Well, if I had to name the highlights of this week, it'd be first: It was incredibly warm all week long and ended up being 72 degrees on Christmas!! It was a very sunny, warm and slight humid day. Wonderful beach weather, really. And second. Lily is getting baptized this week! Ahhh! (Oh yes, and third, Christmas...that was a highlight too.)
But back to the important stuff! We had the first discussion with Lily on Sunday, which is when we set the baptismal date for the 30th. Then we just powered through all of the rest of lessons this week. The only main concern, is her habit of drinking coffee all the time...but she has committed to herself, that she will stop drinking it by Monday (today). Things have been crazy and it looks like a lot of the ward is going to be gone this week but things are still miraculously pulling together. It has been such a blessing to watch the light in her countenance grow brighter and brighter. She had experienced opposition from her family and her friends but she just bounces right back and pioneers on. She is an incredible woman and she will bless and influence the lives of many, many people by her courageous example.
I had a wonderful Christmas. It's probably just the nature of missionary work but I have been so gospel and Christ-focused during this Christmas season, that I haven't even noticed any of the commercialism that usually defines this time of the year. We had kind of a slow morning in opening presents and just taking our time getting ready for church. Then we looked at the clock and had a slight panic because it was already 9:30am and we had a lesson to teach Lily at 10am! We had a 1-hour combined sacrament meeting. Both the Old Hickory and Sunset wards met together. And then, I was able to have a very Southern Christmas lunch, Skype my family (yay!) thanks to some wonderful members who offered their fast wifi (the Truman's), and enjoy a wonderful Christmas dinner with some of my favorite people (the Bell's and the Nash's). And then we returned to our apartment and passed out on the beds from emotional and mental exhaustion. It was great!
Sister Miller and I were talking to each other, earlier today, about how the gospel can be found even in the order of holidays throughout each year. First comes Thanksgiving, in which we find gratitude for what we have. Then, comes Christmas, in which we turn towards the Savior and want to gift presents and service to other people. Then comes New Years Eve/Day, where we resolve to do better (repentance). And then comes January and February...in which there are basically no holidays (excluding Valentines Day). It is a trial of our faith and endurance! Will we really keep our resolutions we set? Then, Easter approaches and we are once again reminded of Christ but this time, we focus on His sacrifice and celebrate the fact that we, like Him, will live again and may inherit everlasting life, which is the eternal reward for our endurance to the end. See? The gospel is found metaphorically in everything!!
This is the only Christmas I'll have as a missionary but I'll remember it forever. I'm so grateful for the Atonement and the change it brings. I'm thankful for the wards I'm blessed to serve, for the members and people I'll be life-long friends with, for my awesome companion (who graciously pulls out Christmas messages on the impromptu when we have none and I, in her own words, "throw her under the bus"). I'm thankful to be a missionary, to grow a greater understanding and appreciation for the foundations of this gospel I'm sharing, and to learn from so many people I interact with! See y'all next week!
Love,
Sister Ririe
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. Gift from Sister Bell. It
was so cute!
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| Sister Miller and I wore matching Christmas outfits...completely unplanned. |
 Service with the
Bell's. They are Harry Potter fans and had a Nimbus 2000:). I just had to
get a picture with it. |
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