Week 2 - MTC January 11, 2011

Hola mi familia!

I hope you're all doing well. You sound in your letters like you're getting along fine. Thank you Dad, Mom, Grandma Springer, Sarah, Amanda, Ashley, and Teresa for your letters this week. It's so great to go back to class at 6:30 after dinner and ALWAYS have a DearElder waiting on my desk (I can't read letters until 9:30pm but it gives me something to look forward to at the end of the day). On Saturday nobody in our district got any letters. We were all really depressed. But then yesterday I got four pages worth of DearElders, so you're all forgiven. :) It makes me feel guilty when others in my district don't get mail, though, and we all rejoice in each others' letters. If you ever send me a package, please consider including something that I can share with Hma. Yingling, Elder Croft, and Elder Andreasen. And my teachers Hmo. Alder and Hmo. Concha if you're feeling especially charitable. :) By the way, I've been advised to tell you that if you ever send packages to me in Paraguay you should put MISSIONARY PACKAGE in huge letters and/or put a picture of Christ on the outside. Apparently that way it's less likely to get stolen.

Hma. Yingling is NOT oriental, just to clear up any confusion. If you ask her about her name, she'll tell you her biological parents died and she was adopted by a Chinese couple at infancy, but actually her biological parents and five siblings are very much alive. They're from Alpine, Utah, and they're of German descent. Ellis Island messed with their ancestral name, Yungleg or something like that. So no, I don't have an Asian companion. We are actually very much alike in height and European features as you'll see in the pictures that I"m mailing soon (you should get them Saturday-ish, I was late in ordering them).

So this week has been amazing. No moment here has been NOT amazing, but this week had some especially good times. We finally got our other permanent teacher, Hmo. Concha. He grew up in Mexico City but you'd never guess it by teh way he speaks. The past five years at BYU have given him an extremely good American accent, and he tends to talk in Spanish less than Hmo. Alder, our Utahn teacher. I love both my teachers. Hmo. Alder is so in-tune to the Spirit and Hmo. Concha is so fun. They've been working hard this week to teach us how to do door contacts and teach bits of Lesson 1 in Spanish. I'm so bad at approaching people where Hma. Yingling is soo good at it, and she blanks when she speaks Spanish but I remember well how to say things. Together we make a good team. :)

We had our first evaluation on Tuesday and I thought it went really well (Hma. Y would say otherwise--she's hard on us and always strives to improve, which is good because otherwise I might be fine with "just passing.") For the evaluation, we approached a volunteer in a "park" (a tiny classroom), shared a message in Spanish, and set an appointment to come back and teach him more fully. The volunteer, "Dave," was really sweet and eager to talk about his many grandchildren. But he gave us a real scare when we went back for the "appointment." We said, "Nos permite hablar en Ingles?" and he said, "No hablo Ingles!" We'd been told we wouldn't have to teach the lesson in Spanish so we weren't prepared at all. But before we could fully panic, he laughed and said, "Just kidding. English, it is."

Our Spanish is really improving, though. The four of us in our district are trying to become the district known for never speaking in English. We keep forgetting, but we do speak in Spanish A LOT together, and it really helps to just practice. I can almost roll my "r"s on command, now. When I don't think about it I can roll my "r"s perfectly, like when I'm reading. Again, I just need to practice. The other morning my friend and roommate, Hma. Gomez, said, "Hermana Springer, you talked in your sleep last night." I groaned and felt my face immediately turn red (I HATE when that happens!), but then she added, "You were speaking in Spanish." My shame immediately turned to happiness. :)

We had our first Service Day this week, which I didn't know we would do at the MTC. I guess I'm too used to paid janitors cleaning everything, but here the missionaries do ALL the cleaning. It teaches us the value of hard work, and after mopping five floors of stairs in the health building (with herds of missionaries coming through every five seconds because we're not supposed to use the elevators--another way they keep us from growing lazy), I will never again take janitors for granted. I'm not looking forward to the service day when we have to clean the bathroom in the women's residence hall. *Shudder*

To give you a glimpse of how much we work and are moved by the Spirit, I've stopped wearing makeup because I sweat and cry so frequently that it's just too much of a hassle to keep re-applying. I still make sure to look cute, though, no worries. :) Anyways, Sunday was especially spiritual (of course). I went to choir as Laurel and Teresa suggested, and it IS so cool to have more men than women singing! Plus when you sing solely to invite the Spirit to a devotional or fireside, and not for performance or personal glory, it's so much more passionate and stirring to sing.

Temple trips are always great, too. I discovered on Sunday that the Provo temple has a "backyard." How had I lived here for two years without noticing that?? It's so pretty, and it was great to see my familiar temple from a different, equally as beautiful angle. And it was really fun to watch all the Polynesian missionaries rolling around in the snow on the hill back there. They were having a great time. And today Hma. Y and I went to the temple to do endowments. As we left, a temple worker stopped us and asked if we were missionaries (we didn't have our tags on at that point). She said she could tell that we were because of our "glowing countenances." And yeah, she could have very easily guessed (the MTC IS right across the street, after all), but it still made me super happy to be identified as a servant of God even without the badge.

The best part of Sunday, though, is Relief Society, the fireside in the evening, and the movie before bed. At Relief Society this week we heard from Cathy Clayton, who spoke about writing our life story. She advised us to erase all the negative aspects of our story and rewrite them as learning opportunities and growing moments, essentially putting the bad things behind us (and it was a writing analogy! Yay for writing!). It was a really great lesson, but I especially loved it because in the middle of it Sister Clayton started relating a story. I thought, "This sounds really familiar..." and then I realized that she was telling a story that Nana had told me from her life! She was totally talking about Nana! I asked Sis. Clayton afterwards to confirm, and while she didn't seem to really know Nana very well, it was still so happy to hear that little story about my Grandma at a random church meeting. It was great.

And during the fireside by the MTC director (the man who takes care of all our housing, food, and travel arrangments--brave man), he had every missionary stand up who had only been in the church for two years or less. There were at least twenty-five, and he had each of them take a few seconds to share their conversion stories. It was hilarious how many of the men had been converted by their girlfriends, but so inspiring all the same to hear how the missionaries changed their lives not through their eloquent lessons or perfect language skills, but through their love and friendship. I'M a missionary! I can do that! It's incredible.

Then that night we watched "The Testaments," which I haven't seen in a while. With my greater appreciation for the Savior, His Atonement, and the great prophets of the Book of Mormon and today, I predictably balwed like a baby and didn't stop until after we'd gone back to the dorm room and I'd had a good cry on my bed. I SO wish you were all here with me learning the things I'm learning. I wish they published a magazine for all the MTC devotionals so you could hear what I hear, but while they have archives, I don't think they're accessible outside of the MTC. :( Would it be too much or me to ask you to read Preach My Gospel and really take time every day to ponder and find gratitude for the gospel? That's really all that I'm doing, and I've grown so much as a person and as a Daughter of God. I want you to all grow right along with me so that when I come home we can continue the work together. In the meantime, while you're at it, read the Book of Mormon, too. That's always a good thing to do.

I love you all so much. Sorry this letter is shorter (okay, SLIGHTLY shorter) than the last one. I'm gonna try this week to snail mail some more personal letters, and I journal a lot so I'm not sure how much to tell you or what I've already told you. Anyways, continue strong in the faith. Remember who we are and by whose name we live. I trust God wholeheartedly to take care of you while I"m away, and I trust all of you to be just as amazing when I get back. :) Thanks a thousand times over for all your love, support, and letters! I love hearing from you and want to know how you are so keep the DearElders coming. Be safe and be happy! I love you!

Hermana Springer

P.S. Mom or Dad, could you please send me my vaccination records (the yellow fold-out ones I left on my shelf)? I need them with me when I travel to Paraguay. No hurry, though. Seven weeks to go! :)

Week 1 - MTC Jan 4, 2010

Greetings from FREEZING Provo!

No joke it is seriously cold here. Thanks to my going to Paraguay, I didn't bring very warm clothes and I'm so glad the buildings here are so close together. Even then, I have to tread carefully--I've met four people so far who have broken ankles thanks to all the ice.

Anyways, this week was incredible. I hope I can do a good job of writing about just how great it is here.

I now have only one companion--Hermana Yingling. Hma. Brown switched to the Advanced class on the first day, pairing up with Hma. Yingling's companion and leaving us alone in the Intermediate class. We're still in the same zone though--we four Sisters and five Elders. Our zone is very small, yes, but our leaders are very nice and helpful. They gave us our mail for the first time so they quickly became our best friends. (P.S. I did get all of your letteres, even the ones that didn't have my mailbox number on them. Thank you SO MUCH Dad, Mom, Sarah, Ashley, Goompa, Starla, and Laurel.)

In our district it's just Hma. Yingling, me, and two Elders-- Elder Croft and Elder Andreason. The Elders are so dedicated to their studies and do a great job at teaching and speaking Spanish. And they're very generous with their aid and advice. I consider us to be good friends already. And Hma. Yingling I already consider one of my very best friends. I honestly think the Lord had me initially paired up with Hma. Brown just so that I would appreciate Hma. Yingling all the more when we became companions. That first day before the switch, Hma. Brown intimidated me a bit with her Spanish skills and she seemed to have a lot more in common with Hma. Gomez than with me. And it was the same for Hma. Yingling. We were actually quite relieved and grateful for the switch, and it has been an absolute blast every since.

Hma. Yingling is so sweet and fun. She's taller than me, has short blonde hair and blue eyes slanted like a cat. She loves to run, and I do a lot of jogging just trying to keep up with her between classes (we have to speed-walk a lot because there's never any spare time to our day, and she has longer legs than me). She loves the temple so much and we love discussing doctrine together. We also have a lot of fun learning the discussions and practicing Spanish. I think the Elders sometimes think we're silly and not taking this completely seriously, but the truth of the matter is that if we hadn't been laughing so much about our inadequacies and mistakes, we could have probably been crying all the time.

Those first three days were hard, just as everyone said they would be. Not so much emotionally because we're uplifted by the Spirit all day. But when it came to learning the language and figuring out how to use our time wisely, I felt like I could never keep up. My teacher explained everything in nonstop, mumbled Spanish those three days and I was so confused. Same with planning our days. It wasn't until yesterday that someone pointed out a daily checklist in the back of one of our books. Before that, Hma. Yingling and I just guessed and got frustrated. We'd had no idea how much of our learning depended on us. our days are so completely packed, yet we get to choose what we pack them with. I didn't expect that and I worried that i would fall behind.

On day four, though, it was like a switch went off and everything changed. All of a sudden I realized taht I'd retained all that strange vocabulary we'd learned and I could now almost totally understand my teacher. Hma. Yingling and I were doing companionship study for an hour when we both stopped and realized we'd been carrying on doctrinal conversations almost entirely in Spanish for a good 45 minutes! We took a minute to just sit back and be blown out of our minds. Also, yesterday I started reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish. I tried to do that over teh summer and got almost nothing out of it. Now though I can totally tell what's being said and appreciate the words just as much as if I were reading them in English. I have a newfound appreciation of the gift of tongues now for sure.

We have also learned SO MUCH about the gospel. I wish I could tell you every amazing revelation I've had this week but I don't have the memory or the time (sorry for the typos--I only have 18 minutes left). I guess to sum up, I'm just realizing how true it is that being am issionary (or a Latter-Day Saint in general) isn't about getting people to convert so we can boost our membership numbers. It's all about just loving people. It's about loving our fellow men--fellow sons and daugthers of God--so much taht we want nothing else than to help them see how much God loves them and how priceless they are in His eyes. That's what we've mostly focused on this week. We've also been learning to teach out of Preach My Gospel and practicing on each other. It's a blast. Not only is it loads of fun to choose an eccentric alter-ego when pretending to be an investigator, but I learn so many new ways every time how to get people talking about themselves so we can identify how we can help them find happiness in this life. I am so excited for our first visit to the Teaching Resource Center (where we practice on volunteer actors). I'll tell you how it goes in next week's letter. I'm sure I'll enjoy it a lot better than next week's TRC trip, because next week we'll have to teach in Spanish, and right now I'm nowhere close to being ready for that.

Anyways, I am really loving this Preparation Day thing. For my sisters who have no clue what MTC life is like, let me tell you. It's VERY busy. We're only ever in one of four places--the dorm, the classroom, the cafeteria, or the gym. Temple trips are few and far between and we REALLY love them for the change of scenery. We only go to the dorm to sleep from 10:30pm to 6:30am. The rest of the time--even Personal Study time--we are in the classroom, taking breaks only to eat (we're given 45 minutes so not much sitting back and enjoying it, either), or exercise. We're given gym time, but we sisters need it to shower and do our hari, so the MTC provides early morning classes every day for kickboxing, pilate,s and the like. It's a great start to the day and means taht we don't have to smell and look greasy all week. :) Plus now when we go to the gym we can just play volleyball or four-square or something (Hma. Yingling is not very coordinated and I have no endurance so together we make quite the pair). Every day we have one hour of personal study, one hour of companionship study, one hour of language study, and the other ten hours are filled with instruction, teaching practice, or devotionals. It all kind of meshes together after a while. It never feels like we get a break because even eating and sleeping are chores we have to do to stay alive. We are truly lost in the work. :)

And everyone around me is speaking Spanish all day. Our schedule coincides with all the other Spanish speakers, so I may as well be in a foreign country already. I pick up so much just associating with others in the dorm, cafeteria, and our class building. We're in a Spanish branch, too (naturally), so even church is in Spanish. Even as I write this I want to use Spanish words. I'm a total diglot (look it up). And something I never expected was that they have our entire branch write a talk for Sunday, 5 minutes each, in Spanish, EVERY WEEk, and then they just call people up at random so you have to be ready. It's a bit intimidating. This week was Fast Sunday, though, so we didn't have to give our talks (Hma. Yingling and I had already written them before we realized, though).

Sunday was incredible. All devotionals and firesides are increidlbe here, of coruse, but on Sunday we were all just so in the zone spiritually. Even though it was all in Spanish, I could feel the speakers' testimonies perfectly. At a fireside later that night we all sang "Army of Helaman" together and it was amazing. I got that "Great and Terrible" image of all of us as spiritual soldiers in training, ready and powerful enough to better the world. And then we watched the Joseph Smith movie which, after everything I'd been learning about God's love for us, totally strengthened my testimony and gave me a renewed love and appreciation for teh Book of Mormon. I cried really hard, teh Spirit was so strong. I thanked God so much that night for all my blessings I have had thanks to Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and God's kindness for giving the gospel to us.

I am seriously loving it here. There's so muchl ove and peace. I never have to worry about my stuff getting stolen (we leave it in our classroom as if it's a giant, communal locker), or about being harmed. And I always have my companion with me, which is kind of out of the way sometimes but very comforting all the same. Everyone here chose to be here. No one would stop them from leaving. Everyone loves the gospel and loves each other and I really hope the whole world can be like this small place in Provo someday.

I KNOW that God loves His children and that because He loves us He has restored His gospel on the earth today to guide us back to Him. I know that Thomas S. Monson is God's prophet. I have experienced the blessings that come from obeying the commandments and following the counsel of both President Monson and the prophets of old. I know that I'm in the right place, that I'm so superbly happy here for a reason. I pray that I'll be able to share that feeling of contentment and surety wiht others, starting with you. I love you. I thank you SO MUCH for all of your support and your strength when it comes to doing what's right.

Love always,

Hermana Springer

P.S. Hermana Yingling is going to Argentina, as is Hma. Brown. Elder Croft is going to Washington D.C. and Elder Andreasen is going to Paraguay, which is funny since he's from AZ, too.

P.P.S. I saw Elder Schwarz, carlee Child, Kevin Boyster, and an old friend from High School. I can't wait to see Sister Soderquist here soon.

P.P.P.S. I leave for Paraguay Feb. 28

PPPPPS...etc. No, Dad, don't send food. I'm definitely not starving, just that first day I was too nervous to eat so I was ravenous the next morning. I'm totally good now. Yes, Sarah, please put these on my blog and do whatever you want with my facebook status. This is the only e-mail I'll get to write. Mom, I want Omni 1:26 on my plaque. Thanks! Happy (very late) Birthday! I LOVE YOU!!

Day 1 - MTC Dec 29, 2010

Hey family! (I totally forgot the family e-mail address so I'm sending this to Dad--Dad, pass this on!)

Day 1 at the MTC has seemed really long, but I'm not at all overwhelmed. I think the worst part was just anticipating what was going to happen before I got here. Now that I'm here, I'm loving it! I have two companions because one sister's companion got stuck somewhere (probably thanks to the ridiculous snow storm that's been raging all day). My real companion is Hermana Brown. She is super sweet and I think we're going to get along just great. I love her already. Hermana Yingling is our adopted companion, and I'll be sad when she won't be paired up with us anymore. She's really fun and nice. Both of them are from Utah, so we make a great all-Utah group. :)

We've done a LOT today. It almost did feel like boot camp just because they kept throwing stuff at us and steering us in random directions with little to no explanations. After saying goodbye to dear Laurel at the curb, I was rushed to my dorm room where I dumped my stuff, then I was just chucked right into a Spanish classroom. I struggled a little bit, but it was nice because the teachers were totally understanding and they are so eager to help. I knew they wouldn't be trying to get us to fail, but it was still nice to see that it's actually true. Anyways, then we had a new missionary meeting with the MTC presidency, which was really informative and spiritual. I've been taking tons of notes already. I'm probably going to go through a lot of notebooks here.

After all the Christmas food and Goompa's grub at the open house last night, I wasn't even tempted by all the various meals at the cafeteria that I could have pigged out on. I settled for a Greek salad, and I felt great about being so moderate until I learned later on that I won't get to eat breakfast until 8:00 tomorrow. We ate dinner at 5.

Anyways... The best part about today was when we went around to three classrooms in a large-ish group. In each classroom was a seriously excellent actor who pretended to be a clueless investigator. We were supposed to carry on a discussion as if we were all collectively a single pair of missionaries. In the first classroom we struggled badly. Everyone was afraid to speak up or do something wrong. But it got so much better in the second classroom. It started out similar to the last one, with everyone trying to pound out complex doctrine that just confused the investigator all the more. Finally, someone managed to spark interest by proclaiming that God has a body and isn't something, but someone. When I saw how much that changed her idea about religion, I swallowed my fear and raised my hand to participate. I asked her if knowing that God is someone makes it easier to believe that she is a daughter of God. When she faltered a bit, I testified to her that she was a daughter of God and that he loves her and that because he loves her he has restored his gospel on the earth so that she can find happiness. Not to brag (seriously) but the Spirit was so strong. The whole atmosphere of the class changed, and from then on the group as a whole was so much more at ease and was so much better at answering questions. At the end, the "investigator" I'd testified to broke character and gave me a thumbs up. It felt so good. It was like an adrenaline rush of the Spirit (a Spirit-rush?). I want to feel that way all the time.

Wow, having only a half hour at a computer is really nerve-wracking. I'm kind of surprised I wrote as much as I did, but holy crow this was only one day and I left out most of my morning ventures! I don't know how I'll do it next Tuesday on P-Day... But just know that I love you so so so much. I can't thank you enough for being so supportive and setting such a great example for me. When you (Dad and Mom) left me at the airport and I was struggling not to look back at your abandoned puppy faces for fear of crying, I couldn't help but thinking with my spirit soaring, "All because two people fell in love." You have been such amazing parents, and to any other family who reads this, THANK YOU!!

Reminders: DearElder.com is the best way to get ahold of me in a jiffy. I don't know how I forgot but I didn't put my MTC mailbox number on my contacts list and you need it to Dear Elder me. My MTC mailbox is #88. I was seriously panicking when I realized (five minutes after I arrived and was cut off from all communication) that I hadn't given that to you, so please write that down ASAP. Also, please print out the pictures that Laurel took of me today and put them in my mission scrapbook, along with this e-mail. Thanks!

I love love love love LOVE you!! Take care and know that I'm loving every minute as a missionary (so far)!

---Hermana Springer (aka Carly)

P.S. Getting my nametag was awesome. And the dork dot is now off of it so yay!

Well, today wasn't quite how I expected it to be. For one thing, the day dawned purple. No joke, the clouds were all dark grey but the sunrise was casting a pink light that made the entire sky and all the stucco reflecting it turn an eerie shade of dark purple. I wonder what Professor Trelawney would say that that means...

Then of course there was the part with waking up to have Amanda home again. She'd come in late the night before and while I'd dragged myself out of bed to greet her, I'd been too tired to fully remember her being home. It was kind of a surprise to wander into the kitchen and have her sprawled out on the family room couch. All throughout the day, too, I'd turn around and she'd be there with the rest of the family. It surprised me almost every time. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice surprise. I'm glad she could be here for me.

In sacrament meeting I gave my farewell talk. Public speaking is not new for me. I've been teaching Relief Society once a month since May and I bore my testimony publicly at stake conference last month. All those times, and all throughout my life really, I've been told that I did a great job. So when I was planning this talk last week I was pretty darn confident in my own abilities to come up with some good material. But then when--after three musical numbers and four other speakers--it was my turn to talk, I realized that I'd always done better when I wasn't reading straight off of a page. So I ditched my notes and tried to just go with a basic outline. That worked great right up until the very end when, overwhelmed by the importance of what I was trying to convey, added to the fact that everyone expected me to be this super-missionary figure today, added to the fact that when I started my talk sacrament meeting was already running five minutes over... I kind of blanked. For the first time ever.

It made me pretty darn depressed to botch that talk of all talks, but my wonderful family and friends insisted I did just fine. I hope they aren't lying. Sarah at least mentioned my blanking out, so I can bet she was being fairly honest, but still.

My sadness over that was quickly quelled when I was surrounded by good friends from my high school years--the Showalters who drove down just to be here for me, Jessie Bowyer who represented my entire single's ward, old young women's leaders, friends of all ages... It was really nice. My mouth hurt from grinning so much.

The rest of the day was fairly leisurely. We had a lovely ham dinner at the Andersons,' then came straight home and got to work making food for the open house. We had crispatts, wassail, toffee (made by me), fudge (also made by me), chips and dip, hand-frosted sugar cookies, and lemonade made from our backyard lemons. Dad also had a puzzle going, Amanda and Megan were singing at the piano, Ashley had a slideshow going on the computer, and I had a DVD of Paraguay pictures silently playing on the TV that my mission president sent me.

Sadly, not very many people showed up to enjoy it all (it is very near to Christmas, after all), but those who did had a good time and were very sweet to me. Amanda acted like I would run off bawling every time someone asked her about her ring, but I totally felt loved enough and besides, their turning their attention to her gave me room to breathe and load up on crispatts.

What I learned today is that I have some truly wonderful friends and family members. My parents went all out for a party today and had fun doing it. Everyone who showed up to the party was so sincere in wishing me the best and talking to me about how I feel. Even just at sacrament meeting as I looked over everyone in the congregation I realized that even though I may not be great friends with everyone, most of the people seated in front of me would be there for me in a heartbeat if I truly needed it.

Thanks to those of you who came to enjoy my day with me yesterday, and thanks to everyone else who has been there for me throughout the years. I love you all and I wish I could have seen you all last night to thank you in person. This will most likely be my last blog post from home so please keep checking this blog for my weekly mission letters. My contact information is a few posts below. Please keep in touch and have a wonderful Christmas!

EDIT: Here is my farewell talk if you wanted to read it. It probably reads better than I delivered it.

Farewell Talk

Intro

Good morning, brothers and sisters. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to speak to you this morning, the week of Christmas, on a topic that has come to mean so much to me this year.

Christmas is such an amazing time of year. It’s almost everyone’s favorite holiday, and they may think that that’s because they get a lot of presents and food, but I venture a guess that everyone loves December so much because despite all the differences between people throughout the world, Christmas is a time that has been so wonderfully preserved in its universal goal of drawing closer to Christ and giving gifts.

I was asked to speak about Christ today, but since, as primary kids can attest, every question you ever ask in a church setting can be answered with “Jesus Christ,” that kind of left me with a wide variety of options to base my talk on.

So I decided to focus on an aspect of Christmas that has everything to do with Christ but that often is overlooked as having spiritual importance. That is gift-giving.

Sincere Gift-Giving

There are two traditional Christmas stories about gift-giving that wouldn’t leave my mind as I tried to write this talk. They are “The Gifts of the Magi” and “The Fourth Wise Man.” Both used to horribly depress me as a child, but as I’ve grown older, I recognize them as beautiful tales of selfless sacrifice that we can all learn from.

I’m sure that most of us by now have become expert gift-givers at Christmastime. The presents were bought on sale in October and have been under the tree since it was put up in November, right? But I wonder how many people, myself included, have ever given gifts with the kind of self-sacrifice as in “The Gifts of the Magi” and “The Fourth Wise Man.”

For those of you who aren’t familiar with those stories, I’ll quickly recap them for you. “The Gifts of the Magi” is the story of a young married couple, poor as church mice, who try to find ways to give each other a gift when they don’t have two pennies to rub together. The man’s most prized possession is a pocket watch he inherited from his grandfather. The woman’s most prized possession is her long, beautiful hair. She wants more than anything to give her husband an expensive watch chain to go with his pocket watch, and so she decides to give up her own prized possession, her hair, to buy it for him. When Christmas day arrives, she gives the chain to her husband, but he no longer has the pocket watch. He sold it so that he could give her a set of expensive, beautiful combs to go in her now-non-existent hair.

“The Fourth Wise Man” is about just what the title says, a fourth wise man, who sold all that he possessed to buy three precious jewels which he hoped to give to the newborn Christ Child. Though he had planned to journey with the other three wise men to Bethlehem, he was delayed and failed to meet up with them. The fourth wise man spent his whole life searching for the Savior, and in his search he gave away one, then two, then finally all three of his jewels to help others in need. Finally, just at the time of the Crucifixion, he died and was rewarded with the vision of his Lord, who assured him that “inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Like I said, those stories seemed really depressing to me when I was younger, but I hope that you understand, as I do now, the great message that they carry about giving all that we have without regard for what we might get in return.

Giving the Gift of Christ

There are countless ways to give to others and show the Lord that we are grateful for all that He has blessed us with, but there one gift in particular that I know we can all give, no matter our resources--a gift that you can never go wrong with. That is the gift of the gospel--sharing the love of Christ with everyone. Last week I got the opportunity to tag along with a pair of sister missionaries as they went around visiting investigators and doing street contacts. They never once missed an opportunity to talk to someone. At first, when I was still in the mindset of a civilian, not a missionary, I thought they were being really pushy and kind of annoying--those people probably wouldn’t be interested in what a couple of young women had to teach about Christ. They were probably busy and didn’t care at all--why were the sisters wasting their time? But I quickly realized something, and I think Joseph B. Wirthlin said it best in an April 2003 conference talk. He said “the scriptures teach us taht [the Light of Christ] ‘lighteth every man that cometh into the world.’ The Light of Christ is the divine influence that allows every man, woman, and child to distinguish between good and evil. It encourages all to choose the right, to seek eternal truth, and to learn again the truths that we knew in our premortal existence but have forgotten in mortality.”

The gift of the gospel is something that every single person on the face of the earth, whether they know it or not, wants to receive this year. It is a gift that will always come in handy, a gift that never gets old, and a gift that keeps on giving. It is a gift that we should always be looking to share with our fellow men, not just at Christmas time, and everyone, no matter their station, has the Light of Christ whispering to them that they want to receive it. Christ wants everyone to know that He loves them enough to have Atoned for them, and it is our place, as those who have already received that knowledge, to gift others with it. It may seem like a daunting task, or you may think that your peers aren’t going to be interested, but I promise that the Light of Christ, as it shines in you as you testify, will be familiar to those you speak to. It is of course up to the recipient to appreciate the gift, but I know that those who are good recipients will never forget who gave them that gift. Furthermore, even if you fail, I know that the Lord blesses those who give their all to try and bring others to Him.

Giving Gifts to Christ

If there’s one thing I wish I could emphasize eloquently today, it’s that there is one person who we should never forget to give a gift to at Christmas time. Christmas is a celebration of our Savior’s birth. It is our way of showing how much we appreciate Him and His eternal sacrifice for us. So while giving gifts to others is what we mostly focus on, it ultimately should be Christ who were are giving our gift to.

Christ asks one thing of us--that we dedicate our lives to Him to show that we love Him for what He did for us. Keeping the commandments is a huge part of that, but the difference between following a commandment and is the difference between cleaning your room because you won't get dessert otherwise and doing the dishes for your mother because she's especially tired. Commandments in our minds seem to have a punishment-reward type relationship. We do it because we want to be exalted someday. But when Christ said "f honor Christ and give Him something that will show our appreciation and love, wouldn’t it be wonderful for us to give our lives to building the Kingdom not because He told us to but because out of love we want to serve Him?

Neil A. Maxwell once pointed out that our agency is the only thing that is really, truly ours. Everything else we’ve ever owned in this life--all our time, talents, and possessions-- has been a blessing directly from God. Everything we have is a gift from Him. Sharing those gifts with others shows our gratitude, but would you rather give Heavenly Father a thank-you note or a gift in return? The one way to give Christ a gift this Christmas is to sacrifice the only thing that we truly possess for ourselves--to turn our lives over to Him and say “thy will be done.”

This is not an over-night process. I’m by no means saying that I’ve accomplished this--not even in serving a mission. But that life-long effort, the daily, even hourly choices we make to act in accordance with God’s laws and Christ’s teachings, shows that above all we thank Christ for his sacrifice--He gave His life as a gift for us, and we in turn must give our lives as a gift for Him.

Conclusion

As someone going on a mission in only nine short days, I pray that I will be able to dedicate my agency to the Lord’s will for the next eighteen months and share the gift of His gospel with the people of Paraguay. And while a mission may not be for everyone, I know that every single person in this room and in this world has a divine purpose and can receive direction from God if they are willing to gift Him with their time and efforts. And I know that everyone has amazing potential to share their gifts with others. It is written in the Book of Mormon that “the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just--yea it had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else which had happened to them.” I testify that that is true--so many sorrows could be avoided, so much happiness attained, if we serve the Lord and strive to live and share His gospel. It is my prayer that we can all find ways to do so, find ways to give good gifts this year.

Caroling w/ the Presidency

I have such a wonderful stake presidency. And yes, as stake executive secretary my father counts. At least, in my mind. Anyways, every December these awesome church leaders take the time to go around to various members in the stake, sing carols to them, and leave a small gift. It's such a sweet way to show their love.

This year, I was blessed with the opportunity to go with them. It takes them several nights to cover all the wards in our stake, but my dad can usually make it to all of them. Last night, however, was also the night of Sarah's Christmas concert at the high school. He really wanted to go, and--for reasons I won't say here for fear of being run out of town--I didn't. (I love you, Sarah!) So when, on our morning walk, he was trying to figure out how to go both caroling and to Sarah's concert, I solved his problem for him and volunteered to go in his place. He was happy, I was happy. Win-win.

I invited Heidi Sager, my friend since high school, to come with me so I wouldn't be the only girl (awkward!). She eagerly accepted the invitation for which I was extremely grateful. We met Brothers Hunt, Gifford, & Wyeth and Presidents Ballard and Bush at the stake center at around 7:00pm. The brethren were so happy that we could come--in all honesty I don't think they would have considered themselves hindered if they were short one singer but they were ecstatic to find that they had TWO replacements for one man, and even better, we were both sopranos and could carry tunes! Yay!

It was overall a very fun night. Between houses we would chat and joke and by the end of it my jaw hurt from smiling so much. We had a limited repertoire of songs, but it didn't matter. The brethren sang them all very nicely and each verse was sincere. We must have gone to twenty different houses, ending each visit with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and a gift of a little "Polar Express bell." On each bell was a tag that said "Believe." I'm sure you know how that relates to a Polar Express bell and if you don't, we can't be friends.

It was all very sweet and happy, and half of the fun for me was getting to ride with Heidi, sing along to her Christmas CDs, admire the lights on all the houses we passed, and generally just catch up with each other. But my favorite event of the whole night was very early on at the second house we visited.

The brother living there wasn't able to come to the door, so we all were invited inside and sang to him at his bedside. As soon as we started "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing," this sweet old man's chin trembled and he squeezed his eyes shut to keep back tears. It was hard work to keep my own tears back when I saw that, but by the end of the song I was able to smile, because I knew that he wasn't sad because he was close to death--he was just so touched and so tuned in to the Spirit that our kind gesture of singing a Christmas hymn for him moved him to tears.

That's what caroling is all about. It's not about showing off your singing skills. It shouldn't seem like a chore for the people you sing to to get up and stand awkwardly at the door until you finish and walk away. Caroling is all about invoking the Spirit using a universal language that is incapable of being misunderstood--music. Singing to others is service. It's providing an excuse for people to take a few minutes of their day to feel the love of Christ, and when you sing with that intent, people will recognize it as a gift to them.

So if you ever get the chance this December and in Decembers to come, please go caroling. Sing to your neighbors and friends who need a little Christmas cheer. As Buddy the Elf said, "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." Believe it!

Farewell Information

Yay, I finally have my farewell figured out!

If you want to come see me before my 18-month adventure in Paraguay, please come to my farewell. I want nothing more for Christmas than to be able to say goodbye to those of you who have helped me become the person I am today.

There will be two farewells--one for Arizonans and one for Utahns.

The Arizona farewell will be on Sunday December 19th. I'll be giving a talk in my home ward's sacrament meeting at 10:30am at the Greenfield Chapel (let me know if you need more directions than that).

Later that night, my amazing parents are providing food, music and games for an open house where we can all visit and say our goodbyes properly. It should be a lot of fun. That will be from 7:00-9:00pm, and will be held at my home on 2030 E. Marlene Dr. (zip code 85296 for you mapquesters).

The open house in Utah will be held on December 28th. I'll have flown in that morning, and I'll be reporting to the MTC that next day (yay!!), so it's a narrow window. I know it's right after Christmas and many people will have other priorities, but if you can make it, please do. And if you could bring a treat to share, that would be so great. I won't have time to provide anything and I don't want to ask my grandparents to do so because they've already given me so much. They're providing their home on 1107 Eagle Wood Loop, North Salt Lake, UT, 84054 for the open house. Please come between 6:00 and 8:00pm, as my grandparents are temple presidents and have to get up super early the next day.

Thanks again for all that you do! I love you all and I hope I get to see you at my farewell(s)!

Great Mission Clothes Resources

So I utterly failed my goal to get all my mission shopping done before December. It's now December 7th, and I still only have half of my list taken care of. (I did, however, get all my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving. That's something to be celebrated, right?)

This last Monday I went to Kohl's and bought eight new outfits. They're really cute, and it's awesome to actually have outfits instead of just mismatched clothes. But it nearly killed me to spend so much money, not only because I am VERY short on savings but also because I've been having nightmares about showing up in Paraguay with the wrong styles and shoes that fall apart on the first day.

I am so scared that I'm doing this all wrong. There are tons of sister missionaries in my single's ward and they are a huge help, but none of them have been to Paraguay. Their advice is great for general sister missionaries, but what about my mission specifically?

I'm finding that flaw all around--there are so many resources for sister missionaries, but most of it is so general that it feels like elementary school self-esteem advice. "Just be yourself. Give 110%." "Yeah...okay. What about when I'm in Paraguay?" "Everyone wants to be loved." "I know, I know, but what is it like in Paraguay??" "Smiles are contagious." "GAAHH!"

Luckily, I've found some really great places to find peer-edited resources, and since they have helped smooth my feathers (A LOT) I thought I would share them here in case it could be helpful to anyone reading this blog.

Here is a facebook advice section made by sister missionaries that proved handy.

Sistermissionaryclothes.com (not to be mistaken for sistermissionarymall.com, which I've heard is way too limited and expensive) is, as it says on the home page, "for missionaries BY returned missionaries!" It's actually pretty cool. And here is the store founder's blog. (I'm not really following her advice very well, but I'm going to a very poor country so I think I'll be okay. Right? Right??)

And here's another blog with a great article on mission clothing: Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord: Missionary Clothing: Making Good First Impressions He's got some very good articles all throughout the site.

Some great shoe brands I've found are Earth Origins, Naturalizer, & Strictly Comfort. They all got great reviews on sites like JCPenney.com (comments on reviews on clothes online is the greatest thing every, FYI). I'm leaning towards Mary Jane styles, and I've been told that flats are the only way to go if you're on a walking mission, which I definitely am.

I'll try to be as informative as I can be when I journal and write home so that I can provide good advice for other Paraguay-goers. In the meantime, I hope these few resources help whoever, like me, is struggling with mission shopping. It certainly was helpful for me to write it down and realize how blessed I am to have the internet--so much advice to follow, so little time.