9 More Days!

Guuuuuueeeeeess what?!  Only 9 more days until the best day ever!  I am beyond excited to celebrate Christmas as a missionary.  What better present to Christ than sharing His gospel with others?  

Speaking of presents.  Sis Ward and I are about to get the best Christmas present ever.  Karen is getting baptized on Saturday!  We are so excited because she is so ready and wants to be baptized more than anything.  She also just finished the Book of Mormon!  I have never seen anyone read it so fast.  It was funny because we didn't realize she was reading it so much and she just casually mentioned that she was going to start over at the last lesson and we were like, "what??!".  It took her just over 4 weeks.  Her husband also wants to be baptized but needs just a little more time so hopefully that will happen in the near-ish future as well!  It's been a good week.

We also (finally!) met a family this week.  The mom is a member and a good friend of one of the members in the ward.  We have stopped by for ages but she always just sent her husband to the door to tell us that they were busy.  Well, the other day we stopped by to invite them to the Christmas party and she answered the door and then invited us in!  Totally took us by surprise.  But she told us that she wanted to learn more and her husband and 9 yr old daughter wanted to start learning again (apparently they had taken the discussions before).  Blew my mind.  So we met with them this past week and invited both Scott and Kirsten to be baptized; they said yes!  Stacy (the mom)  was stunned.  I was the one that issued the invite and she exclaimed, "Sis Rae!  Wow!  You move things right along!  The other missionaries took a couple months to work up to that point!"  and then I asked if he would be baptized in January and she was even more flabbergasted!  But Scott said yes and seemed really excited for it.  Crazy how that works.  So yes.  Been a good week :)  Just in time for Christmas.

I hope that everyone has a fantastic week leading up to Christmas and that lots of snow and pretty lights are in your future!  And good food ;)  Share the Spirit of Christmas and talk to someone about Christ this week.  Because, after all, that is the best way to celebrate the birth of our Savior.  

Love,

Sis. Rae

Brrrrrrrr!

This week has been COLD!  We set records this past week with how cold it has been.  Yay for us!  Sis Ward is from South Carolina and it has been very funny watching her reaction because she has never seen anything below the 20s before in her life.  Last night we were driving home and the temperature started out at like 12 degrees but almost every minute I would hear something like "oh my goodness!  Now guess how many degrees it is outside!!!"  Too funny.  When it hit 1 degree, she was like "you can't even say degreeS anymore!!  What is this?!"  It was also her first time driving in snow!  And we are both still alive to tell the tale ;) 

So yeah, it snowed.  A lot.  Tuesday we had a huge storm come in in the morning and we were told to not go out until it had cleared up a little bit.  So what do we do?  The 8 of us that live in the complex got together and had the best snow fight every.  Have to say, it's the first time I have ever had a snowball fight in a skirt (we weren't planning on a snow fight to begin with) Super fun!  Then we made a tiny little snowman; the snow wasn't good enough to make a big one.  And of course you have to have hot chocolate after that!  The snow finally stopped enough to go out at around 1 but it was a good morning!  

It has been a great week otherwise as well!  We had lots of great lessons and had two families approach us at the Christmas party and want to start taking the missionary discussions.  Made me happy!  (Especially when we can have set appointments and don't have to be out walking in the cold!)  Then we had several lessons with Karen and her family and planned her baptism.  I love those lessons because it means it really will happen and go through, not just some far off dream in the future.  Hopefully her husband will get his answers by that time as well so they can be baptized together.  Last lessons he said "when I am baptized..." so fingers crossed!  Lots of miracles happening and the Christmas Spirit really is sweeping this town.  

Speaking of which, wasn't the Christmas Devotional amazing?  I love just the little reminders that Christ really is the reason for the season and that He should be the center of our lives not only now but throughout the whole entire year.

That's all I can think about for this week...they fly by, yet when you are looking back seem so far away.  Means we are keeping busy though and that is always a good thing!

Love,

Sis Rae

mini me!

 the crew

Sis Arnold and I got attacked while making beautiful snow angels.  (of course it was sis Ward's idea)

Thanksgiving in Sparks

To begin with, I hope everyone had a GREAT Thanksgiving!  It was a wonderful one here.  We got together with all the missionaries in Sparks in the morning and played board games and volleyball and basketball and card games.  I dominated in Gestures.  The whole morning was spent in games and snacks and then we went to a members house for turkey dinner.  Then to another members home for more food.  I was so full, I was about to die.  Everyone invited us over to their houses and we were only allowed to go to 2 places for dinner so many people just gave us a dinner to go!  One plus to serving in the states ;)  It was a good day, nice to get a little break from the hum drum of things.  

The next awesome thing that happened this week was the Inwood family got baptized!!  It was so fantastic to see John be able to baptize his family into the gospel.  There was not a dry eye in the room.  Plus!  Their family (who are all non-members or less active) came to the baptism and Heidi's parents came to the confirmation the next day and said they wanted to learn more!  Then John's parents, who haven't been to church in ages, told them that if they went through the temple, they would prepare to go with them so they can all be sealed at the same time.  How cool is that?!  Just from one person wanting to learn more, a whole family is affected.  Makes all the tough days as a missionary worth it to be part of that one moment.  

Is everyone ready for Christmas??  The lights have started going up along with all the blow-up figures in the yards and the carols are playing in everyone's homes.  It makes me really happy :)  I think people are a little more open to learning more about Christ this time of year as well.  It's just a great season all around and a good time to refocus on the real meaning behind Christmas to set our sights for the rest of the year.  Only 23 more days! :D

Have a great week everyone!

Love,
Sis. Rae

Sis. Catlett and Sis Arnold like giving Sis Ward hugs :)

Heidi, Carley, Chay and John at the baptism (and Sis Ward and I)