Take Into Account ALL The Words of God (12/22/2014)

Hi Mother Dearest!
Yes, the horse...I think his name is Jericho, or something like that. Oh, trust me, it's taken a while before I got to the point of not being afraid of it. I just think of it as a big, big, super big dog and stand as still as possible, and things seem to go ok :) Nope, I haven't ridden the horse, it is against missionary handbook rules to go horseback riding.

Still doing yard work for the temple. Since it's still in the upper fifties here, we do anything for yard work still. We've planted a lot of flowers and fluffy bush thingies, spread/dug up dirt so plants can breathe and stuff, dug up crazy stubborn bush things and deadheaded and watered things. The lady is the groundskeeper/landscaper for the temple, Sister Clayson. We absolutely love her :) We saw a picture of what the temple grounds looked like before all the yard work and it is a ton better than it was. Sister Clayson and Brother Gorze (the maintenance president guy) always shake their heads whenever they remember how it used to be. There is a cute little nativity on the grounds too that Sister Hall and I want to take a picture with/of but keep forgetting. I'l make sure to get one soon.
The warm'ish weather (upper fifties in December) is totally normal for the area I guess. I miss snow so bad!!!

Sister Hall, Sister Clayson, Sister Duenas - in service clothes due to yard work at the Medford Temple

The song for District Meeting was pretty good actually. We sang "Mary Did you Know?" in parts and no one was wincing so I think that means it went well :)
I made the Grinch Cookies for the CP2nd Ward Christmas party and, because people didn't know what they were, I still had some left over. Silly people :) But the Elders were excited about it since they now get them. The people that tried them at the Christmas party liked them though.

That's super cool that you're in the primary now! Don't worry you'll do great! It's just a lot of patience and educational/fun activities. All of the songs are pretty catchy so you'll learn them fast and likely won't get them out of your head for a while hehehe :P
No, I haven't gotten too many Christmas cards or anything from other people back home. I think most sent a birthday card and were done, which is totally fine :)

No new investigators, but we have a couple cool challenges for Christmas this week from President Russell.

1- send out 6 letters of love to Less Actives to invite them back to full activity.

2- give a goody bag to a homeless person and invite them to learn about the gospel or come to church. (I think we'll put in the goody bag some cookies, a hat and scarf and Sister Hall might give some of her hand warmers too.)

3- be observant and make a miracle happen for someone this Christmas.

He told us these things in a conference call last night and we are all super excited, or at least I am. Especially since Sister Hall and I have already been doing these things in a way, now we just have even more purpose :)

Lots of missionaries are getting hurt the past few months and just not being smart. Though from the stories that Pres Young shared with us about the craziness of his time as mission president, these things are normal to happen, if not entirely preventable. They have definitely been feeling the stress of being mission parents. Lots of prayers for them.

I haven't been able to look at all the college major info yet, but from what I've seen, I like it. And for some reason, as I was doing the college essays, the deaf language studies stuck out a little more for me. It'd be a really great thing for me to study. I'd always be paying attention and it's something beautiful that I could share with others too. Maybe I can combine it with Special Ed and ASL, though I am leaning more toward the ASL. It would take lots of effort, but the kind that isn't super scary for me. I'd still be DOING something instead of sitting at a desk somewhere all day every day, and I think ASL is really beautiful, so I'd love to learn it.

Thank you, Mom, for the Christmas lights and thank you, Lynne, for the white Christmas tree :)

Another crazy story from last week, it was a weird experience, but it still helped to strengthen my and Sister Hall's testimony. We went to see a potential investigator that we thought would be a great investigator. This man was super nice at first and he listened to us when we asked if he'd like to learn more about the restored gospel and the blessings it has to offer his family. He then asked us what in the world we'd ever have to teach him about the scriptures and the gospel since he is in his 50's and we are just kids. He asked us to tell him what the gospel consisted of. We told him (1) Faith in Jesus Christ (which he agreed with and said he didn't need to know any more about), so then we started to talk about (2) Repentance and change for our progression to become like our Father in Heaven. His response will forever be with me. The man said, "Jesus redeemed and atoned for us, so we no longer need to be subject to the Father. We are perfect and God no longer has a right to judge us."

It hurt our hearts so much to hear such a thing.....To love Jesus so much, and yet disrespect Him and our Father in Heaven (God), and deny the true purpose and power of the Atonement that Christ went through for each of us. We just didn't understand how the man could think this, but all of this was made clear to us when the man told us that he only focuses on one chapter in the Bible as his basis for not repenting, Romans 9, talking about faith and how we must have it if we are to get back into His presence. I am grateful for the Gospel and for learning and taking into account ALL the words of God, and for the fullness of the Gospel that we have, to bless our families' lives and our individual lives continually.
okie dokie, I gots ta go now. Bye Bye, Love you!!!!! Merry (early) Christmas!!!
Kiana