Well, hello there! Yet another week has passed... the time is just going faster and faster... it feels like it was just yesterday that I was sitting at this computer writing an email to all of you glorious people.. Crazy! :)
This week was just full of the Christmas spirit and every time anything Christmas related happens, it just makes me all giddy inside.. this truly is the most wonderful time of the year. I hope you all had a chance to watch the "A Savior is Born" video on
christmas.mormon.org. There are a few other super cute videos for Christmas on
mormonchannel.org too! One is called "The Christmas Spirit" and the other one is called "What Shall we Give?" They are both super good, so I would recommend searching those on
mormonchannel.org and watching them this week. They're only like 3ish minutes each. :)
Anyway, so this week there was a Tree-lighting Ceremony on the Airforce Base that we went and helped out with which was super fun. It was so funny though, when we were on the base, these Policemen pull up and start looking in someone's truck that was parked by the chapel, and the guy who owns the truck starts running over to the policemen and yells, "Those are nerf guns!" haha.. it was quite a quirky time. Why carry nerf guns in your truck, who knows. Super funny, though. Apparently someone had called it in. Poor guy. It made Sister Schmidt and I chuckle though. :)
It was also the ward Christmas party and First Presidency Christmas Devotional (if you didn't get a chance to watch that- go watch it on
lds.org - it was amazing!) and it was decorated so cute by a sister in our ward who is basically an amazing Interior Designer.. people's variety of talents never cease to amaze me. We are each so blessed! :) The ward Christmas party was so wonderful and at the end they gave us basically all of the left overs - they take really good care of us missionaries.. such a blessing! :) The party was so well attended, though, that the 24 tables that they set out weren't enough.. they added like 3 more to those and people still kept coming. We had 3 investigators there too, which was super awesome! :)
So, remember how I mentioned about Greg last week? The one that was like, "So how soon can I be baptized?" WELL... we met with him twice this week -once for a church tour and once for another lesson... plus he came to the ward Christmas party AND church yesterday.. But basically, this man is so intense and wanting to be baptized that he is putting off OPEN HEART SURGERY until after he is baptized because he wants to be baptized before in case he passes away or something... We tried to explain to him that Heavenly Father knows the intents of his heart and that he would be okay if he were to die, but he was like.. "yeah, I see what you're saying, and that's comforting.. but, I think I still want to be baptized first because recovery is really long. Plus, 2016 seems like a pretty good year to have heart surgery." Man, this guy just makes me laugh every time. What dedication, I'll tell ya. His faith is so heart warming, but also this whole situation is super nerve racking.. It's his agency, I suppose. But anyway, something neat that happened with him during the church tour this week was that we were in the chapel and we had them be silent for just a few moments and asked him how he felt afterward and he was like, "I feel peaceful. Like all my burdens are lifted when I'm in this room." It was so incredible! The Spirit truly just emanates from the Chapel and it is such an amazing blessing to be able to have such sacred places to worship each Sabbath day. :)
Well, another super happy thing that happened this week was that Nicole (the one who got married on the 24th and baptized on Halloween) went to the temple the first time this week to do baptisms for the dead and I GOT TO GO!!! :) It was super happy! She was super nervous and her countenance didn't hide that, but right after she started actually doing the work, her face changed and she was just beaming and so happy afterward! It was such a tender mercy to be able to see that and how much the Spirit truly touches people's lives and helps them to feel at peace. He truly is the Comforter.
Something funny that happened this week was that we were getting our mail at our apartment building and we waved to this girl outside, and she just walks over to our car and tries to get in it.. We were like... "Hi...." and then when she realized we weren't her ride, she was super embarrassed. Poor girl.... Also, this week on Tuesday was the FIRST DAY my entire mission that I haven't driven. Sister Schmidt knows the area well enough now that she started driving this week, and it has been so nice to just be a passenger for once! :)
Also, remember my favorite game, "Stump the Missionary?" Well, a lot of people decided that it was needful to play that beautiful game this week, and it proved for quite the interesting lessons. One can ask "what about this!?" questions until their blue in the face, and we can answer them until we can't mutter another word, but what it really comes down to is if The Book of Mormon is true or not. If the Book of Mormon is true, then that means that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that everything that people say happened long ago really did, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is truly the Lord's Kingdom once again established on the earth preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah (the title page of the Book of Mormon) and every other claim along with it. It's as simple as that. I just wish everyone knew it, too. I know that the Book of Mormon is truly Another Testament of Jesus Christ, that everything that happened in it is not just some made up story to sell copies (they're free, anyway), or some scheme of some sort, but that it was written long ago by servants of the Lord, that Jesus Christ Himself appeared to the people in the Ancient Americas and showed Himself to them and taught them His gospel, and that it was delivered to Joseph Smith in the 1800s to translate by the power of God from that ancient text into English so that we can all know how to get back to live with our Father in Heaven, Savior Jesus Christ, and family once more if we abide by its and the Bible's precepts. What a beautiful blessing it is to have The Book of Mormon, which truly testifies of the perfect man who is the Reason for the Season. All are invited to read it.
Well, friends. It truly was a wonderful week, and I am again so grateful for all of you and your love and support. God hears our prayers. He loves and cares for you by name, and is a perfect Father. Pray to Him and pour out your heart to Him, and you will be able to find greater peace than by any other means.
Have a wonderful, Christ-filled, week, my friends. Love you all! :)
-At the Temple with Nicole (Sister Finau got to come too! :))
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