Merry Christmas!

Another amazing week I have to tell you all about because it was just beautiful.

First I have to say congratulations to my brother Elder Dalley, now Jacob. Congrats on being home! I love you so much!

I loved listening to all your talks. When Cade started talking I thought it was Jake and then I realized if my brother grows a foot while I am gone his voice will probably get lower as well. In my mind Cade is a little eight year old running around shirtless. Hannah you are amazing, I have such amazing siblings with such amazing testimonies. I am so proud of all  of you.

I loved listening to your talk, Jake. Thank you so much for that!

Dec 10 Monday

We did the usual laundry and stuff and then went shopping with some other sisters.

Dec 11 Tuesday

President interviews. I just love President Thomas so much. I know I tell you that every time but I do. Everytime we have an interview we laugh so hard we cry and we cry so hard we laugh. We laughed about what Emily Jensen would call Josie moments and the fact that I finally got a watch. We had a really good conversation about the good I get to be a part of. I just love him. He is amazing. He gives us the best advice and knows how to help each of us. He also says congratulations Jake. He was impressed there were two of us out at the same time. While we were there, the assistants were making a Christmas video to show at the talent show.  I had to memorize part of Luke. I kept getting distracted because I am so social so Sister Thomas took me to another room and confined me there until I memorized my line.

During district council we talked a lot about the restoration. Our district leaders phrased the question, do you really believe that? We talked about knowing and what we do because we know and what we ask others to do because they know.

We went to sacred finding time. A lot of people are finding it interesting that we are knocking on their door at dinner time. We shared the light the world video with a couple of teenage kids and they loved it.  One of our members pulled up while we were walking and invited us to a realtor party where the entire time we did missionary work. The member that took us introduced us to their friends as missionaries. We were there for an hour. During that hour we talked to six different people about the church. Who knew.

Dec 12 Wednesday

We went to service at the food pantry. We took a sister in our district cupcakes and celebrated her year mark. We knocked on doors and talked to people. We had our study with Guy. We talked and learned about it together. We went to the last little bit of yw and ym. We love them so much.

Dec 13 Thursday

My 10 month mark in California. We did food pantry commodities. We were there for a long time because there was a lot of food but not a lot of people there. We went to a lesson with Alejandra. We were going to read a chapter in Mosiah but the thought of a scripture in 3 Nephi kept coming to my mind. She stopped us and asked a question. Guess what, the answer was in 3 Nephi. That is the spirit. It was really cool.

WE went to a progressive RS dinner. We mingled with each other. It was super yum. Something awesome, Brother Ford was telling us about his little sister who is a returning member with her non member husband and children last week but we got to meet her at the dinner. We are going to start teaching her next week. It was super great.

We then went to wrap donation gifts at the mall. We do that quite a bit actually. It is fun to help serve others during this season.

We rode over to Julie’s house. She was late so we climbed her fence and raked her leaves. Austin who is usually in charge of the leaves appreciated it. We had a scripture study with Julie and Austin. We are just reading through the Book of Mormon with them. Each chapter we finished she kept asking “Can we read another one?” We had a good discussion with Rick, Julie’s friend about the importance of knowing and understanding. He really likes us so we are excited about that.

We got to talk to sister Harrison’s husband. He has had the lessons and says he believes but he can’t give up some word of wisdom things. We believe he can do it but he doesn’t believe he can do it.

When we were gift wrapping there were a bunch of Derby girls, basically skaters that beat each other up. They gave me their card and tried to recruit me to be a derby girl with them.

We then came home and had our studies and then watched the women’s session of conference with Julie. We helped her wrap her gifts for her grandkids. Rick her friend came  in with cupcakes that said happy birthday and got after me for not telling them it was my birthday the week before.

Dec 16 Sunday

Happy Birthday to sister Katie Brown. I love you so much!

That day at church was Brittany Barnson’s “farewell” she stays in this area because she is a service missionary. She did so good. We had Julie and Austin with us a church.

We had an amazing experience at church. They had asked us to sing with Brittany. You all know I love music. I am not a very good singer but am happy to sing with anyone who wants me to sing with them. Brittany really wanted to sing. We prayed for angels to sing with us. We were singing with an angel. Brittany is an angel. We had so many people comment on how beautiful it was. Brittany know the words, she doesn’t really know tune because of her disabilities. We sang “God be With You ‘til We Meet Again.” A man in our ward shared an experience with Brother Barnson who is Brittany’s dad. He said there were eight angels singing with them. We had other people comment, you sang amazing, there could not have only been three of you up there. It was a very special experience for me. It was a beautiful experience for me. I love Brittany so much and it was truly an honor to part of her beautiful day. So, I got to sing with angels on Sunday. Brittany to me is an angel. She has helped me especially when Cole passed away. Sister Barnson said, “I think it was a combination of all of your angels. Some of yours, some of Brittany’s and some of Sister Walter’s.” It was really touching. That is forever an experience that I will remember and cherish. I am so proud of Brittany. She is going to change lives as a service missionary. I am grateful for that program. She is so proud of her name tag and that she is wearing Jesus Christ’s name on her chest. I love her so much. We always say Sister Walters and I are in a trio now, Brittany is our new companion.

We had our companion study. We are memorizing the living Christ together. We have all but three paragraphs memorized. We walked to our next appointment because my tire was flat again. We had a conversation while we walked with a lady who spoke spanish. It was a funny half spanish half english conversation. We shared the light the world video with her. We then had dinner with the Crisps who are both return missionaries. We walked home through al the parking lots to get to our apartments. There was a lady who had her cart full full full of groceries so we helped her load her car. I was thinking about how serving creates relationships and then I got kind of reprimanded because I never let people serve me. I am going to working on allowing others to help me.

We had talked in RS about a couple of quotes from conference. One was, “Do I know anyone who does not need the powers of heaven in their lives?” That is one I need as a missionary. Everyone needs the powers of heaven in their lives and as a missionary I can introduce and share the gospel with them. There was another quote from the same talk that says, “On the eve of His atonement, the Savior washed the feet of one who betrayed him, of another who denied him and of still another who fell asleep in his most needed hour. He then taught, a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you.” It is truly taking the name of Christ upon us when we love others even when we don’t think they deserve it or need it.

Please give Jake a hug for me, give him my love!

Hi everybody! I loved this week, it was a great week.

Dec 17 Mon

Happy Birthday to my BFF Sage Romney. I love you so much. It is kind of a running Joke that Sage was born 11 days later than me but let’s be real that is the only thing I beat her in. You are amazing Sister Romney! I hope it was a good one, you deserve it.

We went bowling with all the sisters and then to the Pava building and hung out with our friends - played volleyball, basketball and emailed. Thank you so much Nate and Patty Birchall’s for your package, I love it. Then we went to the mall to wrap presents for Project Touch and it was super fun.

Dec 18 Tues

Happy Birthday to Sister Wolfius. You’re awesome. I love you. I was super sick congested with  pounding headache. We went to district council. We studied all about Jesus Christ, who he is and what he did. It is really humbling when all of us get together and talk about Him and when even the most simple things about him causes a group of young people to learn and remember and give us so much peace.

We went home and I took a nap. Then I got sick of being sick and said ok that’s it, let’s go! The Elders called us and asked us to help them move someone in. It was really good to meet them.

Dec 19 Wed

We went  to work at the food pantry. I have been there 4-5 months now and I just love these people. I love the leaders of it, I love the volunteers. I have made so many connections and friendships there. The person in charge, Maggie, gave our district a wonderful gift. We have introduced our church and the good of the gospel into their lives. We love them.

Then after lunch we went to work in the Bays. We don’t have as many people up there but we went to visit our less active members homes. We found out a couple don’t live there. We are kind of creepy stalkers because we would look at the delivered packages and know if they were still there.

We knocked on a door and this cute girl answered. She ran to get her mom. She said, “I heard your church is all about the family and a great church to raise children in.” We were able to testify of the importance of families and talk to her about God’s family. We were able to share the focus of families, the support group and the family that the church is. We were able to send up a return appointment with Sarah. She is super sweet and super sincere.

We were able to meet with Alyssa. She met with the sisters before, about 1 ½ years ago. We had an hour long conversation in the doorway. She said she was just thinking about hte last sisters she talked to and about how they would always pray for her and with her. She said she thinks we are all connected because we sensed her need and came. She has three struggling sons and asked us to pray for them, especially Jeremy and Jake. She said, don’t disappear.  We are not sure she wants to convert but it is still a small step. We love her already, she is so sweet!

We have been able to find a lot but everyone wants to wait to meet after the holidays. They are super busy.  

We then went to have a study with Guy. Brother Ford, a member of the bishopric studied with us. We are still reading revelations. It is really hard to read but I am learning a lot.

Dec 20 Thursday

We had a lesson with Vida. She basically told us she wasn’t ready for baptism and that she was back on coffee. We were really disappointed. It is sad, she was doing so well and was so excited and wanted it so bad. I think she lost a little bit of focus on what she was doing and why she was doing it.

At night, the night before, my whole mouth started throbbing. It went to the dentist in Escondido. The xray looked perfectly fine. He tested my teeth and one of my teeth has a filling that killed my tooth and I will need a root canal. Merry Christmas mom and dad and sorry. That’s going to be fun. That took most our day. We finished the day with gift wrapping at the mall and studies.

Dec 21 Friday

We had a Christmas talent show with the entire mission 156 missionaries and 7 zones. We also watched a video that the assistants made. I got to see my mtc friends, my baby sister Miles, my adopted baby sister Stoddard. I love those people! It was so fun. The talents ranged from super beautiful and spiritual to crazy. We all had a good laugh and a good break and got us all excited for Christmas. I jsut love the love you can feel from President and sister Thomas. I really connect with him. Whenever he cries everyone looks at me to see that I am crying too. I know he loves us. They gave us temple recommend holders with the San Diego temple at night on it to remind us we are a light to the world. On the back of it is one of President’s favorite scriptures. It says “Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.”

We went to Baked Bear as a district. It is super yummy! WE went home and had our studies.

Dec 22 Saturday

We went to help Sister Stone. She had family coming and was panicked. We helped her wash dishes and wrap presents for her grandkids. It was really great.  Then we had our studies, I got a little behind on the schedule of reading. When we study, we study for other people so I have been speed reading the Book of Mormon. I have been able to get really far along with that. We are trying to follow the prophet’s council. We went to dinner with the Sumita’s and got to love them and help them. We then went to the mall and wrapped. We didn’t have a lot of appointments this week so we ended up serving a lot which is the best thing we could do.

Dec 23 Sunday

Sister McCrae’s birthday, Happy birthday to you. Also, Sister Jamae I miss you and love you. Happy Birthday. We went to church. I got to see Brittany Barnson there, sister Barnson and she told me she had a dream we were companions. That made me so happy. I love her so much.

We had an amazing program. It was so beautiful. I cried so much . We had three musical numbers - one from our beautiful primary children, one from five brother’s who sang a beautiful acapella silent night, one from Brie Therber who sang Mary did you know. The entire congregation was in tears it was so beautiful. We all stood and sang O Come all ye Faithful. We all stood to sing it, I am crying now, as I stood, I looked around and felt a sense of being home. I felt home. Not that little ol Alpine Utah isn’t home but I love it, I love these people they are my family. I am so blessed to be with them. I got a wave of emotion of love for and from the people that I get to work with. They are amazing. I love being a missionary. The Christmas spirit is so abundant and we sang this beautiful song about adoring Jesus Christ whom this season is all about. I thought being away for Christmas would be hard. But standing there singing about Jesus Christ who I get to talk about everyday with friends and people I don’t even know. I am so happy to be out here and would not trade it for anything. I am so grateful for all of you. I am so grateful for my savior Jesus Christ. Who was born in the lowliest of circumstances who came to live, to love and to die for each of us. I am so grateful for that. I am excited to work on Christmas. I love my savior. I love him so much. What better place to be on Christmas than on my mission serving amazing people and talking about Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all the shibang. I love you all so much.

The rest of the day, we wrote letters to people in the ward and those we are teaching. We went to dinner with the Rebar’s, Alofa and Ken. Their married children were there and it was a super big fun Christmas dinner. Bridgette their daughter in law told  us how much she missed her mission.