Silent Night

email 29 Dec 2015

Howdy y'all!

This last week, of course, was amazing because of CHRISTMAAAAAAAS!!! We got some gifts from the mission and Sister Law and I together received 16 Hershey bars, haha, not to mention all the other treats we have received. Lets just say going to the gym will be one of our New Years resolutions for 2016. But really we have been overly blessed with people's love here. One of our favorite families let us come over Christmas morning to open gifts with them. It was a wonderful Christmas morning to spend with family! And I mean both my real family and the family I've made while here on my mission. :)



It's been FREEZING over here! Really. Two days ago we woke up and it was 1 degree. One. We are so so SO grateful to have a car right now. I hope that all the missionaries out there on bikes or walking are getting rides. Because I've started having a real fear of my fingers or nose falling off from being so cold, haha. But luckily we have a car, layers and layers of clothing, and hand warmers.

Not much has happened this week for me to talk a lot about. But I'll share a few things that were really special to me.

This year the hymn Silent Night has stuck out to me a lot. In my mind and in my heart. I was a little bit confused about why that was. It seemed that every time it came up, I felt the spirit very strongly. And I felt my heart swell. It had never done that before when I heard this hymn. I saw one of my mom's Facebook posts saying that Silent Night was my Grandma's favorite Christmas hymn. I believe that I felt her influence every time we sang it or heard it. It was a special experience for me and I've learned to love and cherish "Silent Night."

Christmas Eve was also a spiritual experience for me. We were driving around caroling, delivering gifts and messages, and as we were standing on someone's doorstep, Sister Law looked at me and said "It's 8:30 pm on Christmas Eve and we're knocking doors." As she said that, the spirit hit my heart. The only way I can explain it is it felt like someone shoved a hand warmer inside of me. In that moment I realized where I was and what I was doing. I looked at her and said, "Yes, we are. And there's nothing else I would rather be doing on Christmas Eve." 

If anyone knows me, you know that I love Christmas. This was probably my first year ever to not have Christmas decorations everywhere. That night we went home and set up our nativity. We turned on our Christmas lights and got out our scriptures to read Luke 2 (link). As we started off with a song and a prayer, the spirit entered our home. Even though our house wasn't the most tidy or the most decorated or "Christmassy", the spirit was so strong. There's nothing I would rather be doing, especially at Christmas time, than testifying of Jesus Christ. This has honestly been the least "Christmassy" Christmas I've ever had. But it was by far the best one I've ever had. I felt so close to my Savior that night. It truly was a silent night and a holy night.

Videos of the Christmas Story

I know my Savior lives. I know He loves each of us and is here to strengthen us individually. I know we can turn to Him in every situation. I'm so incredibly happy to be here on a mission. I know I say it a lot. But i mean it. There's nothing else I would rather be doing. :)

Love, Sister Sarlls

Christmas Skype with Mom and family!