This Christmas I am Going to Thank Heavenly Father for Our Savior Jesus Christ

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!! Can you believe its Christmas?? I cant! I get to call home! yay! Thank you to everyone who sent me cards and packages!! They made me so happy and filled my heart with exceedingly great joy haha...That point in the mission when you quote scriptures all the time. But seriously it is the only way I can express how I felt:) 

Heavenly Father blessed us so much this week! We had 3 investigators come to church and 2 members brought nonmember friends! It was such a great Sacrament Service with lots of music, singing, and thinking about Christ:) Those are the best! 

Hillary received the Priesthood this week! He also got a calling as a Gospel Principles teacher!!!!!! I am so excited for him!! I have the best convert ever, he is so awesome! I want all of you to meet him some day. He is the happiest person I know!

Well it turns out that I am really bad at reaching my goals. From week to week I never reach my goals! So this is a problem because then Sister P wasn't meeting her goals because I wasn't meeting mine.. and then it was hard to set goals for our investigators when I cant even reach my own goals. Partially because there is a million and one things to remember and do as a missionary I pretty much just forget my goals. So the zone leaders gave me a training on it this week and it helped a lot!! I have met my goals for 2 days in a row now:) yay! So after 3 days it is really put to the test. Thats how long I usually last. I will let you guys know next week:)

I lost my planner this week which is the worst thing ever!!!! And my greenie isnt that great at writing everything down yet. So.... I've been kind of lost lately! I lost it because we moved from one members house to another members house. But, it will be ok:)

Ok funny story..Its not that funny. But we had to move houses because our member, Sister Larsen has her grandsons coming to stay with her for Christmas and they are our age. So there is a rule on the mission that you cant be in the same room/house as someone of the opposite sex unless there is 3 people of the same sex there. So we were going to try to look for my planner but when we opended the door, and her grandson was there. We were trying to explain to him why we couldnt come in but he just thought we were SO weird. I was like.. ya.. we are weird. We have weird rules and we are teenagers dressed like grandma's. But its ok because we are happy! My mom likes me.. <-- I think that all the time haha 

Well I just love this time of year! I am so grateful to be on my mission for Christmas. I have no doubt that Christ walked the Earth and He lived a perfect life and that He suffered for each of us. He was the gift that our Heavenly Father gave to us so we can live with Him again. So what can we give back to Him? Instead of gold, frankincense and myrrh, what can we give to the baby Jesus this Christmas? What has He given you? I will tell you what He has given me. He has given me hope that everything will be ok in the end. He has given me peace because I know He loves me. He has given me an example to follow in my life. Each time I think of Him my heart skips a beat because I know He is real. So what am I going to give to Him this Christmas? Well, I am going to share His message with as many people as I can. I am going to pray and thank Heavenly Father for my Savior Jesus Christ. I love you guys and have a Merry Christmas!! 

One Year To Go!!

It's been a great week! I received a package from Karli and my Brother and that made me SO happy! We also had a ward Christmas dinner and 2 nonmembers came! Then we had a Fireside that I organized 2 nights in a row. We also had some really good experiences and one bad. There is a guy that really doesn't like us and was saying we don't believe in the same Savior that he does...Well we saw him at the store today and I was all like,"Hello! Good to see you again:D" haha... he hates us. I just love my mission and I especially love my ward. They are so so good to us and so supportive! They feel like family! 

So the picture with all the people is the Echavez family! We are teaching the one in all pink and we used to teach all of them. I love them so much! Then I also attached a picture of me hanging up ornaments on the Christmas tree at our house:) We shared a message with our member and that is how we justified helping her with her tree. It smells soo good! Then the last picture is our Christmas decoration in our room. I have put all my presents there! 

Well today marks the day..I have exactly 1 year until I come home. Unless I decide to extend.. haha it could happen. Home seems scary now. I love you guys! Have a good week!

New Companion!

Hello friends and family!!! Ok, this is going to be short because there is a maintenance guy that is waiting for my computer and he's just staring at me... hopefully he isn't reading this. But I wanted to tell you that I got a new companion! She is so awesome, she is Tongan and her name is sister Po'uliva'ati! But we call her sister P. and it rained this week! yay!! First time on my mission that it has rained for so long and hard! It was so great. I have missed it. 

Today.. December 8th.. and guess how hot it is outside!! 90 degrees! That's just crazy! This week has been great! One of our members braught their friend to church and she wants to meet with us! We were praying to be in the right place at the right time and during our morning run we ran into a member whose husband is struggling and she wants us to come teach them! Also, we taught Brett and Kim, and Kim will be a new investigator after finals and probably be baptized so I'm stocked! I love my mission. Ive been very blessed, thank you for all of your prayers!

Ok funny story.. the day I picked up my new companion she was straight from the MTC and I was wearing a wrist watch that I am not very good at telling time on .. so I thought it was 5:30pm and it was actually 4:30pm and I was rushing everything and I rushed to our dinner appointment and then realized that I was an hour off!! oops. Welcome to the mission... haha love you guys! Have a good week!

First Baptism! Hillary Idolo, Nov 22

I'm On Saturday, November 22nd, Hillary Idolo was baptized. It was such a beautiful day. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to teach Hillary. Hillary grew up in Nigeria speaking pigeon english. He went to school and he also studied religion for most of his life. He is one of 10 children. When Hillary lived in Nigeria, he had a roommate who moved to the States and then he became a member of the church. He told Hillary that he needed to find our church so that he could become a member too and feel the joy that he felt after his baptism. Hillary showed up at church and soon after meeting him we started teaching him. Hillary had been praying for guidance in his life and was also praying about what church to attend. After 3 weeks from the day we first started teaching him, he got baptized. Two of his nieces were able to be there and his mom.  He always says "how lovely! how lovely!" in his Nigerian accent haha its the best! We have developed a great friendship and he is so happy!

On Friday, we went and saw a man named Brett Mackay. He grew up in the church until he was 14 and then he stopped going because his parents stopped believing it was true. He is engaged and his fiancé's  sister moved to Utah and became a member of the church. When Brett and Kim went to visit Kim's sister, they really enjoyed the emphesis on family that our church offers. Plus,mhe has been running into a lot of people from his past that are members of the church. PLUS we knocked on his door and didn't even know he lived there. Somanyways, he is super prepared to come back to church. He really wants to come back and his fiancé is really excited to meet with us. Heavenly Father prepares people for the Gospel. Our job is just to find the people who are prepared and then teach them. 

Then we are also teaching Andy. We started talking to him when he was watering his lawn. We said, "we teach people how to come closer to Jesus Christ and how that foundation can help us come closer as families, is that something you would want to know more about about?" and he said YES!!! So then we continue to teach him a short lesson about the Book of Mormon. He invited us to come back. We went back and we taught him another short lesson at his doorstep (since his girlfriend didn't want us to come in). Andbit was one of the most powerful lessons I've had on my mission. Andy said he got the chills and we explained to him that feeling was the Holy Ghost testifying that what we were telling him was true. We taught him about how God is our loving Heavenly Father. It was really awesome. I love being a missionary and being able to witness miracles everyday!

My great Aunt Dodi died last Tuesday. I just found out today. I never met any of my grandparents so she was like a grandma to me. I didn't think the last time I saw her would be the last time. Of course it makes me sad but I am really grateful that I have the knowledge and belief in God. I know I will see her again after this life. 

I love the Gospel so much. I was reading Boyd K Packer's talk from this last conference. He pointed out that the Bible, The Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrine and Covenents make up the largest compilation of scriptural references to Jesus Christ. That is how I know this church is true. Because I believe in my Savior, and brother Jesus Christ and I am grateful to have scripture that teaches me more about Him. We would never replace the Bible, we only have supporting scripture to the Bible. I am grateful because it helps me to come closer to Christ. I love you guys! Have a good week:)