Christmas all around

Dear Family! Merry Christmas! How are all of you doing today????

This week has been good. And not as crazy as last week, although now we just laugh about that story :)

Last night was great. It started with dinner at the Jake/Adorno familys home and it was just a lot of fun. We had pizza and zeps and felt very good and comfortable there. After that, we went to home of a less active woman's named Patsy. We have stopped by her home before and we see her a lot at the assisted living home that we do service for. The moment we saw her we just knew that not all was okay and she was struggling. (but she is not one to ask for help) We just talked with her for a little bit. And shared a scripture about the Christ takes upon himself the sting of death. It meant a lot to the both of us. With her we found out that one of the men at the old folks home I knew had also passed away unexpectedly. While there, another miracle happened in which her daughter stopped by to pick up a pan. She had been a former investigator and we had been trying to see her for some time but couldn't. We were able to set up an appointment to meet at the old folks home. That was a huge miracle.

Sometimes it is funny how being in the right place at the right time makes you late for the next place that you are "suppose"to be at. Next we had a meeting with a returning member and her family. Because of some contention at home, she asked us if we could meet at Starbucks instead and brought a neighbor along. It was really good. We were able to talk about how missionary work is going and about how she has been reading the scriptures. I really loved how she was so comfortable inviting her friends to get hot chocolate with the missionaries. To her, this is just how she lives her life. She jokes about baptizing her friend in the coffee and so forth. I love her and I am thankful for her trust.

Another miracle was that Ruth and Fredrick got baptized on Saturday!!!! Yippee! She is hispanic and he native American from Canada. They are the couple that we started teaching, but then had to pass over to the Elder for boundary purposes. It was really really cool. And I know that I was meant to be here to start that process for them, although I don't think I'll ever understand exactly what I did do. They asked me to give one of the talks and I was more than happy to. I love them so much and I am so excited for there little family. On the way to the baptism, we got a phone call from the WML asking if we were nearby. We were just around the corner. he also asked if I had prepared a talk and what it was on. I told him I was asked to give the talk on baptism. Pause. And he tells me that he had messed up the program and 2 people had been asked to give a talk on baptism. I'm literally 3 min. away from the chapel at this point. And I say, oh.... well... I can try to wing a talk on the spirit if you want me too. he replies and says I don't really care, but that would be great.... haha. So we get to the baptism and I quickly think of a few points I'd really been thinking and feeling and gave a 5 min. talk on it. And it went really well. And I want to say that that is because of 2 reasons. 1 is because Giving talks like that if I know something to say don't freak me out too much and I'm able to just go and look perfectly calm and the other more important reason is because the spirit and my love did the work. It was very nice.

This week we did service in a home without a heater. We were trying to put boards and insulation up. and there was no heat. We were freezing and I couldn't imagine how cold this family must be at night. It was crazy . I love them so much and I was very grateful to be there in there circumstances and do some good. later that night we ate with a single woman who fed us simple sandwiches for dinner. We felt very fortunate to be there and be able to feel heavenly fathers love in there home and there great humility.

Another great event this week was the Messiah and nativity showing that the stake put on. We went to both nights of it hoping to see someone we invited. Although we didn't, it was still a great night and very spiritual. \

I love you all!!!!