We were able to talk to a lot of people about the Christmas concert this week. I love that Christmas is coming up! It's an easy way to get people to be more receptive, and the Christmas concert is an opportunity I'm super excited about. There's a special power in music, a special power in the Christmas season, and a special power in missionaries bearing testimony - and when you have all three at once, it's a powerhouse. It's truly exciting and humbling to be able to be a part of it.
So ... Thanksgiving. It was a really great day! In the morning, we had rehearsal for the Christmas concert, and it's sounding really good! I'm humbled that I got to be such a big part of it and as always with anything I put on, it's fun to see it start coming together. It's been a little stressful, adding that onto regular proselyting work, but also brought me a lot of joy and helped me be more in tune with the spirit. The rest of the day was basically dinners. We weren't allowed to leave the house without having an appointment, and the only appointments you get on Thanksgiving are for dinners.
First, we had an early dinner with some of Hna Fuimaono's extended family - she had no idea they lived here, had never met them before, but found them while tracting with Sisters Hanson and Neahusan. They were so welcoming and it was so fun to be at their house. We got to share a short message about gratitude, and I prayed in Samoan, which touched them. It wasn't very good haha but at least I tried! Sisters Cedeno and Weyand were also there, it was so fun to be able to see them so much this week while they were visiting! We still have leftover cornbread and sweet potatoes from them in our fridge, the sweet potatoes were reeeeealllly good.
Then we went to the Aguirre's - that's the family that sent you the picture. They're an amazing family,
Next, we went to the Hoffman's. It was just us, the elders, Brother and Sister Hoffman and their son. It was a tender, intimate dinner where we were able to really talk about the purpose of the season as we sat there. They're from Venezuela, and they made a traditional dish that they make for Christmas there called pan de jamon. It was AMAZING - as soon as I ate it I was in love. They gave me four pieces to take home, and I enjoyed it even more for breakfast the next day when I wasn't so stuffed haha.
Those three were pretty traditional Thanksgiving dinners, but then we went to the Lopez's house for our last one and I got to see how hispanics celebrate Thanksgiving! It was so much fun, there was music and dancing and a really, really good cocoa. Everyone was just hanging around and enjoying each others' company, it was the Lopez's whole family and then a bunch of their friends from the ward. They're such a great family,
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| Sisters Cedeño and Weyand came to surprise Gloria |
Compared to Thursday, Friday was very slow, but we had an awesome experience at the Mesa Temple Christmas Lights with Gloria and her daughter. she was obsessed with taking pictures of everything, which was cute to see, and you could tell that both of them felt the spirit as we walked around and looked at the nativities and talked a little about what it all meant. Gloria is so happy to have her daughter here finally, it's sweet to see. Gloria is jumping right into teaching her everything, and she's already set aside a night every week for Family Home Evening and really wants to keep that spirit in her home always and help her daughter feel it. Going through their presentation of nativities got a little emotional for me, to be honest. It was like a mini (VERY mini) version of the creche in Morristown, and it made me miss New Jersey. It also made me miss setting up my nativities with you, Mom, and wish I could be a part of that. But I wasn't exactly feeling homesick, just feeling love for all of you! |
| with Sister Weyand |
Saturday we got a surprise call from some of the sisters in our zone asking me to accompany one of them for a musical number for a baptism. She already had a song picked out, and it was one I'd never played, so I was really nervous I wouldn't be able to do it. It was definitely rough ... but in general, I can see how my sight-reading has improved a lot with being on the mission and being asked to play all the time. Still, I wished it was better. But the spirit was there! It was a sweet old man getting baptized, he just started coming to church on his own and the first conversation he had with the missionaries started with, "I like this church, how do I join?" Why can't that happen all the time??? lol
Love,
Hermana Garner
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| Lunch with mi mamá de misión!! |
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