We Wish You A Merry Christmas and then We'll Walk Away!

Well Hello Everyone!

 

This past week was really good!  For me it had a lot of highs and lows, but I love Christmas here on the mission.  It was so nice to talk to my family on Christmas :) I can't believe I'll see them in just 3 months!  I am very excited to see them since it's been forever, but of course it's bittersweet since I love being here too. 

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas mainly visiting members of our Stake since we didn't want to be bothering other people and tracting when everyone was trying to relax and spend time with family. 

Christmas Eve was really special for us, let me explain why:

So we were visiting a family (the White's, funny enough) who had their whole family in town.  We were talking to Sister White about caroling to her friend who isn't a member of the church.  Her son passed away about a year ago and the holidays are really tough for her.  We've visited her several times and she always tells us to come back, but never lets us in her house.  We saw her last week and she was really upset, so we thought it would be fun to carol to her and brighten her day.  Anyway, while we were mentioning this to Sister White, she said: "Lets all go right now!", so she gathered up her family so we could all practice.  We ended our carols by singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and then she sang "And then we'll walk away!" in place of "And a Happy New Year!"  So we all traipsed over to her house and knocked on her door.  When she opened it and saw us singing, she looked so relieved and comforted.  I felt so happy and joyful being able to sing to her with everyone else.  It was a really special experience, one that I'll always remember.  Sister White saw us yesterday at church and told us that she loved it, because when we all walked away, Sister White stayed and talked with her for a little bit.  She said that her friend mentioned us and that she really loves us.  I hope she is starting to trust us more and that she knows that we love her and just want to help.  Even if we don't teach her, we just want her to know that she is loved and that someone cares about her.

 

On Christmas we visited a lot of people too.  We stopped by one family who is struggling, and apparently they had found the girlfriend of one of their brothers in his room...she was dying because she had overdosed.  She was in the hospital but it didn't look good.  Her boyfriend was obviously very upset, so we talked with him and said a prayer for him.  He calmed down as the prayer went on and even Sister Kushalieva and I felt a sense of overwhelming peace as she prayed for him and his family.  We offered to find someone to give them a blessing, too.  We haven't heard what happened yet, so I hope everything is okay.  It just testifies to me that Heavenly Father knows who we need to see and who we need to help exactly when they need someone.  

Christmas Night we had dinner with a wonderful family in our Stake.  They made us some delicious steak :) which was amazing!  We were able to watch "He is the Gift" and some other church videos about Christmas with them and bear our testimonies to each other.  I am so grateful for the spirit.  I felt so much love and peace that night with their family, and they were so kind to have us in their home for dinner and to spend time with them.  They have 6 kids, so it was fun to be with all of them! 

Unfortunately, the day after Christmas I got the stomach flu so I've been in a daze the whole weekend.  At least I didn't get it on Christmas!  I feel a whole lot better now, so all is well :)

When I got sick I asked for a blessing, and in my blessing it talked about how even through my trials, I just need to smile and remember that everything will turn out alright.  That seems to be true for almost everything in life.  Just smile and you'll get through it with the Lord.

Easier said than done, right?  I know we can learn and grow from everything that happens in this life.  We're not here alone, Heavenly Father is always there and we can turn to the Savior for peace. 

 

Have a wonderful week and a Happy New Year!  Happy 2015!

Sister Wight