Called to Serve: week 11: we are the SERVICE sisters!!!

We have eaten wayyy too much sugar this Christmas, but we are now on a "health quest" as sister Birchell calls it. "Not a diet- bc that has the word 'die' in it- but healthier patterns." So funny!

This week was FILLED with service! On a-day we got together with our district to paint a member's house. They just moved wards and wanted some fun wall colors in their new place, so we offered to help out! But when I say "fun wall colors," I am not kidding. Lime green living room, aqua blue kitchen wall, pink and blue master bedroom, neon orange and yellow boy's room- the whole nine yards! And we didn't see the end result, but apparently the elders went back the next day to apply stickers! Yikes! To each their own, but it made us laugh at how the house looks like a brand new box of Legos haha.

We also did lots of gift wrapping and that has become my new favorite hobby! The elders were given probably 50 gifts for a couple families in need in their ward, so they dropped off bags of gifts to our place all week and I spent meal time wrapping every day. Total blast!

On Wednesday, we were knocking doors and a grumpy guy, Kassey, covered in tattoos and piercings opened the door. We introduced ourselves and asked if there was anything he or his family needed. He mentioned being behind on wrapping Christmas gifts for his kids and so of course I offered to wrap them! We showed up the next day (very much to his surprise bc he did not think I was serious haha) and spent an hour wrapping his gifts and talking with Kassey and his wife. We watched his heart completely soften in that hour and by the end, he was sitting crisscross applesauce in the doorway telling us about his life. The power of service is real!!! Pray that we will be able to get back in and start teaching their family!!

I'm sure you are all dying to know how we spent our Christmas Eve and Christmas day. It was normal days, so we had a couple mission devotionals, then spent the day making cookies to deliver to our friends and doing ward visits. On Christmas, we got to sleep in(best gift BY FAR!), call our families, eat lunch w a family (IN PERSON!!) who had an awesome farm and we ate one of their pigs and spaghetti squash from their garden, and then continued doing ward visits and meeting people. By the end of the day, we were EXHAUSTED!! But it was really enjoyable to be able to focus on Christ all day and bring the true meaning of Christmas into people's homes. One ward member called it, "the best worst Christmas away from home" and I think that sums it up quite nicely haha.

We were knocking doors Saturday night for an hour and it was FREEZING! I was in my rubber rain boots and literally could not feel my toes. Everyone was super friendly and talked with us, but not a single person let us into their homes. Before our last door, I burst into tears because my toes were completely numb and hurt so bad. I said a prayer that the people at the last house would either not be home or would let us into their house. And heavenly father heard and answered my prayer! They let us into their house, asked us lots of questions, and even sent us away with popcorn! It was such a blessing!

And finally! We had roommates for a few days and it was a blast! 2 of the other sisters got bed bugs in their apartment(ON CHRISTMAS!!) so while their place was getting fumigated, they stayed with us. The mission housing couple were gems and made everything come together quickly with new beds and sheets at our place for the girls. It was super nice to have more people to talk with, but sadly they leave tonight:(

MIRACLE: On Monday night, we were calling part member families to see if we could stop by and introduce ourselves. We called the wife of this nonmember, Tim, and she told us they were going through a divorce and he wasn't interested. She gave us his number and told us we could try calling him, but he would most likely cuss us out and hang up. WELL low and behold he did not. He talked with us for about 20 minutes about some of the hard things he has been dealing with and how he wanted something to hope for in his life. He agreed to meet with us in the Bishop's home and we were able to have 2 lessons with him this week. Tim is a major drinker, but he really has a desire to study the scriptures and he LOVES the gospel library app. We have already seen him feel so much more peace in his life in just a week and we are hoping to get him on date for baptism in our next lesson! Pray for our sweet Tim!!

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas and your new year starts off with a bang!!! 2021 is gonna be dang good!!

Love you all!!!

sis dougall <3