Sorry it’s late! ‏

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Wed 12/18/13 1:04 PM

Hola familia!

 

Sorry that my email is late! I had what we thought was a very nasty stomach virus on Monday. It was bad. But I went on exchanges Saturday and yesterday we had our Christmas mission conference and the Hermana that I went on exchanges with asked if I was sick or anything. We helped out at a birthday party while I was on exchanges and it turns out that all of the missionaries that went to that got super sick, so we must have all got a bad case of food poisoning. I am so glad that it is over! And that I was able to go to the mission conference. Which I had the opportunity of speaking at! I spoke on patience. There was a missionary that talked about each Christ like attribute. The whole thing was so good!! The most amazing part though was that we sang As Sisters in Zion/Armies of Helaman. HOLY COW. I can't even think about it without getting chills! The power that was in that room was amazing. There were very few dry eyes, and lots of big smiles. I was just so extremely grateful for my mission at that moment and the things that I have felt through this sacred calling. After we sang it President Wilson got up and said that he felt like he was in the celestial room. He was right. I was so extremely grateful that he pointed that out because I miss the temple more than anything and the fact that I was able to realize that I was feeling that amazing feeling that is in the Celestial room was just so comforting and so great. I just can't explain it. Overall, life is good. The mission conference was amazing.

 

So this past week was incredible! First off, Jose has a baptismal date for January 25!! We are so so excited! He just gets it. I love our lessons with him because you can tell that he is really trying to understand and doing his best to keep his commitments and everything. And he LOVES the Book of Mormon! He just loves studying the footnotes and see how much it relates to the Bible. We didn't even tell him how to use the footnotes! He just figured it out. Every time he studies, he seems to really get in and dig deep in his reading. We still have a long way to go with him, but we have faith that he will be able to be baptized on his set date!

 

We met some amazing people last week as well. We met this guy named Marco, had a lesson with him Sunday morning, and then he came to church that day with his daughter! When we had our lesson with him he told us about all of the life changes he had made lately and how much the knowledge of knowing that he is a child of God changed him. It was amazing! I have never heard anyone say something like that in the first lesson. We also met this awesome couple the same day! So earlier that day, I was thinking about how I wanted someone to say to me that they felt like they needed more in their life. Sounds weird, but it’s true! And then that night, we met Valeria and Fermin. Fermin said that his religion just didn't fill his heart the way he would like it to. I was so excited! How lucky are we to be able to say that we have the thing that will fill peoples' hearts more than anything else? So we told him that we had the thing that will fill his heart! They were both so excited! And at the end of the lesson, they gave us the most sincere ‘gracias I've ever heard. What a wonderful work that this is!

 

I am so so grateful for this Christmas season! Christ really is the reason. He is everything. We would be so lost without Him. I am so grateful to be a missionary around this season as well! You really do learn the true meaning of Christmas.

 

Speaking of Christmas, I get to talk to you!!! Woo! Apparently Mom doesn't want to Skype... So let me know very very soon if you want to Skype or call because I can do either! I can hardly wait! Just one week! I'm not really sure how it’s going to work out so I will let you know next Monday for sure. I might be able to call you for a minute before just to set up a time, but I will let you know for sure. Let me know what time is best for you! I love you all soo much! Merry Christmas!!

 

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