MERRY CHRISTMAS 2014

Haaaaaappy Christmas Eve! (Technically) well apparently in La Blanca (our Ward), the members only celebrate and have dinner Christmas eve!  soo we're going to go to the house of two recent converts, Marianela (the mom) and Millaray (the daughter) and we're going to pass by people before because today we have pday from 10:30am-12pm and then we work until 6pm... and then we have MORE pday from 6pm and we can be out until 11:30pm! waiting for el viejito pascuero (the Father Christmas) :P haha

President Cook told me he was grateful that I watched Mrs. Doubt fire to save the life of my comp hhahahah so i said "I too am grateful that I had watched Mrs. Doubtfire!" Well this week went well. (: We went Christmas caroling with the elders, Millaray and Aljandro and we were able to see the sincere love and appreciacion of the people when we came by with a Christmas card, tarjeta(pass along card) and cookies and to sing to them. I am not a big fan of singing because that is not where my talents lie, but I know that hymns really are a prayer from the heart and people are touched by the hymns that Emma Smith hand chose. We felt the spirit at every house. ♥ I love the spirit of Christmas. This week the service we were able to do was basically helping and participating in all the ward activities. Everyone seemed to need a bit of help this week.

I want to share super quick experience we had this week.  Jorge (who got baptized two Fridays ago) well and we haven't been able to pass by his house since, until yesterday!  He is becoming such a strong person in the gospel♥  He goes to church and all the activities and everything(: anyway! Yesterday we had a lesson with him in the church with a member (Barbi se llama) But we've already taught him about it, but we still felt impressed to go over it with him.  So we start talking about the prophet Thomas S. Monson.   We asked if he knew who he was and everything, and he was familiar but not too sure. So we quickly looked in the Library for a photo of him JUSTO AYER FUE EL CUMPLEAÑOS DE JOSE SMITH ENTONCES FUE INSPIRACION DE HABLAR DE PROFETAS! (JUST YESTERDAY WAS THE BIRTHDAY OF JOSEPH SMITH)  & THEN TALK OF PROPHETS INSPIRATION) thanks much! okay so I go into the other room, grab a liahona (which is the spanish version of the Ensign) that said "discursos de la conferencia general"(general conference talks) and thought AH!! this has to have Thomas Monson in it!  okay soo were flipping through the pages and I come to a talk by Pres. Monson and I'm reading it and it just struck to my core. we shared this passage with him, "Al meditar en oración la edad a la cual los jóvenes podrían comenzar su servicio misional, también hemos considerado la edad a la que las mujeres jóvenes podrían servir. Hoy me complace anunciar que las jóvenes dignas y capaces que tengan el deseo de servir, pueden ser recomendadas para el servicio misional a partir de los 19 años en lugar de los 21." (By meditating in prayer the age at which young people may begin their missionary service, we have also considered the age at which young women could serve. Today I am pleased to announce that young worthy and able to have the desire to serve may be recommended for missionary service at 19 years instead of 21")  We couldn't help but just pause after reading that and look at him in silence.  He looked down at his shoes and nodded his head, pondering what we had told him.  He teaches me more than I feel we teach him sometimes... Soon after we testified that if it wasn't for Joseph Smith, for the Restauracion del evangelio, for a modern day prophet, for modern day revelation, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints here TODAY on the earth, we wouldn't be here in this very moment.  It's so incredible how glorious this Gospel really is.  We say it A MILLION TIMES. We hear His name daily, but are we really being truly disciples in all that we do?  What shall we do with Christmas this year?  I pray that we all aren't quick to forget Him and that we actually remember Him in all that we do.  That's something, I'm hoping so much as a gift this Christmas, to fight the natural man and be different from the world and testify of Him in my actions.  I hope you all have the BEST CHRISTMAS in remembering our Savior Jesus Christ :)  I love you all so much and I can't believe this is my last Christmas in Chile as a missionary!  Hope you all have shared something with your friends this Christmas about the Gospel (: love you all have a super sassy Navidad !!!!!feliz navidad 2014!!!!!   Hermana Blanca is my mission mommy and I adore her. She is a member of this ward and has a heart of gold. She hand knitted me a sweater and took care of us. We skyped you all at her house this year!