Miriam's 7th Week in Pirassununga -Sister Rojas

This week was actually super fun because Tuesday we had a Christmas party with the mission. We played games, ate lunch, had a white elephant gift exchange, and Present Card gave a Christmas message (which I will also share with you guys).

We did companionship exchanges this week as well, and I spent the day in the other Sisters' area with Sister Wilcox. We had a lot of fun together. She's super chill and just easy to talk to.

We also got some killer pictures of clouds because a storm was working its way into the city.

We spent Christmas Eve night a less active member from the other Sisters' area, and it turned out to be a really good experience because this woman's 13 year old daughter, Livia, was absolutely elated to have there. Apparently she doesn't have any friends, and she was just so happy to play twister and Brazilian monopoly with us. She cried when we left. But she had a good Christmas Eve.

Oh at the Christmas party with the mission, I asked one of the sisters working in my other area how Marcos, Dilma, and Fernando were doing, and she told me that Marcos had gone to the temple!

Merry Christmas to me!

I emailed him about it and he told me he loved the experience and is anxious to go back to keep learning!

#WhiteChristmas

And now for the Christmas message that President Card shared with us.

I think that all of you are familiar with the Christmas story in Luke 2, but are you guys familiar with the Christmas story in 3 Nephi 1?

If not, that's fine. I'll tell it now:

When Samuel the Lamanite preached to the wicked Nephites, he prophesied that five years from that day the sign of Christ's birth would be given:

"And behold, this will I give unto you for a sign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day." Helaman 14:3

Well, five years came and went and while other signs were given, the big sign still hadn't happened, and the unbelievers decided that they had had enough:

"Now it came to pass that there was a day set apart by the unbelievers, that all those who believed in those traditions should be put to death except the sign should come to pass, which had been given by Samuel the prophet." 3 Nephi 1:9

Naturally, Nephi was worried when he heard this:

"And it came to pass that he went out and bowed himself down upon the earth, and cried mightily to his God in behalf of his people, yea, those who were about to be destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers." 3 Nephi 1:11

That day, Jesus Christ, who would born the next day, responded:

"Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets." 3 Nephi 1:13

That night the sign was given, and Christmas Eve Jesus saved an entire people. 

I love this story that we have in the Book of Mormon. A miracle that happened right here in America.

God was, is, and always will be a God of miracles.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Micah's 6th Week in Ciudad Frontera

Feliz Navidad n stuff. I don't like Spanish because they say "Happy Christmas"

So this week was cool. I went on a companion exchange for a day with one of the Zone Leaders, Élder Paz, who's a native to México, and spoke zero English, so that was pretty fun. He kept us working hard the whole day, and I feel like I learned some important lessons about missionary work during that time, and was able to practice my Spanish a lot more.

We've found some great new people to teach, and I've got high hopes for some of them.

So for Christmas Eve, my companion and I decided to wrap Libros de Mormón with a pamphlet and a "What would Jesus do?" bracelet, and hand them out to people for Christmas, and that was a lot of fun. It helped us feel like it was actually Christmas a little bit.

One of the people I gave a gift to is a lady that works at a food stand that I love to buy churros from, and apparently her son is one of the kids we play basketball with, and he's a kid I met several weeks ago in a small corner store where I offered to pay for his Coke. It's crazy cause I never expected to see that kid again after meeting him in the corner store, and now we play basketball with him on occasion, and his mom is the one that I've been buying churros from, so maybe something will happen with them. Either way, he's fun to play basketball with, and his mom makes really really good churros.

The past few days we've been instructed to be home earlier because apparently there were some shootouts and burning vehicles or something in Villahermosa, so that's rad.

Shout-out to Hermana Trini, our Mexican grandma, and by far my favorite person in Frontera. She made us a pretty delicious Christmas Eve lunch. She keeps us taken care of out here in the jungles of México.

I just bear my testimony again that the Lord watches out for his servants, and puts people like Abuela Trini in our lives to lift our spirits and keep us taken care of. En el nombre de Jesucristo, amén.

So here's pictures of the Book of Mormon gift things,  

an iguana,

a tree eating a palm tree,

my legendary Christmas setup,

  and a cool house.

Miriam's 6th Week in Pirassununga -New Companion -Sister Rojas

 Well, we had transfers again this week and what a week it was.

Wednesday was Sister Harwood's last day, so that afternoon we said goodbye to her and her companion, Sister Cruz stayed with us. 

That night we had a ward activity, and it was super fun. Our investigator Fábio came and brought his wife and 3 kids. Even with everyone being extremely competitive and loud, when the games ended and we were just talking, Fábio said he loved the activity. He and his wife both said that we had an atmosphere that was better than any other place they had been.

I thought that was cool that even with everyone being super loud, they still felt something different. That is the power of the House of God. A group of good, covent people gathered together to have fun can still invite a spirit stronger than any other place in the outside world.

After we got home, waited anxiously for our transfer information where I discovered that I would be training.

Soo that's happening now. I have a daughter, as they say in the mission.

Thursday we spent in Sister Cruz's area and we bought esfihas for dinner. Not much more happened that day.

Friday we went to Piracicaba where we met all of the new missionaries, and soon after we're assigned our companions. 

I am now training Sister Rojas from Peru. She's super cute and super ready to work.

I'm not going to give a full report today because we're wandering around the city so I'm really distracted and tired.

But here's my spiritual fact of the week: God is a God of miracles, whether they be big or small. That's what I learned this past week.