Thanksgiving is just Christmas Kick-off

email 02 December 2014

HELLO

Thanksgiving was lots of fun! On Wednesday we had Thanksgiving with an awesome family! She's Filipino and made us delicious egg rolls! They had Thanksgiving on Wednesday because they were going to do black Friday shopping on Thanksgiving. Isn't it crazy that black Friday is actually on Thanksgiving now? On actual Thanksgiving we went down to Ogden and played some football with other missionaries! Well...Sister Hadden did. I played some cards with some missionaries and Sister Hadden's old companion taught me a new game called "Unggoy Unggoy". It's a game from the Philippines. It means "Monkey Monkey!". But you know I love new games! I had a blast! Everyone was asking me how many Thanksgiving dinners we were having. I said "one?". Apparently other missionaries go to 4-5 dinners! CRAZY! The most I've heard of is 8. The family we ate with had a 7 year old boy and he wanted us to race him on the sled. I wanted to sooo bad! But we told him we couldn't because of our skirts. He looked at us and said "Just take them off!" haha I love kid logic. They also had their own zip line!!! It was great. We spent the rest of our thanksgiving visiting people that have been on our minds and singing "For the Beauty of the Earth" [YouTube link below - Ed Sarlls] with my ukulele to them and giving a little Thanksgiving message. It was so fun and it really brightened our day!

We are teaching this 9 year old boy named Crash. He's awesome and a really deep thinker! We were teaching him the plan of salvation and about the Atonement and how we will all be resurrected. It went great and at the end of our lesson he said "I don't want to be resurrected!" we asked why and he told us "It's going to hurt!". We were confused at what we said to make him think it would hurt. He then explained that "I don't want to be nailed to a cross!" OOOH. so we said "That's crucifixion not resurrection!". haha It was a great lesson and I don't think he'll forget the difference again.

We've kind of hit a road block in our area. I feel like we're just on a wild goose chase every day trying to find these people that are never home. I felt like I didn't have faith in our work and in our progress. I felt hopeless about our area and about my abilities. I was talking to Sister Hadden about everything i felt and she told me to read the "patience" section in Preach my Gospel. I was thinking "I don't feel impatient, I just feel hopeless!" well, I did what she said and this is the sentence that stuck out to me..."Patience is related to hope and faith - you must wait for the Lord's promised blessings to be fulfilled." It was definitely a humbling experience. I know that this is His work and it is in His timing. As long as I'm being obedient and doing what I need to do, I know that what needs to happen will happen. Even if that means going on wild goose chases every day. 

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am grateful to be here on a mission. I wouldn't have been able to say that a month ago. But I am SO grateful that Heavenly Father put this opportunity in my path to love and serve others. I'm grateful that He loves me enough to give me these hard experiences so that I may grow and become closer to Him. I'm grateful that I am able to pray and receive answers to my prayers. I'm grateful for my family and the love we have in our home and in our relationships. I'm grateful that I have an AMAZING companion who works hard and is obedient. I'm grateful that she laughs, sings, and puts up with me. I'm grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for my Savior who gives me the strength every single day to keep going and to do His will. HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

Love, 
Sister Sarlls