Dear family and friends,
First off, hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and I hope you also all have a wonderful New Year! Second, thank you to everyone who sent me a card, e-mail, gift, etc. I had an amazing Christmas. Special shout out to Uncle Gifford and Aunt Marci - the stockings were so great! Thank you so much for thinking of my companion and I :) We both appreciated and loved every gift.
I'm pretty sure I had the best Christmas EVER this year. Christmas on a mission is the most amazing day. It was by far my favorite day so far in the mission. Here's what I told President Alba about it (I'm sorry I'm starting to just copy and paste the letter I write to him here...it usually points out the highlights of the week, so I think why not?!):
Christmas was incredible! You know why this Christmas was so memorable? Because instead of receiving, I gave.
What made Christmas Eve even more memorable was after the dinner when we caroled! As you know, Sisters Zenger, Timmons, Hamilton, and I, and Elders Martin, Nelson, and Tepox caroled to the Foley family. Sis. Zenger walked ahead of us and all of a sudden - SMACK!! She hit the ground. She said her arm hurt, but we ended up still caroling to the Foley's. They loved it, too! They all teared up and said thank you.
Afterwards, we walked to the car and we really checked out Sis. Zenger's elbow...it was bent at a very odd angle and looked rather wrong. So we called Sister Stewart and she told us to head over to her house, which we did. We (we from now on means the Brushcreek sisters, Sis. Zenger, and I) knocked on what we thought was her door, but instead four YSA age young women/men opened the door and were all giddy and said, "Ooh carolers!!!" So amidst all of Sis. Zenger's pain we ended up caroling to the as well! I mean, we couldn't pass up a missionary opportunity! (We are going to go back and knock on that house after New Year's)
Finally we knocked on Sis. Stewart's door. Sis. Stewart looked at it and told us we needed to take Sis. Zenger to the ER, so we drove over there. Tender mercy of the Lord: we were in and out of the ER in about 2 1/2 hours! The nurses and doctors were so kind to Sis. Zenger, and we had several missionary moments with them :) They ended up telling her she had to go see an orthopedic doctor because the "fat pad" (blood buildup inside her arm) was blocking the bone to really tell if her arm was broken. They guessed it was a radial head fracture, right at the elbow - we are seeing an orthopedic doctor tomorrow at 9am. We got home at about 11:15pm and hit the pillow around 11:45 after some quick planning.
Crazy Christmas Eve in the ER!
The next day was amazing, as well. We had a delicious zone breakfast with fresh fruit, French toast, biscuits, and juice, played soccer and basketball together, Skyped home, spent the last hour and a half of the evening with our Bishop that night...
But my favorite part of Christmas - or I guess my two favorite parts - was 1. Being able to serve my companion all day long (and as a matter of fact, all week long!) and 2. Caroling at the hospital after Skyping home. After Skyping on Christmas I ended up crying for a few minutes because it just made me realize how much I love and miss my family. I felt so self-absorbed and silly, though. We planned to carol at the hospital after Skype, so I wiped my eyes and we headed to the hospital.
At first we only planned on caroling for an hour, but we ended up caroling for two because the reception was amazing and the Spirit was so strong. We went to all 4 floors of the hospital and asked each nursing station which patients of their's would enjoy a Christmas carol. The nurses led to room after room; some patients got out of their beds and walked into the hall to listen. It was incredible. So many people ended up with tears streaming down their face and gave us four sisters a warm thank you and smile.
I don't think I've ever felt so close to God or felt so much love for anyone as I did Christmas evening, singing reverent Christmas hymns for those who couldn't be home this Christmas. I felt so happy, so content, so calm. I felt like the Savior. It was the most beautiful, touching time I've yet had on my mission.
There are three experiences that stick out most in my head. One was in the ICU of the hospital, we sang "In Wondering Awe" to a woman with a teenage daughter. The woman couldn't move much, but as soon as we started singing, tears streamed down her face, and I ended up tearing up a bit as well. She couldn't really talk much, but she just blinked through the tears and said, "Thank you so so much."
The second was when we were in the mother-baby section of the hospital. We went into one new mother's room and sang "Away in a Manger" while she was holding her beautiful, new baby boy. The Spirit was so strong and she teared up and held her little boy close to her as we sang.
The last will forever stand out in my mind. We were singing "Silent Night" to a woman outside of the Emergency Room (the staff wouldn't allow us to sing in the waiting room because of nurses doing triage with several patients). This one woman really wanted us to sing to her, so we did. At the same time, another woman with a young son walked by and listened as we sang the last verse of Silent Night. She clapped her hands and asked, "Could you please come sing to my husband?" We agreed and walked down the hospital hallway to her husband's room. Along the way the woman told us that her husband's appendix had burst and that he was now fighting an infection. His recovery wasn't smooth at all. He would love to hear a carol. So we get to his bedside and her husband only spoke Spanish. We asked what song, and his wife asked us to sing "Silent Night" but in Spanish. So we sang, "Noche De Luz..." And sang the entire song. His whole family was in tears at the end and he said to us (in Spanish, as his wife translated), "Not only has God and my family visited me tonight, but angels." It was so amazing.
President Alba, I will never forget this Christmas! I felt so close to the Savior this entire week, and I have loved every minute of it. My gift to the Savior this coming year: always carry that feeling I had on Christmas with me throughout the year; be a true representative of Jesus Christ. 2014 is my full year of mission. I will strive to truly be a representative of Him and bring as many people to feel His love as I possibly can this year.
That's my New Year's resolution this year. What gift will you give to the Savior this 2014?
Okay - cool stories this week. We have been teaching Ben every day for 2 weeks now (except Christmas) and he has a baptismal date for January 11th! He is so awesome - we're actually going hiking with him, some members of the Redwoods YSA ward, and several companionships in our zone at Annadel Park today for our P-Day activity.
The story with Ben, though, is so sweet. He's a pretty simple-minded guy, so we teach him very simply. We were trying to help him recognize answers to his prayers and recognize the Spirit the day after Christmas, and we asked him how he knows something is true. He said, "Well, God is good, and this is good, so I know it's from God." We talked about several other things and then he finally just asked out of the blue, "Can I ask God to help me be happy?" Turns out he has depression. His dad keeps telling him he needs to see a doctor about it, but he said since he's been going to church and learning about the Gospel, he's felt much happier. Sometimes it's still hard for him to stay happy though. It was such a sweet, tender moment - we told him that of course he can ask God to help him be happy.
I just want to testify to all of you that I KNOW God knows exactly who you are, and He loves you. This life is time for us to have joy. Sometimes we have things that let us down, make us sad, make us upset, or even break our hearts. I know that because God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, it is through Christ we can have all of those sins, sorrows, sadnesses, heartaches, and anguishes washed clean.
And I testify that the way to truly utilize and use the Atonement to be completely free, clean, and happy is through doing as He says - "come follow me" by being baptized into His restored Church by someone holding the proper authority of God (2 Nephi 31:10-12, St. John 3:5).
For those of you who are members but have fallen off, the Atonement is real (Isaiah 1:18). It is available for you. Alma the Younger was described in the Book of Mormon as the most vile of sinners, and yet he, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, transformed into one of the most influential prophets and leaders of the Church in ancient America. You can come back. That is why the Sacrament is such a privilege. Every week you can be completely washed clean, just like you were the day you were baptized. And it is all because of Jesus Christ's love for us - because of our Heavenly Father's love for us (St. John 3:16-17).
This year is a brand new year. Don't look back. Remember that "faith is always pointed toward the future" ("The Best Is Yet to Be," Jeffrey R. Holland, January 2010 Ensign). And remember that the word "tomorrow" is a thief. Make it today. Change, and have faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I'm leaving a couple of links to amazing talks. I hope you read them and have the faith to move forward this year.
Love you all so much!
Sister Nikole Decker
P.S. Pictures to come in the next week or two
P.P.S. I'll try to include some funny stories next time...my e-mails have been so solemn the past few weeks! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment