Hola todos!
Okay so this last week was JAM PACKED! This is the reason for the MANY pictures that I sent you all. Due to the Christmas season, nights at the Visitors' Center have been hoppin'(for all you older generations this means quite busy :D) and I have been loving every minute of it. We have been having a "secret sister" (secret santa) type of thing going on at the VC between all of the missionaries and it has been so much fun to try to sneak around and serve the sister that I was given. Seeing as how I got Sister Park and I have been serving with her since the MTC and writing her that whole time too, she figured out that it was me withing the second day(we did it for twelve days). Ha ha! It's alright though, I just tried to love her and serve her and it has really helped me to feel joy and to forget about myself this holiday season. The funny thing is that Sister Park got my name too so we were both serving each other. We had a party last Wednesday night at the VC to exchange our final gifts and to divulge who we had been serving. She gave me a ton of stickers(this was heaven, I LOVE stickers...you know this if I have sent you a letter, I normally cover my letters in them) and a cute set of earrings. Oh man I just LOVE her!
Our Sister missionary Christmas performance went really well. We all played these awesome bells together to a big medley of Christmas songs, and then a lot of us performed solos or duets. Sister Park and I performed "Mary Did You Know". I sang while she played and harmonized. It actually went really well. A lot of the missionaries were surprised and came up to me afterwards and said that they did not know that I had such a pretty voice. I thought that it was kind of weird because I sing all of the time but then I realized how much I have changed on my mission in this aspect. I feel so much more comfortable singing in front of large groups of people because at times I really have had no other choice. I also have really cultivated the talent to sing alto and harmonize, having listened to some of the incredible sisters here who are so good at it. At this same Christmas performance last year I was the MC but I only sang one small line of a song by myself and I actually messed up on that. I recently watched the DVD of myself last year and I realized that this year I have so much more confidence. Someone once told me that you cannot compare your progression with that of someone else, but the best thing is to look back on yourself one year ago. Are you doing better, loving more, and closer to God this year? If so you know then you are progressing, and progression is why we are here. I feel so grateful to be serving again at the VC because I have seen so much growth that I have experienced while being away. You know last night we were teaching Sandy about the symbolism in baptism, how it represents a dying of one's old self and a being born again and being clean and whole. This is what the Savior Jesus Christ has done for us. This is what He has done for me. I am not who I used to be. How can I really even describe to you all how I feel? I am here in Missouri becoming this person that I never knew I always wanted to be. I honestly don't think that I was a bad person at all before my mission, I just did not understand what I know now. I have been through moments of heartache and sorrow that before this mission would have broken me down to the ground, but since learning what I have learned and seeing what I have seen I have instead chosen to be broken down to my knees. This is where I go all of the time. I start to feel alone for even one second or I when I start to doubt my abilities or God's plan for me I call to Him. He is my everything and as I have allowed Him to play the biggest role in my life, He has helped me live more freely than I ever have in my life. He has made me whole. I am working so hard and bringing the things that I am rejoicing in to Him first, for He understands. There are so many moments when I get excited about something and no one around me thinks that was I think is incredible is even a big deal, but to me it is. You know those moments? I am trying to take them to Him and He fills me with joy and with comfort and I know that what I am rejoicing in is good and that He is celebrating with me. It's crazy how that lesson with Sandy changed me so much when I have taught it time and time again. Maybe this is the reason why I love the people we teach so much, because as much as I get to help them, they are helping me to understand the secrets of life. What an incredible calling.
So I bet all of you weekly readers are wondering about the Saga of Sandy? Well I hope you are! She is doing FANTASTIC! She has not smoked since we invited her to be baptized on the 29th of December and she accepted. This was about a week ago now! We have not ate any Christmas sweets(or ANY sweets for that matter) either and I know that this is helping her. She says she feels bad that we are giving up sweets this Christmas just for her but I also see the way her face lights up when we tell her that we have been strong right along with her. I would do it a thousand times over and for the rest of my life if it would help her to feel like she has support in this. I wish that you could all see the progression that she has made. Her home is such a more comfortable place and I see so much more peace in her. It is crazy to think that before her husband died she was dead set against the church and she really did not like that her daughter was a member. Sometimes I pray for the Lord to change the heart of someone and in my mind I just picture Him making the person stop being so stubborn by magically changing the way that they feel. Sandy has helped me to realize people's hearts are often soften by the Lord through things that occur in their lives. The death of Sandy's husband is what softened her. This realization is changing the way that I say my prayers and the way that I view others and occurrences in my own life.
By the pictures I have sent you all know by now that I was able to go to the temple! We went on Saturday with Amanda who was just baptized two weeks ago. This was such a breath of fresh air to get to be in my favorite place in the whole world. We did a session before we went with Amanda to do baptisms and as we went through I either wanted to weep with joy or just fall into a deep sleep because I was SO comfortable. Ha ha! I just feel so at ease in the temple with no worries on my mind and just one focus of learning and listening to what the Lord has to tell me. Do you live near a temple? If you do, utilize it! There is a reason why the church spends so much time, money, effort and love on these temples. They are truly the house of God and the place where you can learn who you really are and for me this is wherein my happiness lies, the knowledge that I am a daughter of God and that He loves me dearly. God to the temple, fill your lamp.
Oh man! Christmas is next WEEK! I am not sure what day my p-day will be because transfers are on Thursday and sometimes that changes our p-day here at the VC. Also if it is my p-day is on Christmas I will not be able to email because the library will not be open. So.......
Feliz Navidad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you all very much!!!!!!! Remember on Christmas the spirit of Christ for He is why we rejoice and celebrate! Love everyone to the fullest :D
con amor,
su Hermana Thorne
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