AHHHH I love P-days because I get to hear from y'all, well at least some of y'all (hint hint write me). AHHHH I never know where to start in these emails! Ok so this past week.... It was kinda of slow because it was Thanksgiving and no one was in town, but we still got to meet with a couple of people and recently we have been proselyting and passing out nativity cards.(Nativity cards are just invites to come to the Kirtland visitors center to see there 720 something nativity sets from around the world. Pretty neat.) People are pretty receptive due to the season so that's a plus :) Oh I should probably tell you about my Thanksgiving. It was so great! Well despite not being with my family and missing mom's homemade rolls. We ate a Connee's home, a recent convert to the church, and like I said in my last letter, her family doesn't eat carbs. (Her son has epilepsy so they all stay away from carbs in support of him). Her dinner wasn't bad for having little to no carbs. They did have super lean turkey which was way good and lots of vegetables. They also served stuffing and potatoes but they were a little different then I'm use to. Luckily they had a big Thanksgiving dinner at the sites with all the senior couples that we were also invited to. Before heading to Connee's we stopped by the sites to have a couple of carbs :) It worked out very well. Overall my favorite part of Thanksgiving was being with this convert family. Dad I think you'll be proud to hear that I'm spreading our "gratefuls" tradition. One of the families has a bit of contention in their home and have recently been working on being a little more loving. As an effort to bring more love and peace in their home we invited them to come together every night as a family and name something that they were especially grateful for that day. They have been doing this and they find it so incredibly hard to be grateful and grumpy at the same time. It works! My companion and I also do gratefuls and it has brought us significantly closer. Anyways, to those who read this, I challenge you, yes you, to come together as a family each night and recognize the blessings the Lord has placed in your life. Will you do this? Say yes. Okay back to my week...So my favorite part of this week was definitely my mission conference. They only have this conference once a year so I came out at the perfect time. On top of that we got to have it in the Kirtland Temple. SO NEAT!!! I was so happy that I couldn't stop smiling the whole time. President Vellinga even came up to me and said, "It seemed like you really enjoyed that conference," commenting on how smiley I was hahaha :) The spirit was so strong and AH! I can't even describe it! We talked a lot about having faith in the Lord. As missionaries it's super common to be disappointed in ourselves because we work so hard and don't accomplished as much as we hope for. Sister Vellinga, the mission president's wife, talked about not only enduring these hard times as missionaries, but learning from them. She also talked about the importance and meaning of being truly being submissive and accepting that the things that happen in our lives are for our own good. Ah I just loved her talk! Someone else talked about a talk Elder Holland (I think it was him) gave when he was the president at BYU. The talk was called the Inconvenient Messiah. Speaking of which I'm totally going to read it. You should too. He talked about how inconvenient it must have been for the Lord to come down to earth and how inconvenient it must have been to our Heavenly Father to send His son to earth. And after all the inconvenience they have had for us, how much of an inconvenience we are willing to have for Them? Am I willing to be inconvenienced for Them??? That is the question. Dwell on that a little. Another thing that was brought up was making sure to but the Savior first in everything. Sometimes we separate our so called "regular life" with our "church life". If you are doing that, then you're doing it wrong. It's a fact. Sorry. It's so important to remember our purpose for being here on earth. Why would Heavenly Father put us here? To let us enjoy life and have fun and be merry? I mean you can totally enjoy life (righteously), but I believe He put us here for a greater reason. To learn and to gain a greater faith and trust in Him. To grow through experience and to recognize the things that are most important. And much more. I could go on about this topic forever. Plan of Salvation. It's the best. But we must remember, not only in this holiday season, but always, our purpose. And if you don't know what your purpose is, I suggest you figure it out :) Last but not least, I loved something that President Vellinga brought up. He asked, can you imagine how are Heavenly Father felt as His son cried out to Him on the cross? Its important to remember that sacrifice and gift that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ gave us. Eternal life and salvation. Remember that our Heavenly Father not only loves His son, but He loves each and everyone of us individually. (Here comes some more typical missionary stuff) I invite y'all to recognize and remember the true meaning of Christmas. To remember the first and most important gift given to us. I also encourage y'all to watch the He is The Gift Video if you haven't already. Its amazing! Will you do it? Once again just say yes. THE CHURCH IS TRUE PEOPLE! I have a list of ten words that have especially stuck out to me since starting my mission. Next week I'll tell you about the importance of each one of them to me, but I really want to know what these words mean to y'all. FHE for y'all? I want the boys responses as well. Just because they don't live close doesn't mean anything :) 1. Purpose 2. Perspective 3. Desire 4. Come 5. Trust 6. Change 7. Confidence 8. Gratitude 9. Love 10. Remember Wow y'all are going to busy. That's a lot for me to ask you to do in one email. Can you do it??? Once again, say yes. Its the right answer. I love and miss y'all so much but I know with all my heart that I'm where I'm suppose to be. Don't have too much fun this holiday season with out me okay? LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH!!! xoxoxo -Sister Call <3 |
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