Feliz Navidad!!‏

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Mon 12/23/13 8:46 AM

Merry Christmas!! Feliz Navidad!! Melacaleekeemaka! (I tried.)

 

I can't even believe that it is already Christmas! I am so excited to talk to the fam on Wednesday!

 

Well this week was great! It was kind of hard to get in to see people because everyone is going or doesn't want to see us right now, but we were able to fill our time with some great things! One great thing that happened yesterday, Filiberto went to a Spanish ward yesterday and he loved it! We didn't go with him, but we called him later that day and he just loved it. He belongs in one. But he said that he is almost completely convinced about baptism!! I don't know what they said to him, but I am almost positive that he will set a date this week! He is just so ready. The only thing that he had to do was realize that he was ready. We are so so excited for him to take the step of baptism. He will be such an awesome member! He is going to sing with some other Spanish saints at the zoo tonight! He is so excited.

 

So there is this amazing member in our ward who can barely speak any Spanish at all, but she is such a great help to us. She comes with us to lessons all the time and gives such a sweet and powerful testimony in Spanglish. She is a convert of about 9 years so she always brings out a great testimony of how her life is different with the gospel. But she had this great idea of caroling in this trailer park! So we did that last Saturday with her, some English Sister missionaries, another lady from our ward, and a youth. It was soo much fun! We sang to Spanish and English people. There were numerous people that said, "This is really great that you guys are doing this! People don't really go around and carol anymore." It honestly ended up being such a great experience. So many people were touched and we helped to bring a lot of smiles to people's faces. And then we got to carol again with the other sister missionaries in our ward last night! The mission puts together this choir every year to go and sing at the zoo that is actually in my last area, and so we were going to go and sing at it, but it was raining a ton yesterday so they canceled it. So now we were left without anything to do all evening. But we got with the other sisters and went and sang to a bunch of less actives and one of their investigators! There is just something so special about Christmas music. I don't know how you could hear Christmas music and not just fall in love with Christmas.

 

The weather here has been SO warm. I can't even believe it! So it was really hard to feel the Christmas spirit. But yesterday the power went out and it was out at our church as well. But everyone still showed up to church and we had sacrament meeting by the light of a bunch of lanterns. For some reason, that just brought the feeling of Christmas. Even though the weather was warm outside, and it was all muggy inside the church,  it felt like Christmas! That was definitely a little tender mercy.

 

I am so grateful for this amazing season of Christ. I have felt so close to Christ this season as a missionary. I feel like I was able to get a little bit more of a grasp on all of the amazing things that He really did, this month. Without Christ, we are nothing. We could not make it through this life and into the next without Him and His redeeming love. He is our Savior. We are saved through Him. The love of Christ is such a powerful thing. I have been studying a lot about charity recently and in the Bible dictionary it says that Charity is "the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love, not merely affection; the pure love of Christ." There is not greater love than the love that we can feel from Christ. We are so lucky for the opportunity to feel of that love.

 

I hope that you all have a very very Merry Christmas! I miss you all lots. I am so glad that I will get to see your beautiful faces on Wednesday. Take care! I love you!!!!

 

And now I close mine epistle. I am Hermana Horton.