Holy Cow!!! It's already Christmas!

Holy Cow!!! It's already Christmas, time sure flies by when you get older... and i'm only 20!! i can't imagine when i'm 40 or something!

So this week was pretty crazy. We have been doing temple lights tours and i am so exhausted from the constant, everynight tour giving. It is really exhausting! but all is well. I am enjoying it at the same time. It's amazing how much the Lord blesses you when you are on his errand. Even though we are in the VC the majority of the time we are still progressing well in our area. This week we've gotten two new investigators. Vicki and Yvonne. Yvonne is sister horsecrofts neighbor. She lives next to casey's old house. She was one of the ones who came to the missionary fireside and the ward activity and loved it. She wants to "become a member of the congregation"(that's what she expressed to bishop at one of those events). So that is really cool. She's really keen to learn more. She's searching for all the things that the gospel brings in life. Purpose, a greater hope for the future etc. Vicki, lives next to our WML house. When we left his house the other day, on a crap day, we stopped and talked to her as she was outside. We had a great talk and she allowed us back. She is searching for God again. I'm excited to continue to teach them and bless their lives.

Our ward is flourishing. Yesterday at church we were able to get 2 of our investigators there and 6 less actives. It was so amazing. I love to see the Lord's hand in the work, he certainly moves the work forward. We had to go to our less actives house, Dawn. We've been trying to get her there for ages and we'd always call her in the morning and she'd tell us she was too tired and didn't feel well. So this week we had talked about us coming over to help her get up and ready with her kid. She agreed. So we called her and she gave us the same excuse and i responded, "ok we'll be right there to help you get ready this morning to come to church." She agreed. ha it was awesome!! and she came and loved it, she really wants to change her life around,but is having a hard time doing it on her own. Please pray for her too. 

Other cool story for the week is the indian family we've been working with, the Madhavans. He's been less active for years because he was offended by being accused of doing something he didn't. It was a big deal. So he's been visited and fellowhsipped for many years. When we came over the first time he was sick in bed. He's had very bad health issues. But the next time he came out to visit with us and has been progressing very well since. It's amazing. We really do love them, they feed us often and tell us "if you ever need anything, just give us a call. and i MEAN it"(imagine this in a thick indian accent, i love it). we know he does(mean it)! But we went over the other day and taught him the word of wisdom. we were scared to do so, but we did it out of love and he felt it and said that we have changed his life. He's come to church 2 times now and said that he is coming back to church for good. It was so cool!!! we changed someones life. he needed us to come! others have been for years but the way we approached it and the way we showed our love changed their hearts:) such a neat experience. We are going there for Christmas dinner, i am excited! They prepare really good indian food for us all the time and they are planning on making our favorite!

So sister Davis, a sister in our flat, has pink eye we think. And last night at the VC, one of the new elderly couples filling in temporarily, sister Gordan came up to her and said " you know what really works for pink eye? breast milk. and there is a lady over there that just walked in that i'm sure would be happy to step into the other room and provide some for you". O my goodness, it was so funny! I mean come on, how awkard would it be to use someones breast milk for your eye. a stranger!! and how awkard would it be to be the other person who was like "uh...".  "would you mind if we used some of your brest milk for this sisters eye?!" ha such a funny story!! ha

So Chael is doing great! still progressing on getting baptized. We set him for January 11 this week. We go through a lot of hurdles but it's gonna work out! We are excited. Please pray for him and our new investigators. This week he told his friend about him being baptized and she tried to hard to convince him not to, he was sad because right now she is his only true friend, other than his new ones in the ward, and she's even turning her back on him . He's worried about telling his family now. He doesn't want to lose them and the only friend he has. His friend is not going to leave him but it's sad what he's going through. Also the night before church, his ex wife and her mom came over and took  his daughter away from him. For some reason they thought he wasn't taking care of her... they were drunk. It is sad. But he loves the commandments. It's so cool to see him accept them. We've had to be really patient with him, but it's worth it. The Lord is helping him and answering his prayers.

So cool experience. This week sister prince and i went into the temple for lunch. Temple food is always good. But since we can't do initiatory or a session then we are disappointed of course but we were able to sit right outside the chapel in a waiting area and just hear the hymns and fill the spirit of the temple. is was so nice!! I love the temple and i can't wait to go back in to it and actually do a session, it will be bliss.

So i'm trying to remember my funny stories but i can't.... i know sister prince and i laughed a lot this week so that was nice. we are really starting to grow close:) It's nice trusting and loving your companion. She is such a good missionary and i am learning so much from her. It's great. She really pushes me to be better.

Oh ok so this week i really wanted to grab some food before we did planning, so i asked sister prince if she had to go to the bathroom, because i wanted her to so i would have time to grab food without her saying we need to do planning! haha but she didn't...so she looked at me funny and said "do you need to go to the bathroom" and i looked at her and said "no". so we stared at eachother and she was so confused so i had to explain to her what i was doing. haha she laughed so hard! and now we use that as an inside joke all the time to just laugh at things. It is great! The mission is so much fun, i'm starting to get used to it and it's almost 1/3 done. i'll have been out 6 months by the end of January! That went by so fast, well at least i think so! i really love my ward, my bishop, my area, my companion and the sisters in my flat. i've gotten really close to sister Mclemore. She is great and i am so grateful that we have eachother. I learn a lot from her.

So when is taylor getting married? February? is that what i heard. That is neat, and really soon! Is it weird not having me home to decorate? How does the tree look? i'd love to see it.

Also i will be hopefully skyping on  your Christmas day at my normal email time. around 10 or11 or 12 here which would make it 4 or 5 in america... not sure. we might call first to make sure it's working. We will be doing it at the bishops house, i sure hope it goes through and that the internet is working. If not we will call you from his phone. His skype address is "wordgems" look it up and we'll probably do it from his if my account isn't working or if i have forgotten it, which is very possible. I am getting excited to skype. Remember i only have an hour, so please don't have so many people there, just our family:) i love you all and miss you and i wish you a merry Christmas!!! I"m closer to Christmas than you are! i call on boxing day( the day after Christas, it's a holiday here.)

I have been working on growing my testimony this week and one of the things i did was actually this morning. I took each commandment and wrote out the promised blessings of them and then wrote the blessings i've seen from each commandments in my life. It truly was a testimony builder to see that God does keep his promises. I love the commandments, obeying them brings me happiness, it give me a happy conscience, it also brings peace and the spirit into my life. So worth it. i love obeying my heavenly father. They are there to keep me save and protected and i have certainly seen that. I know that the church is true because i know that the book of mormon is true. I love the book of mormon. It truly brings a sense of peace into my life, it helps me with my attitude and brings the spirit into my life.

I hope we can all remember the true meaning of Christmas this year and think what can i give FOR  Christ.

Btw that reminded me, a lady bought our grocery's today. It was so humbling.:)

Also there is a man that plays his guitar outside the grocery store every day. So we started teaching him when we would see him on p-days. He was really excited about the gospel and actually has family that are members. They have been surprised and excited, he says, that he is reading the book of mormon. He says that he tell everyone about us, that we gave hima book of mormon and he feels that he is heading the right way. So many other churches come to him every day and try to convert him but he says that he used to listen and take there stuff but he doesn't anymore because he wants to conver to be a mormon. He loves it so far and we haven't even taught him much. He feels the spirit we bring he says. Its cool how we can change lives without even realizing it. I encourage you to give a book of mormon away this Christmas:) It can change someones life