*contrary to popular belief, Christmas is about giving*
I hope y'all had a great Christmas!
Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Big 21!
Christmas time is the most amazing time to be a missionary! Christmas here in Bowling Green was so wonderful! It was definitely very different for me to have a warm and humid Christmas (75 degrees on Christmas Day)! But Christmas on a mission is an experience that I am so grateful to have and will always remember. I have felt so close to the real Christmas Spirit. I seriously just love Bowling Green more and more every day! Big things happening here!
We saw so many miracles this week.
First Miracle: So last P-day, we were shopping at Walmart and there was a Hispanic lady with her two kids, so we went up and talked to her. We introduced ourselves and asked her if we could come to her house and share more with her! We found a member to come with us, and we got there and her, her husband, and her two kids all sat down, turned off the tv, and listened to us and really paid attention. It was such an amazing lesson. We scheduled a lesson for later on this week.
Second Miracle: On Monday night this past week, we had planned to go to the home of some less-active members, the P---- family, and act out the nativity together, but they ended up cancelling on us. So we decided to knock doors. We knocked quite a few doors, and we got to this one door I had knocked before (yes, I've been here long enough I've started repeating doors). We knocked two times, and usually we leave after two times. But we knocked a third time, the celestial knock. And someone answered! His name was E------, and we started talking to him. We introduced ourselves, and he said, "Hey! My uncle is a member of that church! His name is Hermano P----!" And it was just like...definitely not a coincidence. Long story short, he is prepared to recieve the gospel and has questions.
Third Miracle: I don't know if i mentioned Y-------. She fell through after a couple lessons and failure to come to church, but we decided to try her one more time before we dropped her. We knocked on her door and she let us in. After some small talk, we asked her if she had been reading in the Book of Mormon. And she said yes. We asked her if she had prayed about it, and she said yes. Then we asked her what she thought about it, and she said that she knows that it is true. It was a moment right out of Preach My Gospel. We scheduled an appointment, and we went back and reviewed the Restoration with her because it has been a while since she had that lesson. At the end we invited her to be baptized and she accepted. So we scheduled a date with her. Tender mercies.
We also had some fun service opportunities this past week! The sisters have an old couple that they are teaching, and they invited all of us to come to this Christmas party at the senior center and cheer up the people there. Then we also went with all of the missionaries from Bowling Green to an adult daycare and sang Christmas hymns. I have done a lot of singing this year, like a lot... hasn't been pretty but did bring the Spirit.
I had a great birthday! it was also a day of way too much food. I have never been so full in my life. We got invited to breakfast by the Spanish group leader. Then that was when we all went and did service with Sister Painter's alpaca farm. Haha! We fed them and filled up their water. It was awesome! I got to pet them and feed them, and one of them even spit on me. Then she made all of us lunch. A family from Nashville was up here in Bowling Green celebrating Christmas, so they called us, and we got to see them! It was seriously the best thing. But, she wanted us to eat her cookies and drink her punch. Because in the Hispanic culture, they make this fruit punch. They boil a bunch of fruit together and that makes a cider-like punch, and then it has a bunch of fruit you eat. It's good but crazy filling. Then we had a dinner with, the G------- family. And she had us eat four tamales and punch. I might've slipped into a little food coma after that! Then we visited M-----, and we shared a spiritual thought with him, and by the time we were done, his girlfriend had made us two sandwiches each. We both looked at each other and about cried. But we did it. We somehow ate the sandwiches and the dessert she gave us afterward. The saying "stuffed to the rafters" has a new meaning to it. We drank Martinelli's cider with the sisters from real champagne glasses, and I felt so old. It was a great birthday.
CHRISTMAS! We woke up early and opened all of our presents! Then we went to a sweet old couples house for a southern breakfast! Complete with biscuits and gravy, as well as chocolate gravy, which was SO GOOD. That was definitely my first really southern food and it was so good. Then we had church. Later, we skyped our families. BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER. Man. I just love my family so much. So much! That was the best hour ever. Then we went over the J----' home for dinner. They live in the beautiful countryside on a farm.
Sorry I wrote a novel, but consider it my Christmas present! I love being a missionary. End of story.
Always,
Hermana Nielson
P.S. Here are some photos.
