It's the MOST WONDERFUL Time of the Year :)

12/9/13

Hey Y'all!

Miracles are everywhere!!

We found so many new investigators to teach this week!

One man's name is Tom Shaw. He is a sweet young dad that has two adorable, humble kids. They are struggling with different things, but are good to the core. They are really open and receptive. We hope to continue to teach him! We had a lesson this week where we met up at the mall and had pretzels and it was great.

Matthew is TOTALLY AWESOME! Ok, so this week we had an awesome lesson with him at the church and Sister Mizukawa, the most awesome member ever, came and added the perfect spirit to the lesson. This time around, he really clicked with Sister Mizukawa and told her all about how he met us at the "perfect time" in his life, and how we've been helping him "figure stuff out" in his life. We had a great lesson about grace & works (a lot of people here in the South think that Jesus saved then, so therefore, they don't have to do anything) and then at the end, he said something about how he can see now that "it could be true." He said that with a lot of hope in his eyes, and the spirit was there so strong when he said that! We are excited to continue to teach him! Keep praying for him!!

We had our Ward Christmas Party on Thursday evening and I got to sing "Do You Have Room," which was awesome! It was interesting to see how the Christmas party had Santa, tons of deserts, and fun musical numbers, but until the Sister Missionaries got up, there was not one mention of the Savior. There was a special spirit in the room when we got to perform our number about how we need to have room for Him during this Christmas season. We should also make room for Him in our Christmas parties, right? :)

Stake Conference was this week. Oh my! It was SO AWESOME! The adult session was all about missionary work, which is a world wide suggestion from the First Presidency. It was so uplifting and inspiring! President Andersen spoke, and there was a great turn out. THEN, on Sunday, it was held at the brand new Music City Center in Downtown Nashville. Google it, it's pretty spectacular.

Random Tangent:

My companion and I were stressed about getting there early to the Music City Center and then helping others to find their way right? Because it was downtown and we weren't really sure about parking, and then where the meeting actually was in the huge building. Well, come to find out, we find the Music City Center (without a GPS, I might add) and we see a very kind looking man wearing a suit and smiling at us to direct us. It felt like being home! And when we headed the direction the man showed us, as soon as he was out of sight, another kind man in a suit would direct us to where to go. It was like this the whole time, kind of like an assembley line. One cute young man said, "follow the people and the priesthood holders!" after we had parked and everyone was trying to find their way to the conference. It was suprisingly comforting. That's how life is!

It hit me for a second that Heaven is probably going to be like that. You know? We'll die and feel maybe super confused for a second, but then we'll see a kind friendly face, and even though we don't know each other, we feel like family. And they will guide us and show us the way. I love the organization of the church. You will never be lost.

This family that we found to teach is awesome! James and Johnette are these great people we met tracting in the projects (government assisted housing). They have five amazing kids. Ok, I'm trying to get them all straight: Jasmine (11), Jayline (7), Jayden (4), Jayla and James (twins: 1 yrs old). Man! They are a GOLDEN family. Both parents work full time to provide for their kids. They have no furniture in their house (or at least in their living room), but they take good care of their appartment, it had been obviously just vacuumed before we came, and James, the father, is SO receptive! And we are gaining really great relationships with the kids as well.

Jaden is four and so cute! They are African American, and she was wearing bright pink and was sweet to us. She wanted to show us the "new" toy that she had gotten for her birthday a few days back, and she came back holding an obviously worn down barbie cake topper (you know those little plastic people that go on the top of cakes) and she LOVED it. They didn't have furniture, let alone a Christmas tree, so you can tell that they probably aren't able to do much this holiday season.

Man, it reminded me of that movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness" with Will Smith. These people are SO good, and just trying to provide for their family with what they've got. I LOVE THEM!

Thank you Mom and Dad for the secret Santa money. We are excited to use it to give these kids a great Christmas suprise! We tried especially hard to learn all of their names because we want to get them each something special and leave it at their door this Christmas Eve. Probably sooner, because I can't wait any longer!!! Thanks again Mom and Dad! That's the best Christmas present you could ever give me!

Alma 7:17

"And now my beloved brethren, do you believe these things? Behold, I say unto you, yea, I know that ye believe them; and the way that I know that ye believe the is by the manifestation of the Spririt which is in me. And now because your faith is strong concerning the things which I have spoken, great is my joy."

This scripture seriously describes missionary work! We know, by the power of the spirit when we are teaching someone, if they believe it or not. And nothing brings us greater joy than when we see someone learn, grow, and believe.

We can see that in ourselves too. We have to always be pro-active about developing our testimonies, and it will give us great joy when we can tell that our faith is stonger. Our joy is full in helping others and in developing our own testimonies.

Please pray for our investigator Maria, who is getting baptized on Friday!

Hope y'all have a great week :)