This week was interesting!
We taught a lesson (FHE) with the Cifuentes family, who brought their family despite the birth of their new baby girl. We showed them the "He is the Gift" video (christmas.mormon.org or navidad.mormon.org) and we watched it with them. It was awesome; their little girls also sang Glorious by David Archuleta. (Speaking of David... we bought the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas CD with him; it's basically all we listen to in the car...) We have a family in the ward that wants to invite their friend to come listen to us, and they invited her over. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!! It totally changes everything when we INVITE people into our homes and allow the missionaries to teach. Otherwise, they are "too busy" and will shut the door in our faces. Rosa, we visited her and it was pretty sad: we are sad that we lost this COMPLETELY ready family for the gospel. They've been searching and searching and they were uncomfortable in church because they saw people on their phones in sacrament meeting on facebook, texting, and not using the gospel app. It's a sacred meeting that we have and get to participate in; therefore, we should remember that for at least that hour we should be acting as if the Savior and his apostles were there teaching us. Other things can wait.
We taught the Noche de Hogar again and taught about the role of the Holy Ghost. We used Preach My Gospel, scriptures, and personal experiences to start a discussion. It went well!
We also went past Debbie, a sweet little lady who has a lot of family problems. We showed her He is the Gift and she is hopefully reading the Book of Mormon to get a better understanding of Christ in her life. Also, we prayed for her daughter who is really caught up in drugs and is trying so hard to quit. We taught Carmen the Word of Wisdom and went over the baptismal questions so she could gauge where she is and determine what needs to improve before Dec 14th. We practiced for the choir concert on Sunday, and we visited a less active family and shared He is the Gift and they absolutely loved it.
We had zone conference on my 9th month mark! So we had to go get the car cleaned before then and we went to visit Maria. We taught a sweet, little 7 year old about prophets (to one of our recent convert's daughter) and then we visited Kareli and taught her the word of wisdom and the baptismal interview questions because she was at work the day before. We went out with the new relief society president and visited a couple people, too. We shared He is the Gift and talked about it. I can't say enough how much I LOVE HE IS THE GIFT. Every single time I feel the spirit and joy so strong.
Zone Conference was SO GOOD. We got there early to practice for the musical number, and I learned so much. Sister Hansen, President Hansen, and the AP's gave some really good talks. I hope to apply them better throughout the rest of my mission. We also found out on Dec 19th we are having a multi-zone Christmas brunch and we get to watch.....FROZENNNNNN :) I'm excited but it's chill... After zone conference, we took Guadalupe and her family down to temple square to go see Luz de las Naciones (Light of the nations). It's essentially a hispanic Christmas production the church provides. We got there 40 minutes late (we got off at the wrong exit and the traffic was INSANE) and we had to park super far away and then grab our tickets and wait in line. We got to the very front of the line and they reached full capacity at the Tabernacle and so we went to the Joesph Smith Memorial Building and watched it there. It was really good and they really enjoyed it. Then when it was over we literally sprinted to our cars and got home safely.
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| Light of the Nations (Luz de las naciones) which is a hispanic Christmas production the church does with our investigators at temple square! Here are some pictures from it. For more information copy and paste this URL: https://www.lds.org/church/events/temple-square-presents-latino-christmas-concert?lang=eng |
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| Here are some more with my investigator from Veracruz. Guadalupe and her daughters Melanie and Angie. |
We also got to help make the program for a little 8 year old in our ward who was getting baptized. That was super fun. We didn't think we were going to be able to make it but our appointments canceled (Saturdays are really hard) and we were doing service for Sister Smith. We got to go and I played the songs for the baptism. We went to Guadalupe that night to tell her about Carmen and Kareli and how they would be at church too so that it wasn't a surprise. Obviously it's harder for Guadalupe and she had a hard time. We were all crying after what she was saying about her hard decision. She wants to forgive but needs help because she knows she is weak. She didn't come to church, and neither did Carmen and Kareli :( Carmen and them were sick. Therefore, they are not on date for Dec 14th anymore -- but things happen.
We taught the Gospel Principles class again yesterday. That was really hard because we had no notice, but I hope it went well. We visited some new people, attended a stake president correlation meeting, then practiced singing a missionary medley for our stake conference being held in January! I LOVED THE FIRST PRESIDENCY CHRISTMAS DEVOTIONAL. There is a free gift of music from Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Sampler on the page following the devotional. You can watch the entire devotional at Christmas Devotional
Watch the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional I was totally crying during Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk. I felt the spirit so strong during that devotional.
I want to thank you all so much for all your prayers. They truly help and I love you all. I hope you embrace the season and the spirit that lies within. I hope this week you challenge yourselves to love and serve your neighbors so that our hearts may be filled with joy and love and not anger.
Con Mucho Amor,
Hermana Blankmeyer
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