Hello! This week FLEW! Probably because we had lots of fun and Christmassy things to do almost every night, like TWO ward Christmas parties and a relief society Christmas activity and the first presidency Christmas devotional (which is always SO good). One of our ward Christmas parties was outside (which, in Canada? In December? Means COLD) so there was a giant heated igloo for all of the adults and missionaries to stay inside of while the kids did fun stuff like sledding and eating too many cookies (the too many cookies might have actually been me :)). And Santa came! To both parties, actually. We asked Santa for a picture and he put his arms around our waists. Which was... exciting. Our second Christmas party had a taco bar, but there was way too much food and so we spent most of the night helping clean up and then we got a whole bunch of leftovers, which was super fun because the next day some people in our ward took us to Costa Vida for lunch. I'm like 40% Mexican food.
Other than that, this week was relatively uneventful. On Saturday night, we were trying to decide where to tract so we drove into our area and Sister Lamontagne and I felt like we should turn in all the same places, so when we ended up on this little loop we were like, okay, we're gonna knock on all of the doors, we're going to find someone to teach here. We were SO excited. And it was seriously the rudest street I've ever tracted! People kept peeking through their windows at us and then not answering the door! Like, hello, I can see you! Anyway, that was not the most fun I've ever had in my life, but whatcha gonna do? We had a better time tracting on Sunday night when a nice Muslim lady let us in and she was so funny and we talked all about what the Qur'an and the Bible and the Book of Mormon say about Jesus. Shoutout to BYU world religions for preparing me to talk to every Muslim in Calgary! But our real miracle was that on Monday night we were tracting and nobody really wanted to talk to us but as soon as we got to the last door we hadn't knocked yet, a lady called out from the next house over and was like "are you the sister missionaries?" And we were like "yes!" It turns out it was this less-active member of our ward who we've been trying to get in touch with for WEEKS and we were in the right place at JUST the right time. Miracles do happen!
Because it's #lighttheworld season, we've been doing "service finding," which is basically employing the Ammon principle of finding new people to teach. We just go around in service clothes and shovel people's driveways and leave them Light the World cards (get some from your local missionaries!!) We haven't found anyone that way yet, but at least I got a good workout, lol. My back was niiiice and sore the next morning.
I had to give a training to our zone (missionary speak for share some thoughts with a bunch of other missionaries) about Christ and our purpose last week and I CRIED. Predictable. But I really liked Elder Holland's thoughts from general conference about constantly striving to find Christ in the chaos of our lives, which I feel like was a big point of the Christmas devotional. Elder Holland said "...in spite of everything else this [Christmas] tradition may offer us, it will mean little or nothing unless we find Jesus at the center of it all. To grasp the vision we are seeking, the healing that He promises, the significance we somehow know is here, we must cut through the commotion—joyful as it is—and fix our attention on Him." (forgive my editing!) He goes on to say, "Sisters and brothers, through the incessant din and drumbeat of our day, may we strive to see Christ at the center of our lives, of our faith, and of our service. That is where true meaning lies." I know that especially in this Christmas season, we find true meaning as we turn to Christ! Helaman said to his sons, "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall" (Helaman 5:12). Don't forget to make this Christmas meaningful by making time to remember Christ!
I love you much! Merry Christmas!
Sister Willis
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