2 Months! (December 8th)

Hola!

Well today is officially my two month mark.  I feel like the weeks have flown by and that I have been out here forever but at the same time two months is really not long at all.  This past week was really really busy.  We were just running around so much that I hardly remember what we did on what day.  

We have taught a lot of good lessons and felt the spirit a lot.  This week we really put a lot of our focus on the members in the ward.  We have really been trying to emphasize the importance of members being part of missionary work and have been inviting them to bring their friends and family to different activities and introduce them to us.  Missionary work just works so much better when the members are doing most of the finding.  It is really hard to get people to listen to what we have to say when we are knocking on their doors.  Most of them just aren't that receptive and view us as just trying to sell them something else.  The rest of this transfer we are going to work really hard to get the members excited about doing missionary work and we really hope that we will be able to see miracles in our area because of it.

So yesterday we got to watch the First Presidency Christmas devotional and it was wonderful! I hope that all of you were able to watch it. If you missed it you should definitely go to lds.org and watch it.  This last week I started reading Jesus the Christ and I have also been reading the Book of Mormon looking for attributes of Christ so the Savior has really been on my mind a lot.  While watching the devotional I felt the Spirit testifying so strongly of Him and His love for all of us.  I know that what the scriptures and prophets say of Him are true.  I know that He came to earth as a baby to the humblest of circumstances.  I know that He lived and showed us the way that we need to live.  I know that He suffered for each one of us and because of that knows each one of us individually.  I know that He died for us and also that He rose from the dead and lives again. I know that because He lives I can live again and so can each one of us.  I love my Savior so much.  When I think of all He has done for me I am just overwhelmed with the spirit of gratitude.  The more I learn of Him the more I want to be like Him and help others to know what I know.

I want to leave each of you with the challenge that Hermana Poulsen and I have been leaving to those we teach.  We have been challenging each of them to think of a gift that they can give to the Savior this season and this year.  A gift that is from the heart.  A gift of change and a gift of love.  My gift I want to give Him this year is my heart. I want to go where He would have me go and do what He would have me do and become what He would have me become.  I know that as I do this that I will be able to change and become the servant He would want me to be.  I also know that as each one of us think of something to give to Him that each one of us will be able to become closer to the Lord and feel His presence more fully in our lives.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Carpenter