Carol Your Heart Out: Coming Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas everyone!  

Being on a mission during Christmas is unlike anything I have ever experienced. It's been a huge blessing to remind people of Jesus Christ and I love the fact that even when the holidays are over I still get to rejoice in his birth and all that he's done for me!  On Christmas Eve our zone had a testimony meeting and as each missionary got up to testify of the life of Christ the spirit filled our hearts. It really got us into the Christmas spirit and sister Hernaez reminded me that we get to celebrate the life of Christ every day and continue to learn and testify to everyone. That's one of the greatest things about being a missionary. I am reminded of my Savior every day without any distractions. On Christmas sister Hernaez and I sang in the choir at church, and the program was amazing! We mostly sang hymns and had special musical numbers and during each song someone told a story of Christ's birth. He spoke about the night that Christ was born and how there was no room at the inn. Everyone inside the warm inn was partying and having a good time while in a stable next door the savior was being born and they had no clue. If only they had come outside to take a break or to get some peace and quiet. Then they would have witnessed the savior as a baby, and feel of the spirit of Christmas. 

Wednesday we had a zone conference and learned a lot about the plan of salvation. The why of what we teach is always eternal life, so every time we teach we focused on eternal life. Then we ate some good lunch and Sister Hernaez and I won a pack of Oreos for having a cool finding experience. And then they sang to everyone who had a birthday in the last couple months and I got a toothbrush! I think they were trying to tell me something... the rest of the meeting was amazing and sister Hernaez, Sister Mills, Sister Hepworth and I sang "dear to the heart of the Shepard" in front of everyone!! I don't know why I've done so many musical numbers in this area, but that's number 3 in coos bay. President Russell shared a lot about our savior and how we need to know Jesus and because of that we know peace. after the meeting we had a lesson with Christian and taught the word of wisdom. He's got it down and is still preparing for baptism! 

We had a couple lessons with J. and they were so good! We took him on a church tour on Tuesday and while we showed him around the church we taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ! We would stop in each room and teach a principle. When we showed him the baptismal font he was pretty excited for his baptism, and the members shared their experiences from when they got baptized. The spirit was amazing when we took him in to the chapel and talked about the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. One of the members shared her experience about the Holy Ghost and there is something about the way she testified that made sense. I can't remember what she said but I do remember the wonderful feeling that we're felt.  

On Thursday we had another lesson with Jonathan and when we got there he asked us if the Book of Mormon talked about the poor at all, so we showed him some scriptures and talked about the programs that the church has to help those who need it then we taught him about fasting and fast offerings which are used to feed people who need food! 

On Christmas Eve we went tracting and invited a lot of people to church. And then we got a text from a random number that ended up being someone we wanted to teach but lost their number and she told us she was ready to take the lessons and learn! It was so cool! That night we went caroling to strangers with our district. Everyone who opened the door gathered their entire family around and were so excited that they actually had people coming to sing to them! It was such a good night. And on Christmas night we did the same thing and most people told us that we were the first carolers they have even had come to their door! I love knowing that I have someone I can always count on, and to share that with the world 24/7 is the best gift that I have. Thank you everyone for making it possible for me to be here. I love you all and have a happy new year! 

Love, 

Sister Peterson