Christmas in Queens

Feliz Navidad!

Opening Christmas :)

I hope that my wonderful family had a great Christmas this year. I know mine was pretty great! :) This Christmas was rather different than Christmases past for many reasons. Christmas in the mission is something that will forever be a memory as it was so special. The funny thing is, it didn't feel like Christmas at all. I remember talking with my compañera on the 23rd after we had arrived home following our mission wide Christmas devotional and she said it didn't even feel like Christmas was so close. I remember listening and thinking, "what has Christmas felt like in the past compared to this year?" I think it was really cool what I realized was that usually Christmas time is the one time a year when literally all I am thinking about is Christ. My Savior held a special place in my heart during those weeks.

The miraculous thing has been to realize that just as the Spirit I usually feel so strongly in the temple has remained the same when I arrive and when I leave since being on the mission, the Spirit I usually feel at Christmas didn't feel any different because I truly have felt it all year long. In serving my Savior I have thought of Him in every moment of every day. I constantly am able to focus on Him, which, I believe, has made all the difference. I always believed what the prophets said about being able to have the same spirit as in the temple with us always, and now I have experienced it. I too, now understand and experience what they say about what it truly means to have the "Christmas spirit" all year round. I feel that has made all the difference.

This week was full of happiness and learning, planning and dropping, cleaning and mess making. We have been working to make something of our pool starting with cleaning out our "potential investigators" and "new investigators" lists by calling all those we have to either set up appointments or drop them. It has been quite the task and we are nowhere near finished. There is quite the work to be done here, good thing that's what I'm here for!! :) My compañera said this week, "this is just the best area! We get to build! Yes, we need to build everything cause there is nothing, but we get to build!!" That's the kind of attitude I'm talkin' about, right there! I love the fire for this area. I want to work. The Lord knows that is what I am here to do and so He is giving me the job. That is another lesson I have really been learning and reflecting on...the truthfulness behind the promise "ask, and it shall be given unto you, seek and ye shall find" because as I have asked and sought, my Lord has been more than gracious in giving. I know this is true and that He will give good gifts unto those who seek and ask for them.

Wow, enough of that preachy stuff, haha. I can save it for my soap box ;) but this week we had Christmas (of course!) and our Christmas Devotional (which was awesome) and district meeting (also awesome). Christmas began great and we actually had a pretty good turnout for church (I think it helps our members come on holidays when many used to be easter/christmas only church goers before they converted, haha) and were able to all visit together. I also was asked to introduce myself and bear my testimony for the branch with the other new missionaries --I've decided I feel more comfortable speaking in Spanish in front of people now, haha (not that I enjoy it at all, but it is less painful in Spanish!)


The Christmas Devotional was amazing. We all did our skits we had prepared as zones, ate food, hung out, listened to talks and testimonies and music (shout out to the stud ex-compañera of mine for her bomb cello performances #feelslikeacelebrity #iknowher), and best of all, were introduced to our 2017 vision and goals! Wow, that was awesome! This years 567 has only been preparing us for the upcoming 365. It's all about faith. The whole vision and goals for next year are all about faith and increasing our faith and acting in our faith. I am so excited for the mission to raise the bar and for the missionaries to rise with it to a new level of commitment and consecration. The promise of the scriptures to "sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you" has never felt so real. I can taste the changes that will be coming as the Lord continues to hasten His work. Faith.

With the devotional, I also was able to see all of my favorite missionaries --well, those that aren't home already... It was awesome. My compañera was not feeling well Friday, she stayed with Sister Peterson (the mission medical nurse who lives next door to the chapel) the whole day and I was in a trio with my Hermanitas Ashford and Voss! It was a very fun time visiting with everyone and seeing how happy they are. I think you can tell how close you really are with someone when you can go months or weeks or whatever without seeing or talking with them, but then when you get back together it is as if you were never apart. You pick up right where you left off and it doesn't even need to be awkward. This is exactly how it felt with all of my favorites :) oh I love them.

I also got to speak with President and Sister Reynolds for a bit on Friday, so that was great. I just love them so much. I know I say that every time I talk about them, but I just cannot explain how thankful I am for them. They are just fabulous.

Last week's district meeting was awesome as well. I was asked to give a workshop on chapter five of Preach My Gospel and my compañera gave one on charity. It was really a good district meeting. Elder McConkie also felt inspired to do something at the end, which he had not been planning on that ended up taking a lot longer than it was supposed to haha. We did what he called a 1 and 1. We go around the circle of missionaries one by one and each person says something they love about and a time they loved the missionary who we are on at that time. So we started with Elder Grande and so Elder Firl was first to say his loves and then my companion and then me, and so on until we had all said it about Elder Grande. Then we all did it about Elder Firl and so on, person by person. It ended up taking quite a bit of time but it was awesome. I think it really helped to build more trust in our district. So that was awesome. The missionaries here are hard workers and ready to get the job done. We will see what we can do here. [Also, not sure if I ever said my district is Elder McConkie (DL) & Harris (1st transfer trainee), Elder Cisneros & Grande (came in with my companion), Elder Wilkins & Firl (2nd transfer trainee), and us.]

But overall this week has been really great. I met some more of the missionaries in my zone and got to know them a little bit better when we had a little zone practice thing, so that was fun. I think it is interesting how easy it has become for me to be open and genuine with people. That used to be very hard for me, but I think with the charity thing I have really just opened up a lot about everything, and I am becoming kind of an open book. The surprise for me has been to find that people are not weirded out by your real-ness haha!

Also, we had an awesome lesson this week with a new Spanish less active, she is my favorite. It was kind of awkward translating the whole time, but also really cool. It felt really natural and my companion was saying just how much she could feel this hermana's spirit. It was great. We will be visiting her again this week. We also had a great lesson with another sister and were able to help her learn and feel the Spirit a lot. We are excited to see how we can help her come to a better understanding of the gospel.

Anyway, all is well and we are holding out for all that is to come. It is gonna be another great week, we can't wait to see what work the Lord has set out for us. I love you tons! Stay safe traveling. Love you!!

Mucho amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley