It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas in the Cornfield

Dear Family,

As always, I love you!

Mom- I got your second package right after I emailed you last week! Best package ever! I loved it so much. We went home and set up the tree right away. It is in our bedroom. So cute. The pillowcases are really cute too. I am going to give one of the extra ones to my secret Santa sister. I don't know what I am going to do with the other one yet. We will see. As soon as I pulled out the David Archuletta CD, we both got really excited and stuck it in my CD player to listen to until bed. I don't think that we have listened to any other CDs since I got it. We listen to it while we get ready in the morning, we listed to it while we are driving, and we took it up to the Trail Center and loaded it onto the computer that plays the music in the lobby so we can listen to it all day. Ha ha. We love it!


Wow. This week. I can hardly even remember what has happened but there has been a lot this week, I think. After I emailed last time, Beth and Sam Myers came to the Trail Center and we took them on tour. It was good. We talked a lot and she had some questions about repentance. They were both really tired, so that was the only struggle. We saw them again on Sunday for the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. Afterwards, we asked them what they thought. Sam didn't say much, but Beth could only nit-pick at things like that she thought the prophet's presentation style was creepy and that she didn't like the casting in the portions of the New Testament clips that they showed. Even when we tried to bring up the message of the devotional, she only wanted to criticize and argue with us. It was really sad to see. They are great and I love both of them so much, but Sister Kusnerik and I have both felt that we have done everything that we can for them. One day, I am sure that she will get baptized. But, she has some changes to make before she is going to be ready to accept the gospel.



Giant Gingerbread House at the Trail Center

On Friday, it was zone leader council, so all of the Trail Center trainers and the trainers that are training missionaries that just got here (well I guess almost a month ago) were in a meeting for most of the day. Of all the sisters who's companions were at the meeting, only one other sister and I were approved to drive, so I got to drive all over the place to pick people up and take them to the Trail Center and then return them afterwards. It was great. I love driving.

On Saturday, we had several awesome appointments lined up that we were super excited for, but while we were at the trail center in the morning, it started to snow. By noon, our cars had been grounded, so we could not go out to our area, so we had to cancel all of our appointments, which was sad. We did get to shovel the walks of the Trail Center until the Elders came to take over and then tromped down the beautiful snowy lanes by the Trail Center to get back to our apartments. It was gorgeous. We spent the rest of the day doing weekly planning and catching up on training that we had missed earlier in the week. By the end of the night, I was pretty sick of our apartment.

On Sunday, we got to have an amazing experience with a friend of one of the Young Women in our ward. We got a text on Saturday night from Bip (Elizabeth) asking if we could come to her house on Sunday night to meet one of her friends. The girl's name is Carol. She is a high school senior, dating a 25 year old (who was also there, although sleeping through a good part of the lesson). But anyway, we felt like we needed to teach her about the Plan of Salvation. As we taught, the lesson focused on our divine nature. It was so powerful. She opened up half way through the lesson that she had been in a very abusive relationship with someone else for almost three years and was very emotionally scarred from it. After we taught her about pre-earth life and our purpose in this life, we invited her to pray to ask God if He loves her. She did right then. The spirit was so strong and everyone involved was crying. It was amazing. We are meeting with her again this afternoon and I am so excited! She is a great girl and is starting to learn that. I know that God loves each of His children so much. I have been able to feel that so strongly while on my mission. He wants us to be happy and through Christ everything, be it mental or emotional or physical, can be healed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is so powerful. It can change people's lives so quickly when they truly understand it.

Well, time is slipping away from me as usual, so it is time to wrap up, although I feel like I have hardly written anything. Humbug.

It is starting to look a lot like Christmas here! I love looking at Christmas lights as we drive through the neighborhoods. It keeps me happy.

Love you!

 Sister Melly