Dec. 21, 2014

FELIZ NAVIDAD A TODOS!!!!!!!!

I hope you all are having a WONDERFUL Christmas week. I miss you and wish I could be there...but at the same time this Christmas, I'm learning so much more about my Savior. I love the simplicity of Christmas as a missionary. I think last year I was overwhelmed with homesickness that I didn't get to appreciate this time. Being able to share tarjetas de He is The Gift has been awesome. We've been able to bear testimony of Christ in a way that you just can't do any other time of the year. Even amidst the rejection, people have at least accepted cards...and I'm praying that they will feel the Spirit and watch the videos...then come closer to the church.

This was a crazy week for us. I feel like we can't catch a normal week around here haha. We were so busy that we weren't able to visit any companionship this week.

Tuesday...was a miracle day. Seriously, I still feel so blessed that the Lord helped us out. We had our Reunion de Distrito. Monday we were supposed to have a cita with Olyver, but he never showed up...and his phone wasn't working. He was supposed to get baptized on Saturday, but we didn't have any way to contact him or teach him, or set up a baptismal interview before Saturday. So Tuesday we prayed hard and went on the search for his house. We had an Hermana that was kind enough to accompany us on the search. When we tried to find his house before, we weren't able to...nobody was familiar with his neighborhood. We had some limited information, and with that we went to the outskirts of our gigantic area. By some miracle, we found the house. By greater miracle, Olyver, was actually home. He normally is working nonstop and never at home, but on a random Tuesday at 3 in the afternoon we found him, we taught him, and we set up his baptismal interview. It was awesome.

Wednesday was our annual Christmas Multizona with President Archibald. I was sooo excited because our Zone was paired up with Los Olivos!!! So I got to see all my friends from Los Olivos, including Hermana Gomez. We were also with Las Palmeras, so I was able to see Hermana Kim too! It was so awesome to be able to catch up with them and see them. Each zone performed a skit and a musical number, we made gingerbread houses, we had a delicious lunch...it was awesome. President gave an amazing Christmas message, and a blessing on all of us that was exactly what I needed to hear. The best Christmas gift was just being able to spend that day with my favorite companions from the mission. 

Saturday Hermano Olyver got baptized. He's like the boy version of Carmen haha. He came to church on his own, he had desires to serve Christ and change his life from the get go...and you could feel it as he bore his testimony and smiled wide the entire time. I feel so blessed to have been an instrument in the Lord's hands to have some small part in helping him get baptized. 

This week is a special week for all of us. Like you gave your talk in Sacrament meeting mom, I just want to remind everyone that this is a time about something greater than presents under the tree or gingerbread cookies haha. Christ is the reason we are able to be together as a family during the holiday season...not to mention for eternity. Christ is the reason we can receive the gift of eternal life, the strength to move forward each day, the ability to repent and grow closer to our Heavenly Father. Without our Savior...there would be no Christmas...without the Atonement and Resurrection...there would be no Savior, and consequently no Restoration. I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ. He lives. He's conquered death and sin, and through Him and His restored gospel, we can be made whole.

I hope you have an amazing Christmas with Tyler and his family. I'm so excited to see you and spend a part of the day with you on Skype. 

Love you tons!

Hermana Carr 

O's baptism

Add caption