Monday, December 22, 2014

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Merry Christmas!
How fast has this year gone by! Craziness! It feels like it was just yesterday that I was bugging Bishop Brooksby at the New Year's Party about starting my mission papers and now I have almost been out here for 6 months!  This week was super busy but super awesome! 
Monday- We filmed for our Zone Video... which turned out okay. The elements were hilarious but it was super quiet and choppy... Its all good though. Our scene was good haha. We did a video about how Salt Lake was getting complaints about how Missionaries don't know how to answer their phones when the mission president calls so the MTC created a video on how to NOT answer your phone. For our part we passed around the phone because none of us answered it and then finally Sister Grant did and she just goes, "Hello this is Sister Alexander," and it zooms to my face all half annoyed/half shocked and then down to my name tag. People laughed so it was good haha. What they didn't know was that Sister G has done that to me before hahaha the punk.
Tuesday-We had exchanges and so Sister G went to Bridgeport and then Sister S came to Madison with Sister W and I. We got to visit a bunch of people and we had dinner with the cutest family ever. They own a sewing machine repair shop and she is pretty much Etsy and Pinterest in a house. Oh, and they have two little girls with bright red hair. Precious. 
Wednesday- We finally were able to go back to Service at the Soup Kitchen. I love those people! We also had to get an oil change #milesgalore
Thursday- We woke up at 4:00 am and drove to Boston for the first ever Digital Mission Conference. It was great! The only sad part... no more Pinterest aha. It wasn't as good at finding people as they wanted it to be. It is whatever though because it will be there when I get back. It has been nice being away from it all. 
Friday- We spent the night at the Digital Mission Sister's apartment and then we got to go to the temple and we had our Christmas Conference.
Fun Fact: The last name of the person that I went through the temple for.. "Bailey" it was cool. The Conference was wonderful. It was Music and some talks from the mission presidency and then we had dinner and our videos. Then, oh my goodness we each got a package from home and I got the cutest one haha!  It was a sunshine package and I loved it. It had so much fun stuff! then we had to drive home the 2.5 hours. Tired.
Saturday- We had our Ward Christmas Party and guess what? there were 31 non-members there! It was amazing! We are definitely going to be busy these next couple of weeks. 
Sunday- I love Christmas Sunday. First off, we woke up to snow. Everywhere. It was glorious!  We had both A and M at church, and it was all Hymns and scriptures. It was beautiful. Our lesson in Relief Society was given by the wonderful Sister S, and it was awesome. Here are some little tidbits that struck me. 
The prophet, Joseph Fielding Smith once said to a group of people, "I pray for the end of the world," and a woman spoke up and said, "I sure hope not!" So Sister S explained that the righteous need not worry. He also said, when asked when the 2nd coming will be, "Tomorrow". 
Then Sister S talked about the holidays and the stress that comes from shopping and cooking and entertaining and how long our lists must be and how we make sure that everything gets done. Then she paused and said, "Shouldn't it be the same for our preparation for the 2nd coming?"
Shouldn't we have a long list of people to see and scriptures to read and things to pray about and repent for and shouldn't we be panicking about those things not being done even more than we are about a commercialized holiday, that is supposed to be a time of peace and rest and thought? Yeah, just some food for thought.
Holiday urgency< 2nd coming urgency.
Think about it. 
I am so grateful to be on a mission, for my Heavenly Father. That I get to share my joy and peace with people from all over the world. I am so grateful for the gift of my Savior, Jesus Christ, and that I get this next year to represent him as though he was here walking where I am. Christmas is such a wonderful season. Take a step back and remember the true meaning of Christmas. christmas.mormon.org  
I love you all and I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas!!!!! 
Love,
Sister Alexander
 
 

Picture: SNOW! Isn't is beautiful!?!

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