that if our religion answers questions that the Bible doesn't then we should be worried and called us heretics so....that was a bummer. Elder Chinbaatar walked out of the lesson and said "that was great" and really helped me realize that being a successful missionary doesn't mean they accept the invitation. As long as you teach with the Spirit and give people the chance :)
Saturday we talked to a LOT of people and invited them to church. We ended up that night in an apartment complex knocking on members who haven't been to church in a while, people who used to be taught, people with interest, EVERYONE. And it started getting so cold....we have a car but we walked there-don't ask me why. Anyway if I had to walk home I would die. Luckily the Lord provides for his missionaries and we knocked on a senior couples door who live in that complex and we got hot chocolate and a drive home. That night we had another miracle service opportunity. We got a text from a member that said "can you come to by house really quickly". So we got there and didn't know what was happening...there was a HUGE desk this guy was trying to get up stairs with his two kids. That was a fun experience.
Sunday was great, the Christmas meeting was awesome and 1 person we have been trying to get to church for a LONG time showed up! It was a miracle.
Christmas Eve we didn't know what to do because we didn't want to bug anyone, and the place we usually do service was closed. So we prayed in the morning that we would find service opportunities. During our personal study we got a text from the Elders in our District and they needed people to come to service with them!! Then throughout the day we just walked around talking to people, the most success was at the store parking lot where people were running in and out to get last minute Christmas stuff. The best convos were with the people who were working. Also that night we ate dinner with a family and participated in acting out the nativity with them!! Me and Elder Chinbaatar were wise men.
Christmas was an exciting day! I talked to my familia in the morning which was a party-shout out to Mom, Dad, Michael, Gavin, Bella, Megan, and Katy. Yall are the best and I loved hearing your voices :). After that we had some breakfast with some members. This family is the best, they let us come over in the morning to use their wifi, gave us gifts, AND fed us dinner later that night. I love these people so much. Then we went over to the other Elders in our district to open gifts and to watch the GRINCH (the 20 min long one). It was fantastic, we spent the rest of the day just visiting people, then later in the night we went caroling and had district council. Elder Chinbaatar said it was the merrier Christmas he's ever had :).
Spiritual thought: Our mission president shared something along these lines at zone conference. There was a lot of witnesses of the birth of the savior Jesus Christ. Mary, Elisabeth, Joseph, Shepards, wise men, Simeon, Anna, and on the other continent a multitude of people saw the sign of the birth of the Savior in 3 Nephi 1. Although I was not there and didn't actually witness the birth of Jesus Christ. I know he lived and LIVES. We can all become similar to the witnesses of the birth of christ by exercising faith in Him. Ether 12:6 "And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." I know Jesus Christ came to this earth for us. He came into the world to minister and teach but most of all to perform His Atonement. Suffer for OUR sins and to die for US. I know the Atonement of Jesus christ makes everything wrong right. I know there is nothing that is broken that cannot be healed by thr Atonement of Jesus Christ, whether that be physical or spiritual. I know that Jesus Christ loves me, and my Heavenly Father loves me and allowed his only Begotten Son to go through so much pain-for ME. I also know he loves you...you reading this. He is there for you, please turn to Him. Blessed be the name of God for that night more than 2000 years ago when the Savior, the Son of God, was born.
Fun stuff:
-a little girl asked me if I liked dates, and I said yes, then I asked her and she said no. I said "that's probably because you're not 16 yet" and her parents laughed but I don't think she understood...
-we shared a Christmas video at someone's door and then an old lady walked up and said "I wouldn't do this if you were jehovahs witnesses but here" and gave us cookies....never had someone give me something at their door before. Christmas is the best!
-the gift that the super awesome family gave me and Elder Chinbaatar were slippers. They gave Elder Chinbaatar Bigfoot slippers and me werewolf slippers. It was perfect, now I have Bigfoot and werewolf slippers and can choose whatever mood I'm in
Pictures:
-idk how to stay warm and not look like a creep/ninja/call of duty character (call of missionary)
-turkey foot
-we made a Christmas card-enjoy
-heyyyy Katy
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