12/30/13

Merry Christmas!! 

Christmas eve morning, we went to the bishop of the 1st ward's house for breakfast; Christmas eve evening, we went to another member's house and had japanese pot-sticker things for dinner. Christmas day, we had an awesome district meeting. For the last half hour of district meeting, all the companionships got up and did a musical number. We did ours in conjunction with the elders- we sang Angels We Have Heard On High while Elder Vaoga beatboxed and Elder Jeffries rapped during the 'gloria' part. It was sick.

We went to a member's house to make our one phone calls. (Prison?) I got to skype! Is it bad that I teared up more when I saw my dog than when I saw my parents? Probably. If it helps, I cried when I said bye. :)

We had dinner at that member's house then went out caroling with the elders and did the same thing we did for district meeting. We were walking up to one house that was pretty ritzy-looking and I said 'hey these people are probably real classy, so let's do a classic Christmas song'. When they opened the door it was a party of 50 black people STOKED that they had carolers. They loved our version of Angels We Have Heard On High. Then they suggested we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. :)

Thank you everyone for all your thoughtful letters and gifts. This Christmas was so special. :)

Very cool experience this week- so we're on our way to visit a less active and we were going to be passing the house of an investigator that the elders had that we hadn't had the opportunity to visit yet. I felt prompted to go there, especially since, through a series of events earlier in the day, our schedule had been moved around and we had an additional unforeseen hour. We go to this investigator's house and knock on the door, and an older woman named Sheryl answers. She says she's just moved in and she doesn't know who we're asking for. She invites us in anyway and she tells us about how she's been struggling with depression, a divorce, a bad boyfriend, death of her mother, rough relationships with her daughters, and how she has found strength through Christ. I don't know how the conversation got where it did, but I felt prompted to say "Sheryl, the message we have to share will 1) be something you've never heard before and 2) will change your life". We explained the first 3/4 of both the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. She loved all of it. It made so much sense to her. She cried several times and her jaw dropped when we told her about the spirit world and the second chance her mother has to accept the gospel. She wants to come to church! She told us near the end of our visit that she couldn't explain what she was feeling- somewhere between inspiration and rejuvenation- and we told her that was the Spirit. She said, "I haven't felt this in a long time." Wow. Then, on Sunday, I told the elders that and one of them said he was about to update that investigator's record saying they had moved and whatever but just thought 'eh, I'll do it later'. And never got around to it. Because of that we found Sheryl!

Toodles til next week!