A Charlie Brown Christmas!
Dearest family and friends. How are you all doing? This week has been CRAZY! First of all, I am will be staying in Santa Rosa for another 6 weeks BUT I will be getting a new companion. It was such a surprise but it will be good! Hermana Whiteley will be going to San Rafael and she is going to love it! I will be serving with Hermana Bryant who has been out for about 6 months and she is from Gilbert, Arizona. So it will be fun to serve with another Arizonan especially in the winter here. It is a little bit nippy here. We have woken up to lots of frost on our car for the last couple of days and it gets down to the 20s at night. I am excited to be staying in Santa Rosa for another 6 weeks and to be able to be here for Christmas. It is going to be a Charlie Brown Christmas because did you know that the author of the Charlie Brown cartoons, Charles Schulz, was born and raised in Santa Rosa. The Charles Schulz museum is here in town so we went last Monday and it is incredible. It was really so much fun!
We have had some very neat experiences this week. We do not have that large of a teaching pool but the people that we are teaching are really progressing. Marta is doing amazing! We found out that her daughter moved out and so the grandkids are not over that much anymore which makes it easier to teach her. We brought a recent convert, Lillia Mendoza, with us and she shared such a powerful testimony and they were instant friends which was awesome. Then we were able to teach her again on Thursday and she was just so much more open and it was an awesome lesson. Then yesterday morning we called her to emind her about church and she said that her grandskids were with her but she wanted to bring them and she came. However, she did not stay fro sacrament meeting because the kids were going out of control she was able to at least go to the classes and feel of the spirit in the church. She is so ready even though she does not realize it! What a miracle!
Then as a mission we are trying to focus on praying for our investigators by name in every prayer. One day this week as we were praying for Maria our newest investigator I just kept feeling like we needed to see her so we went by and when she answered the door she was in tears and she said that she was doing really bad. We found out that her son got arrested and she was obviously very distraught. It was amazing that we were there at the right time to comfort her. We were able to pray with her and to read in the book of Mormon with her. The spirit was so strong and she was filled with peace. We were able to see her a second time and to help her to find that peace once again.
Also I am serving as a Sister Training Leader again and so we had an 8 hour training meeting on Saturday. It was a little long but it was AWESOME!
We were given so much wonderful council! We learned that we are a mission with a culture of high expectations and as leaders we must set the example of these high expectations. We also got trained on the family history pilot program which is going to be so cool. It is not anything super new it is just putting more emphasis on using family history as a contacting tool. I am excited to learn more! While I was at the training Hermana Whiteley was able to teach Bonnie and she is also progressing very quickly and really wants to get baptized she just needs to come to church and get married.
This week has been amazing! I am excited for this new transfer and for this Christmas season. This last ransfer has been hard but I have seen how the Lord is polishing me to be ready to go home. He is helping me learn thae things I need to learn so that I can feel like I have done my best. I am so excited to be serving as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ t the time of His birth. I would invite all of you to enjoy the real Chirstmas Spirit. Here is a little reminder of what that is. https://www.lds.org/youth/video/the-christmas-spirit?lang=eng
Also I have been loving my Christmas Advent Calendar so thank you for all of you who sent in letters for that. This week one of them really touched me. It included the lyrics of the song Breath of Heaven.
"Breath of Heaven, hold me together be forever near me, Breath of Heaven Breath of Heaven, lighten my darkness pour over me Your holiness You are holy Breath of Heaven".
The person that wrote this letter told me how one particular Christmas our family helped her family have the Christmas that they did not think that they would have. I remember that Christmas vividly because it is was one of the first times that I served some one else at Christmas time. The gift of giving is powerful. This Christmas help someone else feel like heaven is holding them together! It will change your Christmas.
I love you all so MUCH! Have a great Christmas season!
Hermana Hillary
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