Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My day was stuffed (pun intended)! We had 3 dinners to attend. We started off with the Miners who have so much family come that they use the church to host everyone. It was a good sized turnout, which isn't really my cup-of-tea (I'm used to our smaller intimate family get-togethers), but still lots of fun. We played some basketball for a little bit, but I quit because my misses kept ricocheting and hitting a kid in the head and I felt bad and didn't want a law suit. Haha just kidding. But seriously. Then we went to the Atwoods. I LOVE this family. They had about 20 people there too, but it was at their home so more intimate. Our third dinner was at the Bartholomew's. We felt bad because we were so full by the time we got there, but still had enough room to have a little bit of everything and to try the apple pie I had made. Not bad for a first-timer. Maybe more sugar next time though haha. Although it can be hard being away from family during the holidays, it was wonderful to be welcomed in by so many families. I've already gotten requests for Christmas!
This has been an absolutely wonderful week. It started off Monday night as we had a lesson with Miary (from Madagascar). We taught her about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and she soaked everything in. Her daughter translated for us and it was just a humbling experience. She explained that she had already prayed to know which church was true and felt her answers was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the end, we invited her to be baptized on December 14th and she accepted! We were all in tears and her daughter shared that this was something she had been waiting for for a long time. We came back the next couple of mornings to teach her about the Plan of Salvation and she just wants us to keep coming back every day and learn more! This is what it's all about!
So we are allotted a certain amount of miles each month with our cars and with all the meetings and exchanges we've had, we ran out of our miles about a week early! We were blessed to have some members drive us around, but it was probably the worst week to run out because of Thanksgiving. Either people were out of town or they had family in town. So Wednesday, we ended up borrowing some bikes and getting around the traditional missionary way. May I just say that I have such an appreciation for the elders that have to ride their bikes. Our area is huge and there are so hills, that on a bike are more like mountains, so we stayed down in the "valley", but whooo! what a day! We still had fun though :)
Today is transfers and I am staying here in Star. This will be my longest time serving in one area, but I'm so glad. I wasn't ready to go. Things are just getting going and I still feel really connected to these people. Sister Archuleta was transferred down to Meridian South and is finishing training another sister. I'm grateful for the time I had to serve with her. I learned a lot. I will be picking up my brand new missionary tomorrow night, so don't know who it is yet. That's always the nail-biting part. But I know I will love her as I have with all my companions. It will be a different way of celebrating my birthday, but when you're on the Lord's errand, those things just don't seem as important or big of a deal. Some of the members though have asked to take me out later this week for a birthday celebration, so that will be nice. Can't believe it's the big 2-5. So old. Haha.
I am excited for the new transfer and many exciting things that will happen these next couple of months. Thank you all for your continual love and support. It means the world to me. God bless you all and I hope you all feel the Spirit of CHRISTmas this season :)
Love,
Lauren
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