Wildbreeze in O-Town: Boxing Day!

(Christmas Day screenshot)

Family!

It was so wonderful to see and talk with all of you yesterday! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas together! It's so awesome that you're all together and doing fun things. :)

Thanks for all the Christmas gifts, including seeing all of you! I particularly love the bracelet. And I'm very glad for non-candy snacks! I also got that little Sadness charm from Sister Lamborn, and her mom sent us both a Joy and Sadness ornament. She said it fits the highs and lows of missionary work, particularly for a trainer and a greenie. She served her mission in Rome. :) We got coloring books from two different people. Tons of candy and other little things. It was fun to open everything after seeing it sit there for weeks. :)

This week~
I can never remember what I've written about Mondays. Mondays are the worst. Last Monday we did last minute Christmas shopping at one of the many sketchy "Disney discount" stores. All the knockoff things. :P

Tuesday I sent that lil package home and we discovered the second Poinciana post office. They're 3 streets away from each other. But this one is tiny and the workers are all from the UK (York, Samworth?, Scotland). I never want to go to another post office. :P

Susan and Patrick gave us Christmas presents. :) They're both so sweet; they call us family. They wanted to have us over for Christmas, but they're both in pretty bad health right now. :( They're gonna see if they're well enough for New Year's. She really wants to come to church, but has just felt like everything has been thrown at her to stop her from coming. She said she's not going to let anything stop her from coming in the new year.

We pitched in some money with the other Sisters to get dinner for the Mejia family. They just had a little baby girl, Sofia. They have another little girl under 2, Maya. They're both just gorgeous little girls. Their family has treated us like family too, and is always super welcoming.

Wednesday, Zone Conference! We had to leave essentially as soon as we woke up to get there on time, because it was at the Windermere chapel, across from the temple. As we got there, we saw the temple appear through the fog. So so pretty.

I led the music and discovered that I don't particularly enjoy leading music. :P Part of our District and our Zone leaders had a little musical presentation; we read some of the scriptures about Christ being born and sang the first verses of a few Christmas hymns between them. :) ZC was super focused on Christmas and Christ and Light the World. It was great. Lots of Christmas music and musical numbers. Everyone got a Christmas stocking.

There's a little LDS bookstore near the temple, and several people in our Zone went there for a while afterwards. I got a little wooden nativity. :)

Thursday was pretty great. There was a heavy focus in ZC on sharing Light the World, so we started stopping and talking with just about everyone about it. People LOVE that video. It conveys the Spirit to them, and softens hearts. There have been instances where we've seen that happen as they watch.

Got the front brake on my bike fixed, thanks to the Elders and a family in the Spanish branch. It was just rubbing a little bit. Now it's soooo much smoother to ride.

Had dinner with the other Cruz family in the ward. The mom and daughter are members and the grandma is not. She's the one that cooked for us. She loves cooking for people. They've got a super fat beagle and some kind of mutt that looks like Tramp in Lady and the Tramp. They also have a gorgeous piano. Jennie, who is 13, plays violin and is learning piano. She wants to play for me next time and have me play more. :) We taught the grandma the Restoration. She knows quite a bit about the church, but not a lot about the doctrine. She loves General Conference and books by President Hinckley. She also loves joking around and refers to herself as "that heathen woman". I've been working on teaching boldly and without hesitation (and "uh"s), and I definitely felt a difference in that lesson.

Friday we taught our investigator Michelle again! This was only the second time, but she's kept in pretty close contact with us since the first time. She didn't keep the commitment of reading from the Book of Mormon, because her life's been pretty hectic. So we promised her that reading it would bring peace and calm into her life, and then read a couple chapters with her instead of teaching a lesson. She said it definitely helped her right then, and she wants to read more now!

We haven't had a real, solid planning day the past couple of weeks. So much else to do. Fridays are just silly days.

We wrapped a ton of Christmas presents! One of the less actives we teach was worried that a couple of the kids that live in her house wouldn't have any Christmas presents. The ward got them a bunch of cool stuff and we got to deliver it. :)

Saturday was SO great! We taught 11 lessons. Just biked all over and talked to everyone that we saw. It felt like the hottest day since I've been here; we were so sweaty. Didn't put sunscreen on that day, oops.

One lady that we talked to was suuuper skeptical about us talking to her. And then she LOVED the video and asked where the church is.

We also met the coolest less active member. He knows the gospel is true, and just has some issues with the church. But he invited us in, joked around with us, gave us cookies and milk... He's got a really fun personality. (He also has two GIANT dogs. Akitas. Gorgeous. "You can leave your bikes out here. Most people in the neighborhood know that I WILL let my dogs eat them.")

Had dinner with the Quispes and her nonmember parents. We shared the Plan of Salvation with them and involved the kids. We've just got so many cool families in the ward that have treated all four of us like family.

I also had Muppet Christmas Carol stuck in my head all day. I'm glad you guys watched it. :)

Didn't write in my journal for yesterday; it was so busy and crazy and great! We left to the North Sisters' house as soon as we woke up, and we all opened presents together! Made a big ol mess in their apartment.

Church was awesome! The organist must have been from Kissimmee ward, and he was really good. He made the organ sound like bells before and during the last verse of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". The Kissimmee ward bishop talked about the symbolism of different Christmas things, and it honestly felt rather forced/made up, haha. Bishop Palomino, our bishop, talked about the "Spirit of Awesomeness" in Christmas, relating it to his 6 year old son who always has a fantastic attitude and outlook.

The North Sisters got their own car! We're not sure how it's going to work with miles, but they were very excited for that Christmas present, haha.

Hung out at the Creamers' house and Skyped. :)

Taught a few lessons.

Had dinner at the Wilsons' house. They also say hello. :) We had traditional Christmas dinner, if you still wanted to know. Ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, glazed carrots... It was so good. We also had chocolate pie and my new favorite apple pie ever.

Went home and looked at our plies of presents and collapsed into bed. I'm so tired.

Hope y'all have a great week this week and a fantastic new year! Any plans for New Year's Eve? We have to be in an hour earlier because people be crazy.

Love you all. Loved seeing you all. Happy Boxing Day.

Love,

Christine