Hey everyone!!! It's reeeeeallly feeling a lot like Christmas here!! Except not, at all.
Just wanted to give a few shout outs first off...
1. My mom for being the best in the entire world. I already told you but I just wanted to remind you by publicizing it :)
2. HP Ward!!! I got all your sweet letters this week and they made me happier than you guys can ever imagine seriously!! I may or may not have gotten choked up every time a primary child said "I miss you" or "When are you coming back?" hahaha so so sweet I love you guys so much! It came at a perfect time - was really needing those this week :)
3. My amazing Grandma for not only writing me a descriptive letter of all our families doings every week but also taking the time to send a Christmas and birthday package and it made me so happy. I love you so much thank you a million :)
This week... was good! A little weird but good haha. My companion and I are keeping track of tender mercies and I wanted to share a few with each of you.
1. We get to stay here together for Christmas and if that's not evidence that the Lord is in every detail of my life I'm not sure what is. I love my companion so much and she has been such a blessing in my life. She even secretly spent her last 5 reais on my favorite candy to brighten my day this week.
2. The papers of Rafiela and her husband have come through and they are going to get married this weekend!!! I am going to do her hair and makeup and it's going to be the best Christmas present ever. They will both be such strong leaders in the church I can feel it.
3. We found another family this week that are just so elite. We will be helping them get married and baptizing them on January 2nd. If you could see the smile on my face right now- you would be smiling too :)
4. We had a Christmas conference here in the mission! It was so fun to be with all the missionaries and it's amazing how our President always seems to know exactly what I need to hear. Our zone got asked to do a special musical performance and we did a joke including rapping Joy to The World. It was the funniest thing. I was worried the Pres would be mad but he ended up laughing so were good. Then to do something spiritual we sang Angels We Have Heard on High starting with me and my comp, and then slowly all the missionaries in our zone came in. On the last verse everyone in the room stood up and sang ´Gloria` and I couldn't even finish as it hit me that Christmas and this time of year is so much bigger than all of us. My understanding of who my Savior is in my life is deeper than it's ever been and I couldn't have felt more grateful for him than I did in that moment.
5. Samuel was baptized and confirmed this week! I felt bad because his baptism had all kinds of crazy moments. The font wasn't filled when we arrived with him and there were disgusting bugs all in it so first we cleaned it out and then we were in a hurry so we tried to fill it up with a fire hose but that didn't work out... in the end he was baptized and is so excited to serve a mission. He is convinced he is going to Tokyo and speaking Japanese. Hey, you never know!
6. Last week I left my camera charger at the cyber cafe and I was so sad because I didn't have it at the Christmas conference and I was stressed because I don't think they make this kind here in Brazil. Plus, the chances of them keeping it would have been slim to none considering I'm in Manaus... everyone steals everything. But I thought I would try and just pass by the café later in the week and the man who works there (who actually robbed my money one time) for whatever reason had kept my chord safe and was happy to give it to me. The Lord is in the littlest details of our lives.
Today my companion are going to decorate our house and make presents for the ward today!! and IM SO EXCITED TO SKYPE MY FAMILY NEXT WEEK!!!!!
I just wanted to say I love you all. Thank you for everything you have done for me. Even though being so far away is hard on Christmas and my birthday, I have so much to be grateful for. I love my Savior. I love Him for what He has done for me and will continue to do throughout my whole life. I love Him for what He does for my investigators, I love Him for what He did for my family and my future family. I love this gospel and the knowledge that we are never for one minute alone and when we count our blessings we will be able to recognize there is always the hand of God actively working in our lives.
Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Arbuckle
Just wanted to give a few shout outs first off...
1. My mom for being the best in the entire world. I already told you but I just wanted to remind you by publicizing it :)
2. HP Ward!!! I got all your sweet letters this week and they made me happier than you guys can ever imagine seriously!! I may or may not have gotten choked up every time a primary child said "I miss you" or "When are you coming back?" hahaha so so sweet I love you guys so much! It came at a perfect time - was really needing those this week :)
3. My amazing Grandma for not only writing me a descriptive letter of all our families doings every week but also taking the time to send a Christmas and birthday package and it made me so happy. I love you so much thank you a million :)
This week... was good! A little weird but good haha. My companion and I are keeping track of tender mercies and I wanted to share a few with each of you.
1. We get to stay here together for Christmas and if that's not evidence that the Lord is in every detail of my life I'm not sure what is. I love my companion so much and she has been such a blessing in my life. She even secretly spent her last 5 reais on my favorite candy to brighten my day this week.
2. The papers of Rafiela and her husband have come through and they are going to get married this weekend!!! I am going to do her hair and makeup and it's going to be the best Christmas present ever. They will both be such strong leaders in the church I can feel it.
3. We found another family this week that are just so elite. We will be helping them get married and baptizing them on January 2nd. If you could see the smile on my face right now- you would be smiling too :)
4. We had a Christmas conference here in the mission! It was so fun to be with all the missionaries and it's amazing how our President always seems to know exactly what I need to hear. Our zone got asked to do a special musical performance and we did a joke including rapping Joy to The World. It was the funniest thing. I was worried the Pres would be mad but he ended up laughing so were good. Then to do something spiritual we sang Angels We Have Heard on High starting with me and my comp, and then slowly all the missionaries in our zone came in. On the last verse everyone in the room stood up and sang ´Gloria` and I couldn't even finish as it hit me that Christmas and this time of year is so much bigger than all of us. My understanding of who my Savior is in my life is deeper than it's ever been and I couldn't have felt more grateful for him than I did in that moment.
5. Samuel was baptized and confirmed this week! I felt bad because his baptism had all kinds of crazy moments. The font wasn't filled when we arrived with him and there were disgusting bugs all in it so first we cleaned it out and then we were in a hurry so we tried to fill it up with a fire hose but that didn't work out... in the end he was baptized and is so excited to serve a mission. He is convinced he is going to Tokyo and speaking Japanese. Hey, you never know!
6. Last week I left my camera charger at the cyber cafe and I was so sad because I didn't have it at the Christmas conference and I was stressed because I don't think they make this kind here in Brazil. Plus, the chances of them keeping it would have been slim to none considering I'm in Manaus... everyone steals everything. But I thought I would try and just pass by the café later in the week and the man who works there (who actually robbed my money one time) for whatever reason had kept my chord safe and was happy to give it to me. The Lord is in the littlest details of our lives.
Today my companion are going to decorate our house and make presents for the ward today!! and IM SO EXCITED TO SKYPE MY FAMILY NEXT WEEK!!!!!
I just wanted to say I love you all. Thank you for everything you have done for me. Even though being so far away is hard on Christmas and my birthday, I have so much to be grateful for. I love my Savior. I love Him for what He has done for me and will continue to do throughout my whole life. I love Him for what He does for my investigators, I love Him for what He did for my family and my future family. I love this gospel and the knowledge that we are never for one minute alone and when we count our blessings we will be able to recognize there is always the hand of God actively working in our lives.
Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Arbuckle