Before Christmas (I know it seems like ages ago) we were able to go to the Palmer's apartment (they are some Senior missionaries that take care of the office stuff) to have a Christmas sing along! Sister Palmer played the guitar and Sister Degener and I were asked to help with leading the music (especially with the songs others may not be familiar with)! We were able to invited this sweet lady in our complex that we helped move and she brought a friend too! It was so fun to be able to sing about Christ in the midst of the season :) Funny side note: After the singing was over and we were enjoying treats this Senior Sister asked me if I could sing Oh Holy Night for her, as a solo, right then and there. So I said sure, and I sat down in the chair in front of her. I didn't want a whole lot of attention and I hoped others would just carry on and not pay attention, but eventually everyone was silent as they listened to me sing. I was SUPER nervous at this impromptu solo but the Lord helped me that's for sure :)
Christmas Eve we went will a family in our ward to a place called Wheeler mission. It is a shelter for woman and children who are in distress, homeless or bereaved. We were able to prepare a Christmas meal for them and serve it to them. This is the the best part though, one of their traditions is to sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and have a cake for Him. This cake was MASSIVE and it is the most sugary cake you've ever seen!! Literally every child's dream birthday cake. There were chocolate chips and M&M's slapped on the side, it was out lined in dum-dums and there were rows and rows of Jelly beans and gummy bears. Oh and we put 2017 candles on the cake for how old He is...TOTALLY KIDDING! But we did put like 3 packs of candles on this cake! On a more serious note though, Sister Degener and I were able to serve this cake to the woman there and that was a really special experience to see these women and think about how God feels about them. They had been through so much, more than I can comprehend and to see how hard life had made some of them, and then to be able to share a little light with them through being kind and smiling and talking with them, to help them feel a little of the Savior's love this Christmas. Seriously the highlight of my Christmas with the people in Indiana.
We were able to contact a potential who knows a member and said she would be interested in learning what we believe! Her name is Becca, we should be contacting her the middle of January so stay tuned!
Funny things that happened:
1. We ate dinner with 3 people who were in their 70s, two of them being non-members. One of them was a man named Tom who had absolutely no filter whatsoever. Toward the end he said, "It's nice to be around young people with tight skin for a change." Afterward, Barb said, "Well I guess we know where we stand." hahahaha He also said "Mormons are such a fertile group"....it was so hard to supress our laughter!
2. We knocked on a Less-Actives door last night to ask when we could start teaching his daughter the discussions. He said, " I knew you were coming." We were like "You did? How?" We didn't tell him that we were stopping by... and he replied, "I had a dream about it last night." Woah. Apparently this is a normal thing for him. He even took a picture to prove it to his wife because he told her earlier that morning that we were coming over.
Also, I found out the COOLEST thing! There was this lady named Berta Knox in Mishawaka that Sister Murray and I only talked to on the phone and texted. She was going through a rough time, so we gave her encouragement. She was a Bible referral, and we ended up giving her a Book of Mormon too and writing our testimonies in it too. I just found out that the Sisters are now going to start teaching Berta and it is all because of how much love she felt from us! So cool how God works!
Okay, I've talked your ears off enough, I wanted to end with talking a bit about goals with it being the new year. In Preach My Gospel, there is a quote by Elder M. Russel Ballard said, “I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.” PMG also states, "Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish." This is a fantastic time of year to re-evaluate where we are and where we desire to be. Remember what your ultimate goals are, and make plans to accomplish them. Elder M Russel Ballard also said in His talk Return and Receive, "Goal setting is essentially beginning with the end in mind. And planning is devising a way to get to that end. A key to happiness lies in understanding what destinations truly matter—and then spending our time, effort, and attention on the things that constitute a sure way to arrive there." Remember to "seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." For in this can we find the most joy! Love you all! Happy goal setting!
Serving with a smile,
Sister Bradley
Pictures!
1. It was my first white Christmas!!
2. Say hello to my new friend, Sister Snow.
3. It's SOOO cold!!!
4. Happy New Year with the Gadbury family!!!
*(and some additional pictures Jenny forward to me)
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