"Wow, you have power that fills the whole room."

My goodness, I am exhausted already!

 Icicles!

Merry Christmas to all! I can't believe how quickly the end of the year is flying by! It's scary and wonderful and I have mixed emotions about life. I can tell that this email will be a gongshow, and so I apologize in advance! 

Last Monday- Sister Talbert and I spent hours at Walmart, searching for little presents to give to our landlady, Cecy. She is so wonderful and always surprises us with clothes, food, etc. She has basically everything though, so we were trying to think about what we could get her! We decided that we would get her lots of little things, so that she could have more options of things that she might enjoy. We ended up getting her random things that everybody would use, we think! We were wrapping them in the basement and she knocked on her door and we said, "Hey! Don't come in!"

Also, we ate pizza with a wonderful mother and her less-active daughter. 

To end the evening, we went to a nativity display at the church. It was a combined activity with another Christian church down the street. I wish I took pictures, but I didn't! It was so fancy and beautiful. 

Tuesday- Ahh! So great! I wish that I could be Dumbledore and just pull out all of my thoughts and experiences without having to actually put them into words. I'd put them in my Pensieve and you could just watch them... But.. I don't have a Pensieve, so here I go.

We went to visit a Part-Member family. The husband is a non-member (and he's the one who said I would be the first LDS woman bishop.) His neighbor told us that he told her how much he loves us and how great we are, so we thought we'd better keep trying! So we showed up and he invited us in and he and his wife talked to us. After a little while, his non-member brother showed up. He started asking a lot of questions, trying to stump us, and of course we said, "We have all of the answers to these questions! You should meet with missionaries!" Well he kept being a little antagonistic, but the BEST part is that the non-member who we had showed up to see, didn't just sit there. He defended us and actually defended the Book of Mormon! I love to hear the testimonies of non-members! Afterwards, he invited us over for Christmas Eve! So we are definitely going to stop by! I realllyyy hope that I get to teach him the gospel before I leave this area!

Other things that happened that day: Sister-wonderful-Sampson took us to meet her neighbor who had just recently moved out of the stake into the neighboring stake. They were so nice and let us in, and we noticed Restoration pamphlets on their table.. They had already been visited by the elders in their area and were taking the missionary lessons.. Brilliant!

That night, we had a lesson with the younger set of sisters we had been teaching. They are starting to slip because their mom hasn't given them permission to be baptized. Ahhhh! 

Wednesday- Sister Evans took us to meet a Less-Active member who she visit teaches. Sister Evans is so remarkably cute! She lives with her widower father. They are both so nice to us and always thinking of us. Sister Evans brought us a little Christmas present of hot chocolate and winter leggins. On the tag she wrote, "Love Sister Evans and my dad" hahah.

Christmas present from Sister Evans and her dad.. So cute.

Also, that day.. We visited Sister Marriott, an older woman who needs some visits. She talked to us about her memories and let us sing Christmas songs to her.

We also visited Jacob, a recent convert. He is the one who said we lived in "Ohio" before we were born. He has autism and A.D.D, but he is really good. Well anyway, we asked him if he knew any Christmas songs, and he said no. So we asked if he knew 'this song' and sang him a Christmas hymn.. To which he replied, no. Then we asked him if he knew another song and started to sing, and he said, "No.. So stop singing already!" hahah.
Thursday- Sister Talbert wasn't feeling well, so we stayed in most of the day. She slept while I read the Everyday Missionary. It's so good!

Visiting Janine.. She bought us Christmas caps!

Sister Talbert dyeing Jessie's hair in the healthcare center. 

That day, we got a media referral from Mormon.org. So we called the person and she was staying in the healthcare center. We later found out that she is a less-active member of the church. We decided to visit anyway. She is 30 years old, very lonely, but she wants to come closer to God and she needs friends. 


Well, we visited for a little while and then she told us that it was her birthday the next day. She said that she wanted to look beautiful for her birthday and so she really needed her hair colored. And then she pointed to a box of hair dye and asked if we could do it! She was basically crying and begging, and so we thought, Why not?! So Sister Talbert played Hair Salon, while I taught her the Restoration...ahah!

Rice Basil... My new favorite restaurant!!

Friday- Day of Chinese food. We ate lunch as a district at a Chinese food, and then a member took us to my new favorite restaurant in the world-- Rice Basil! They had an entire page full of vegetarian options. I got the Soy Orange "Chicken"... Completely irrelevant to missionary work, but important, none-the-less. 

Friday afternoon, I got a call from Sister Zeiner. She is serving in Park City, but she got a phone call from an area we had both served in in Cottonwood... She told me that 
the Amish man from Cottonwood, (the eternal investigator), is getting baptized!!!!! Ahhh! He might be doing it while we are both still on our missions!! Ahhh! The Lord is my light!

Other things: Sister Talbert and I have been doing a musical number of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"... Sister Talbert sings while I do the Cup Game as a beat! So fun. We are getting pretty famous..

Also, we made ornaments and gave them to a Less-Active family and had them write what they wanted to give Jesus this Christmas. They loved it!

Saturday- Long day! This is the day that I thought of Shane the most. It was a hard day, full of no set appointments, just contacting, trying to find people to teach. It was cold and I was tired. I thought of Shane in Europe, working with the little amount of members they have there, trying to find someone interested in learning about Christ. It's days like Saturday that I really feel like a good ole' fashioned missionary. Working and knocking and no success. We had a few really nice visits with widowed women in the stake. We shoveled a driveway, delivered mail, and sang a few hymns. 

The evening was so wonderful. The amazing, beautiful Sister Walker invited us inside and gave us some much-needed encouragement. She told us that even if we didn't convert anyone for the rest of our missions, us being in Holladay was worth it because we had changed her life. She is an active member with a perfect family and yet, she was expressing how much she needed us... I admit, I almost cried!! I love love love members. Especially devoted, wonderous, missionary-minded members.

That night, we had dinner with the Jensens. Our missionary-to-be friend, Madeline, made us a vegan meal. So sweet.

Harry Potter stampssss!!

When we got home, we got the mail from the DL... I got a package from home! The most PERFECTLY PERFECT in every way package. Harry Potter stamps were at the top and if those were the only thing in the box, I'd have been set!!! I LOVEEEE you, mom! Thank you for knowing exactly what superficial and goofy things I need! 

This email is soo longggg! Ahh! Quick break to tell about a funny thing I forgot to mention about Zone Conference last week.

The ZLs were giving a training and talking about the scripture that tells us to "Ask, Seek, and Knock".. They asked what it means to Seek and Elder Reidhead raised his hand and said the most perfect thing, "Well.. Harry Potter was a seeker." 

Commercial over.

Sunday- December 22. My SIXTEEN month mark. Wild wild wild. 

We went to many church meetings and heard lots of music and felt the Spirit. One important thing I should mention is the first ward sacrament meeting. At the end of the meeting, the choir invited anyone from the congregation to come up on stage and sing the song Hallelujah with them... Sister Diederich, who I love and adore, tried getting her family, Eva and Charles, Sister Talbert and I, all to go up. Everyone said no except for Sister Talbert, who willingly went, and eventually she dragged Charles up as well... Sister Diederich kept saying, "Come on!!" and trying so hard, but the rest of us wouldn't budge.. Ohhhh my goodness, I don't know if I've ever laughed so hard. Sister Diederich and Charles stood together on stage, looking completely bewildered, while the choir sang harmonies and melodies and crazy things. The whole Diederich family, Eva, and I laughed and laughed and laughed in the congregation. When the song was over, Sister Diederich came to sit down, and her husband said, "You got yourself in WAY over your head." She agreed and said, "I learned my lesson! I am NEVER doing that again!" 

We sat in on a really wonderful Relief Society lesson. Some women stood up and spoke from different women's perspectives. They were all women who would be a part in Christ's life, like an innkeeper's wife, Mary's mother (Christ's grandmother), and Mary. In between speaking parts, the relief society would sing a Christmas hymn. It was so beautiful! The Spirit touched me during innkeeper's wife's speaking part. She said how humble Mary was, how she didn't murmur, how content she looked even though she couldn't get in the inn. Ahhh! How I wish I was more patient! More humble. More kind. Etc... 

We had a lesson with one of the sisters getting baptized on the 4th of January.. She is SO great! We love her! We are meeting with her again on Christmas eve so that she can get through all of the lessons before her baptism. 

That night, a member named MORONI invited us to meet with his non-member friend who he met at the grocery store. So we went to Moroni and Jerry's house and met her. Again, I wish I had a Pensieve!! Basically, she said there were lots of churches that had pieces of the puzzle and someday the Lord would put them all together. I told her that she was right, but that the pieces were scattered during the Great Apostasy, but now we have the fullness of the gospel restored. I bore testimony that the Lord doesn't want us to wander. He wants us to know the truth. When I finished, it was silent. The woman said something like, "Wow, you have power that fills the whole room." ... I love bearing testimony. I love to feel the Spirit working through me! 

This week, I have been experimenting and finding answers to questions through the Book of Mormon.. So far, the Book of Mormon has a perfect record for answering my questions! I LOVE THAT BOOK!

Life is wonderful. Christmas time is magical. Missions are perfect. I love you all!! 

Merry Christmas!

Winter Wonderland!