Monday, December 24, 2012

Look At Your Life Through Heaven's Eyes

December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas EVE!!!!

Hope you are all warm and cozy and ready for Santa to come!  Have you been good this year?

It is, of course, not cold here. Nor will Santa be coming (we already got our presents!). Nor will we be cozy in our beds with dreams of sugerplum fairies. Instead, us missionaries will be driving around with the air conditioning on visiting wayward members and giving them presents. And our dreams are always of people dressed in white and entering into the waters of baptism. No fairies for us.

We had some pretty great moments this week. Some spiritually powerful, some hilarious, some creepy, some exhausting. Here's a few to be noted:

One great moment from this week was with Roger (our super tall, skinny black investigator). We had a lesson with him this past week with a member (who brought him a Christmas Present!) and during the lesson we brought up baptism again and he said he wasn't ready until February. Even the member said that was too far away. So Roger looked at his calendar and said, "I should do it before the New Year. I'll do it on the 30th" ! We were so excited! He set his own date and came to church again and is still preparing to be baptized next week!

Another great lesson happened on Wednesday. We had a member couple, the Riveros, come and visit Nadia with us. They are both returned missionaries and know how helping the missionaries is part of their temple covenants. They have such great testimonies and almost taught the entire Restoration for us! It was really helpful because it was all in Spanish and our investigator talks really fast and Sister Dougal is still pretty limited in her Spanish (although, for not being called Spanish-speaking, she is doing incredibly well!). Anyway, during the lesson, they committed her to come to church and offered her a ride, even though the Dad is the only one that can drive and would have to make two trips to get his family and the other family to church. He is so awesome! Nadia couldn't say no. They also committed her to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We stopped by later in the week and were able to talk with Nadia and her aunt for a while. Before we left, the aunt asked for a Book of Mormon as well! Then on Sunday, Nadia and her 3 children came to church! They enjoyed the music during the Christmas program and really liked the classes. Nadia and her family sat by another Latin family during Sacrament (since the Riveros were in the Choir) and then met a woman from Colombia that got her phone number and is living in a similar situation. It was amazing to see the ward members do so much for her! I am excited to see her progress with all the fellowship she already has!  Hopefully, she will be able to recognize her answer soon and we can set her with a date for baptism!

Yesterday we went to visit a former investigator. Her husband said she wasn't home so we knock on their neighbors' doors. No one wanted blessings from Christ. One man was a Jehovah's Witness and was shocked to see girl missionaries. One guy came up really close to the frosted glass next to his door and stood there super-creepylike and then sort of disappeared into the darkness. Super creepy.

On Saturday, the Elders texted us around 3 and said they were having a baptism that night. Then then said we needed to be there so Sister Dougal could play the piano and I could say a prayer. Then they asked us to pick up milk for them. Then they told us it was Elder Edwards' birthday. We changed all our plans for the rest of the day to accommodate their late-notice baptism, but it went well and there is a new 10 year old member of the church!

This week, it actually got kind of cold. At one point the car said it was only 50 degrees! We were FREEZING! I could see my breath yesterday. That means it is cold, right?
Don't worry, today it is back up in the mid-70s.
On Thursday, We went to the ward Relief Society Christmas party and sang for everyone. We had it outside, but it was luckily the day before the cold front hit. We had it outside where you can look at the pool, or the ocean, because they are just as close! I can't even describe the awesomeness that was that house. It was kind of dark, but I tried to take some pictures for you. It is actually two houses. So I guess if she gets mad at her husband she can just go to the other house and be alone for a while. Florida is crazy.

That was a few moments from my past week. How was yours?

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and are able to remember Christ in all that is going on.

Love, Hermana Sheffield
P.S. What did you get/do for Christmas? I want to see/hear about it!

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