White Christmas! --- 12/19/12

There is so much to report on this week. You will be really surprised. :)

Mom, we met a couple last week that has recently reactivated and has been faithfully attending church meetings and everything. They have four children, and three of them are getting baptized on Sunday!

We are so excited. I can hardly believe the miracle that has unfolded. Soon, we will have an entire family that will be together forever.

We are still working with R***, but he hasn't come to church yet. He has a baptismal date for January, but we will have to change it again.

We are working with L*****. She is less active and really wants to come to church again. She's going to be there this Sunday. It was a goal we set weeks ago. She's a new mom and realizes the blessings that the church will bring to her baby. It's great to see her making all the changes that are necessary.

So, we had transfers today. And I was called to be a trainer! Sister Valdez, from Arizona, arrived fresh from the MTC yesterday and I'm so lucky to have her as my companion. It's a bit scary. We're both nervous, but we know we are where we should be.

Sister Portugal is serving with Sister Peterson in a different part of Olmstead. But she is still very close. :)

I'm looking forward to Christmas and I hope that you have a great holiday!

 

Bringing it...in the Bronx, 12/5/2012

Wow! Life is going great! Thanks for your package... It's going to be a long time till Christmas. :) The ipod is great! Thank you so much!

We don't have much time (again) so I got to go fast... And have got to email you first in the weeks that come. I usually save your email for last, but not anymore. I'll do better.

We moved into our new apartment on Monday. It was in much better shape than the last one. It's huge!! We live on the sixth floor and we can see Manhattan from our window. It's awesome.

We had a zone conference on Monday too. It was a really busy day. I was asked to speak on "Courage", which is one of the subjects for our Mission Theme. Isn't that funny? Courage is something I've struggled with a lot during my life and during my mission especially. I've studied it a lot. I want to share my talk with you.

Joseph Smith was an incredibly courageous man, but that courage came with time and testing and experience. Just like it does for us. If you recall the experience of the 116 lost pages, it was a time that Joseph learned the importance of courage (if you could tell more about that story for those who don't know it before emailing it out, that would be awesome... I don't have time to right all about it) In D&C 3, The Lord is talking to Joseph Smith afterwards. Read verse 7-8 first.

We learn that knowing God's character, knowing that He will support us is incredibly important in "not fearing men". God will support us in all that we go through.

Read verse 9-10

We learn that it is important to know that we are chosen. Joseph was chosen to be a prophet. Katie and I have been chosen to be full-time missionaries. You have been chosen to be a mom, a dad, a visiting or home teacher. We have all been chosen, and it's really important to know that.

And another thing that is important to know is found in Moroni 8. "Perfect love casteth out fear" That perfect love is charity. If we develop charity, we will not fear. They can't exist together. Pray for charity, seek it, and fear will leave. Beautiful, right?

That was my talk. I know that it's true. Courage is something that we can all develop.

 

We went to South Manhattan last week and saw the decorations at Rockefeller. So cool! We are hoping to go next week to see the actual tree. Haha.

 

We love serving here. It's an amazing opportunity.

I love you all!

Hermana Kindlespire

 

P.S. Pictures from the last few weeks. I told you about the Talent Show, right? Hopefully, otherwise that moustache picture won't make any sense.

Love you!