Time seems to just slip away, I can’t believe it has been almost a month since we last wrote.  We got really busy for a while.  One of the boys in the branch invited 3 boys from his school to his birthday party.  They also invited us.  We invited the boys to learn more about the gospel, and we have had two meetings with them.  They are all seniors in the high school.  Very sharp young men.  But with Christmas they cancelled their last appointment.  So we are waiting until after Christmas to reschedule.  We are (also teaching a single mom with 3 children.  The children just love us, mom- I think knows the Church is true or truer if that is a word, than the Church she now goes to.  It is just hard for them, when all their friends and support go to the church she is attending.  She has been sick and so we will have to wait until after Christmas to schedule with her.

We had another referral from the missionaries on another island, so we set up an appointment to meet with him at the church.  We called ½ hour before we were to meet and he said we were still on for the appointment, but he never showed up.  We tried calling him and it just went to voice mail.  So that was a little discouraging.

This is the week of Christmas, and everyone is so involved with getting ready for Christmas they do not have time for the missionaries.  It sure doesn’t feel like Christmas here.  It has been in the 80’s and blue skies.  We have lots of visitors in church yesterday, as many families come to the island for their Christmas holidays.  I think that is good for us, since we are not doing any of the things that we associate with Christmas, it just seem surreal, which helps with the homesickness! J

The sister that is the Primary president asked me to do Sharing Time and the lesson in church yesterday as her family would not be there.  It has been a while since I was in Primary, but children are children all over the world.  We had a total of 11.  So they all come and they had the song and pray and then music time.  Then I did a sharing time, where we talked about the first Christmas.  I had gone to the second hand store and bought some curtains and made costumes for the nativity. Kids everywhere love to dress up and play act.  So that was fun.  After sharing time, we have the lesson with everyone still there.  So we had children from 4 to 11.  That is hard range to gear a lesson to.  But I told them stories about giving acts of love.  And then we had them do a Christmas card giving an act of service to someone in their family.  I thought it was okay, but I didn’t take the whole time.  I was hoping that the music person, could have us sing different Christmas carols as we did the nativity, but that didn’t happen.  But it was a great Sunday and I really did enjoy doing it.

We have invited a couple that came down in a boat for Christmas dinner.  I am not holding my breath, but we need to prepare as if they are coming.  We need to get the mission car registered today, and visit some of the people that do not come to church.  We made a little sack of candies with a cute poem (Pintrest) and are giving them out to the people.  So the ones that were not in church on Sunday we are delivering.  So we will be busy today and tomorrow.  We will Skype with the kids on Christmas that will be so nice.

I have to say even with being a little homesick, that we are so glad we are here on a mission.  It is amazing what life is when you are working for the Lord 24/7. I always have had a testimony of the gospel, but to be able to live it, and to teach it, and to be his instruments in reaching his sheep, it is – I don’t think there is words to describe the fulfilling feeling that comes because we are about his work.  That little something inside that feels joy, true joy, grows as you feel his arms around you, his spirit whispers inspiration to proceed, and watch as the spirit work.

It has been a while since we have written how we are doing.  The reason for that is we have been sick.  It started in our branch, a sore throat and then a very bad head cold.  Steve got if first and of course he shared it with me.  For some reason I got it worse and it really knocked me for a loop.  I got an earache and my ear drum broke, had stuff draining out my ear.  And now I have lost all hearing in that ear.  I was getting better and then I did something to my knee.  That started before we left for our mission and it has just gotten worse.  We helped some members move and the next day I couldn’t even put my weight on my leg.  So Steve is babying me today.  Cold and then hot compresses and in between stretch exercises.  I really feel like a wimp. 

We have really been working with the in-actives.  We have really been having success with the Spanish speaking members.  It really is hard on them to come to church, sit thru Sacrament meeting that they don’t understand very well, then they go to a Spanish speaking Sunday school class, and then sit thru priesthood and Relief Society and not understand much what is being said.  Elder Berger is getting better all the time with his Spanish.  He is being tutored twice a week by the MTC in Provo.  They skype with him, one is a grammar coach and the other is speaking the language.  Sister Wright keeps saying “Hermano Berger, you speaking with an English accent, you need to speak with a Spanish accent.”  We taught the first discussion to a Spanish speaking family.  The father was baptized but the mother and children have not been.  We took a Spanish speaking member with us, but it was still difficult to have the member understand what we were saying so she could explain it to the sister.  The kids speak English and they love coming to church and they want to be baptized, one is 12 and the girl is 14.

We have been working on the branch membership roster.  Some of the names we have found, say that they haven’t lived there for over a year.  Others don’t even know who they were.  We take some of the less actives and have them help us find addresses.  We get to know them and it seems to help them want to come to church.

 Thanksgiving was a little different than being home.  We invited what we call the Del Sol girls, they are girls from Utah that are here for an internship with Del Sol.  At the last minute, 3:30 they cancelled.  Said they were not coming.  So we took everything and went over to a members house (Karlene & Jason Markham’s).  They just have two children, so we had 10 pies and only 6 of us.  But we were so grateful for them.  It made home a little closer.

We are making plans on going to St John Island.  That is part of our branch and we have in-actives that live there.  We will have to take the ferry over and we will also take our car.  It is only $10.00 more to take the car with us.  We have asked if we can stay the night so that we can have two days to look for these people.  Waiting to hear from the mission president.  They told us that we will be having a Sr Missionary Conference in January in Puerto Rico, so that will be good to look forward to,

It has been fun to Skype with the kids.  We keep in touch with phone calls, emails, Facebook, letters, and packages.  It makes it seem like we are not so far away.  Although we hear it has turned cold in Utah.  Our weather has turned so nice.  The humidity is still very high, but we don’t have all the fans and things going that we used to.  The water is so beautiful here and we do have a wonderful view of the beach and the ocean.

We are helping schedule the branch to go Christmas caroling at an old folks home.  Tried to talk the RS president in having refreshments after….just seems like work to her.  She doesn’t usually have any help and she does it herself.  Tried to convince her to use some of the less actives.  She just says they don’t know how.  They don’t get it, that shadow leadership really works.  We will see how things all come out.  Until then, be good and we will talk to you next week.