Week 9: "I don't love you, sisters!"

It seems that my only "funny" subject lines are from the one and only Elder VanDerVeur haha. That was what he told us before he was transferred. It's the perfect way to put it. He really meant that loves us...duh, but that would be weird to say outright, yes? Haha I don't know being a missionary is weird. But you really do grow to love the missionaries you serve with. They are there through your ups and downs and you become like family very quickly!

So many things happened this week it's crazy and I don't think I will be able to touch on everything but I'll try my best to hit the highlights!

So this week one of the members that has been struggling had us and the ward mission leader over to tell us that she was leaving the church. Oh man...that was really hard. You have a different love for these people as a missionary, the pure love of Christ, and it is so hard to see them struggle. We talked to her and tried to help but she did not want to be helped =( Our ward mission leader is awesome and he challenged her to read in the Book of Mormon until she felt the Spirit, so she could get to know how the Spirit speaks to her. She said she wasn't going to but she did the next day and it really helped her! She ended up coming to all three of our activities this weekend and to church. She did a lot of pondering and didn't say much, which I think was a good thing. She is really thinking about life and being humbled by the Lord. I love her so dearly!

We had a miracle with one of our less-actives this week! She brought us to transfer meeting because the sister who taught her was leaving. On the way down, out of no where in the car she said, "I need to start coming back to church." We had been praying for this miracle but we were still blindsided because it was so random! Haha! She felt the Spirit really strong at transfer meeting and came to church!

We also met to returning less-actives from another ward who inspire me. They have had a hard life and have been less-active for nearly 7 years but recently they had a tragedy and realized they needed to get away from the city and change their lives. They have started coming back to church and are preparing to go to BYU-Idaho! You can imagine how much I have to tell them about that! BYU-Idaho is the best!!!! =)

Something that I am working on is learning to recognize the Spirit, so I was very grateful to watch the First Presidency Christmas devotional last night! It wasn't until President Eyring said, "You may have felt an increased desire to avoid evil, or to be less boastful" that i realized how strongly I had felt the Spirit during the devotional. The Spirit, I am learning, is quiet most of the time, but very powerful if we can learn to recognize it.

I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for this season to celebrate His birth. Another message that struck me from the devotional last night was, "The spirit of Christmas should be a pattern for our lives." Not sure if that is a direct quote but it was something like that. That's the message I got anyway! =) I was able to go to the DC Temple Visitors center last night with our ward to watch the Christmas Devotional. As we saw the temple in the night I thought, "I want to be like that temple, a light in a world that is so dark. Just like our Savior." I hope that this Christmas season we can look to the light. The light of the star in Bethlehem, the light of the temple, and the light of Christ. As we do so, I know that our lives will be changed and we will feel a desire to make that the pattern for our lives. I love my Savior, He is the gift!

christmas.mormon.org