Tuesday, December 20, 2011,
Heyo!
I wish you a merry Christmas! I wish you a merry Christmas! I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Can you believe that Christmas is on Sunday? That seems really incredible. The time has definitely flown that is for sure. But this is definitely a very merry Christmas and I have grown to love my Savior and celebrate his birth a lot more in this holiday season. We have spent our time offering Christmas DVDs, giving Christmas lessons, Christmas caroling and invite people to come unto Christ. I love it. =) This last week has been really good, but also a really good chance to learn and to grow. Merry Christmas!
We were able to teach someone named Steven with his member friend, Dan. My word, I learned so much about teaching and being bold. One statement stood out a lot to me. Steven told us that he didn't feel like he could go to our church because he needed to go to his own service so he would just explore on his own and Dan looked at him and said "I'm sorry but you are wrong. You need to go to our church to really find out if it’s true." I've just been learning a lot about boldness these last couple of months, because if you're a weak sauce missionary then people are never going to change, make changes to make their lives more in harmony with the Savior and come unto Christ. It's so amazing. I know that these ordinances that we are inviting people to are powerful and that this is the only way for them to truly celebrate and know Christ. It is so powerful to be bold. =)
We had very many cool experiences this week. One of them was really draining spiritually, but we ran into a woman at the Temple who served a mission in Argentina and then went inactive because of things that were happening in her life. She came to the Temple, really kind of messed up in her mind, saying that the church was completely a different church, and she just kept talking. At one point I just said "I sustain the living prophet, I know that he is called of God and I will follow him and his teachings" the Spirit came and she was just silent. She just looked at me, and then said “thank you.” That might have been the only good part of that conversation. But the rest of the Temple was great. I love being there on Temple grounds with the lights and with all these people who are drawn to the Temple, members and non members alike who just want to feel the Spirit.
The best part of the week by far though was that Anna got her Patriarchal blessing. One of the members from the Pacific Beach ward gave us a ride - right in time for her to go back to China on Thursday. The day before she just kept saying she was struggling not knowing what to do between work and school and she came out of the blessing saying she knows now what she needs to do and that she will be an influence and a missionary to many. It's so amazing. The Spirit was so strong and I feel blessed and lucky to have been and continue to be part of her life. She also got her ecclesiastical endorsement done so she can apply to BYU. *fingers crossed* =)
It’s so crazy that it’s Christmas already! It is so weird being in a singles ward because everyone is leaving. I'm not even kidding! We used to have to scramble and parallel park (which I can do now o_o!!) and now we can just park anywhere we want. It’s so sad. But now we'll be able to focus on the people who are staying around for Christmas who need a little bit of extra love so that will be great. I feel really blessed to be the Lord’s angel in that way.
We met the coolest guy asking if we could share a Christmas message. =) His name is Mark and he said he'd get baptized if he knows it's true, but he's leaving for Los Angeles. While teaching him though I realized how often I now say the words "cool, sweet, awesome" It’s embarrassing. Life is just so great! But I need to broaden my vocabulary.
I have just come to know so much this week how blessed I am, how real my testimony in the Gospel is and how lucky I am to have it. This Gospel changes lives. The Temple is a real place of comfort. I am really grateful for this mission opportunity that I have. This opportunity I have to teach these children in San Diego, to bring them closer to God and to share my love and my testimony with them. There is nothing else I would rather be doing. My mission means everything to me and I know it will continue to for the rest of my life. The Gospel is what it’s about. Christ and his Atonement are what are important. Teaching the Gospel is so fun. I will teach it for the rest of my life to whoever will listen to me.
The best gift we can give this year is our wills to the Lord, our trust and our faith, and then we will see miracles.
I love you all so much! Have an amazing Christmas and give each other lots of hugs and love! Oh and decorate a ballin' tree!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
SMILE!
LOVE
<Sister Tardiff>
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