Dear family & friends,
Merry Christmas!! I hope you take time on Christmas Day to truly appreciate the Savior and reach out and serve someone special (or even just a stranger) that day!
Shout out to Mom, Dad, Justin, & Bryce & the Ford family for the packages! And to the Ferrin family, Sis. Hardison, & Sis. Tollefson for the cards!
Also, DESTINY GOT BAPTIZED!!! Details to come later.
And next, shout out to Mom & Dad and family who sent me the DELICIOUS Arizona oranges and grapefruit!! They taste significantly different from oranges here. They are so sweet and yummy! Thanks again :) I ate a whole lot (and my companion doesn't like oranges, so hey, more for me!) and then I put 18 into a bag on Saturday so I could share them with our zone at our zone activity that day. On the way to our zone activity, we had time to contact so we pulled over for a minute and said a prayer to know where to go. The word "trees" came to Sis. Ngawharau's mind so I thought, "Okay, let's go to Nut Tree" - a shopping complex nearby. But then we both felt we should go to the park downtown...with lots of trees haha. While we contacted there, we ran into a potential investigator of our's named Orlando. He still had the Book of Mormon we gave him and we noticed he looked really down on his luck. He confided that he has been homeless and searching for a job to find a place to live. Immediately the oranges popped into my mind and then Sis. Ngawharau asked him if he was hungry. He said yes, and we told him we would be right back. We ran back to the car and grabbed the oranges and brought them to him. His eyes filled with tears and he said thank you and asked if we could say a prayer together. We said a prayer and offered him a ride to church the next day, and he accepted.
Sunday morning, our ward mission leader, Justin, picked Orlando up! He loved Sacrament Meeting and was wearing this lovely red sweater - very Christmasy :) After church, though, he disappeared! We wondered what happened and asked a member Harrison, who had been befriending Orlando during church. He told us that another member, Blake, has been going through a rehab center in Santa Rosa and there was an extra room available, so he set things up for Orlando to have a place to stay for two weeks and they left for Santa Rosa after church! Talk about a good use for the rest of the oranges AND what an inspired prompting we received to go to the park in downtown Vacaville! #thechurchistrue #godisreal
Alright! This week was awesome!
Monday: The doctors found a medication for Sis. N!! And figured out what was wrong: kidney stones. Lots of them. Ouchy.
Tuesday: Came down with a horrible cold haha. It's alright though. That night Destiny had her baptismal interview and did a great job! :) Elder Fonseca, our district leader, is awesome and helped her feel comfortable. It was super good, too, because she is pretty shy.
Wednesday: Transfer day! We had an all-mission Christmas devotional/lunch/party. Loads of pictures to come (they are all on my camera and we don't have access to a computer this week). My favorite part of the whole thing was a musical number to the primary children's song "Mary's Lullaby." Two sisters - Sister Afoa from New Zealand and Sister Fernandez from Spain - sang the coolest version of it on the ukelele.
That night we also taught Destiny about temples and eternal marriage and the priesthood and missionary work. She invited so many people to her baptism! She is also trying to help her 12-year-old neighborhood friend start meeting with missionaries. She is STOKED for the temple. She also found out her brother who lives in Sacramento got baptized into our church 3 years ago!!! So amazing. And his girlfriend is on a mission in Costa Rica! Yay!!
Thursday: Finished lesson 5 Laws and Ordinances with Destiny at Sister Nickolette's house! Yay! We also weekly planned and FINALLY felt well enough to go out and contact. Yay! It felt good to go out and work.
Friday: Sis. N woke up with a GIANT tooth ache. Had an emergency dentist trip, and found out that Sis. N needs a root canal :/ Ick. She is now on three prescription drugs to help with kidney stones, kidney stone pain, and tooth pain. The root canal is scheduled for January 8th. Poor girl!
Here is what the doctors have said in all of our visits:
1. Must be a stomach infection: antibiotics!
2. Must be constipation: poo milk!
3. Must be BAD constipation: poo powder!
4. Must be kidney stones: hardcore pain killer and kidney stone softener prescription!
5. Must be a rotten nerve: root canal!
Poor Sis. Ngawharau! I feel so bad for her - America has been ROUGH on her body so far.
Saturday: Destiny got baptized!!! Her nonmember parents and nonmember brother came! And her member brother! :) Yay!!! It was such a beautiful baptism. And her parents hearts were really softened. AND, she only had to go under once! Huzzah! It was the smoothest baptism I've been a part of. Destiny was SO happy when she came up out of the water :) I love being able to be a part of people's lives and to be a tool in God's hands. There is nothing better! Also, earlier that day, the miracle with Orlando and the oranges :)
Sunday: Destiny got confirmed!! Her family attended that as well and her mother was especially touched by the hymns. Her whole family is interested now :) #familiesareforever AND, that whole miracle with Orlando getting a place to stay. Amazing how when we put forth our faith, we are IMMEDIATELY blessed.
Merry Christmas!! I love you all! I am especially excited to talk to mi familia! See you in a few days :)
Love,
Sister Nikole Decker
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