Wildbreeze in O-Town: I survived my first transfer!

Hello family~

Transfer calls came on Saturday, and, as expected, Sister Lamborn and I are staying in Pleasant Hill South! The North Sisters are staying, too, so we're all here for Christmas and New Years! :)

I got the iPod and the Shutterfly package! Thanks so much! I'm enjoying the music. The Shutterfly one is under our tree. I'm excited to get whatever else you've sent. :)

And I'm glad you like Light the World so much! I think it's awesome. We're sharing it with everyone. Everyone has time for a 30 second video a day. :P

I'm so glad Amanda liked her card! And that all the other kiddos are doing well.

This last week was SO MUCH BETTER than last week! Attitude really makes such a huge difference. I decided to have a better week, and I did. I had to consciously change what I was feeling once or twice, but it helped a ton. Nobody likes a mopey missionary. :P

Last Monday I had french fries for the first time in a month. That's not significant. I just really wanted fries.

We had District meeting on Tuesday last week instead of Thursday. We had a end-of-transfer party and our Zone Leaders wanted to be there. Hence the switch. All of the thoughts were on joy and Christmas. This District has been wonderful to be a part of. One of our Hermanas goes home tomorrow, and two of our Elders are being transferred.

We taught S_ _ (our miracle investigator) the Restoration, and she had some fantastic questions. She said she has never in her life wanted to step foot in a church, nor has she really felt God's love... until she met us. Her father is a less-active member, so she's seen missionaries in the past, but has never been interested, never had it click.

We built a bookshelf for her, which was so fun. They were super grateful, and I was just glad to have a project to do. I wish I could build one of those little models, but there would really be no time for that.

They bought us dinner, too! She's so incredibly grateful for everything, and just wants to give back whatever she can. Her dad is this cool old super deaf Canadian with great childhood stories.

Then we visited B_ _ and A_ _ and their daughter. They're recent converts and their daughter just barely turned 8. They're going to have another little girl in January. :) Other missionaries have had a hard time or haven't bothered trying involving the dad in lessons, and he made it a challenge. She and Sister Lamborn both like Pokémon, so she likes her because of that and it makes it easier for us both to engage her. We had her draw the Plan of Salvation (I'll send a pic). She is an amazing little artist! It's such a fun idea to get kids involved in the lesson and help them remember it too.

We were suuuuper late for service on Wednesday, but it was SO GREAT. I LOVE Give Kids the World. We worked in the castle for the first time!!! It's so amazing. They have a star on the ceiling for every child that's been there (well, nearly. They didn't start that right when the organization started). Over 145,000 stars. It's stunning. We had two main jobs in there.

First, to help the kids write their names on/decorate their stars. We then take the star and give it to Stellar the Star Fairy. She puts it up overnight, and they can come back the next day to see where their star is.

The other main job is the Pillow Tree. Every kid that visits GKTW, along with every child in their group, gets a pillow. It's this cute little tree with an owl that talks to them. The tree grows the pillows with love. The kids make them grow by touching the tree and thinking of who they love. Then the pillows...magically appear in a little stump next to the tree. It's just all so cool. (And actually, people around the world make the pillows and send them to GKTW to be stuffed! It's awesome!)

There weren't many people that day, but we explored the castle and colored and just enjoyed the atmosphere. GKTW is the best.

Thursday was a busy day, we taught so much! One woman we delivered a Bible to was interesting. She invited us in and talked to us a ton, but when we started teaching the Restoration, she cut us off. She said she wanted to read the pamphlet and some of the Book of Mormon so she had some background in what we were teaching, and THEN she'd have us over. Kinda weird.
But then we had a lady who we taught the whole Restoration to... and she loved it. She accepted what we were saying and told us that she loved having us there.

Met the most interesting lady that day too. She waved at us as we were driving away and looked SO HAPPY, so we pulled over and walked with her for a bit. She was super sweet and a little crazy, haha.

Fridays are slow because most of what we do all day is planning. So we're stuck in the house all the day and we go a little crazy. We were joking and laughing so much towards the end, haha. Also contacted a ton of referrals. We have a bunch, and they're often hard to get a hold of.

Saturday was super interesting. We left about 7:15, and drove an hour and a half to a town called Christmas. We spent the day at Fort Christmas historical park? They have a festival/showcase/something once a year. Lots of little booths selling little things. The mission hosted a booth focused on Family Search, so we basically just sat there with Elder and Sister Kearl, wandered a bit, tried to talk to people... So many people said things like, "I already know too much about my family history." Haha. We also had a handcart, and Elders James and Zollinger pulled kids around in it. It was a fantastic conversation starter. (There are pictures of me in the handcart, but I'd have to get them from Elder James.) I really want to go there another year. There were so many cool things to see.

After that, we went to the tail end of Angie's baby shower. We get invited to all the parties, it's pretty great.

We were at church so long on Sunday. We had coordination with our ward mission leader at 12, then ward council. We didn't go to Relief Society, and instead talked to the less-active daughter of Sister Burton (they're fantastic and they like to give us food and other things). She wants to be more active and introduce her boyfriend to the church, and was asking us for how to approach the topic, where to find scriptures, etc.

After church they had Young Women in Excellence and dinner. Some of the YW in this ward are so amazingly talented. One girl loves theater, loves Hamilton, sang a song from Waitress... Her family is so cool.

And then it was the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. The Spanish branch was watching it, and technically we shouldn't have been there, because we're supposed to be home by 8 on Sundays... But our District leader is serving in the Spanish branch, so he was there and he gave us permission. :)

That was the week, and I'm not sure what else to write! I hope these letters aren't too long and boring. :P

Basically what I've learned from this week is that prayer and positivity are so important. Choosing to have a good week affected my entire week for the better. I got along with Sister Lamborn better, I taught better, I had more of a desire to teach... Attitude is important.

Last thought: people here take Christmas seriously. The moment Halloween was over, and especially after Thanksgiving was over, lights were EVERYWHERE. Not just a few lights. Lights ALL OVER. It's amazing. Christmas is the best. I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season. I love you all.

Love,

Christine