A Southern Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Yes we had Turkey, yes the food was all amazing, yes there was a lot of it. It was pretty much the same as a Thanksgiving meal in Utah. Some of the more "Southern" Foods that were included in our Thanksgiving meal were butter beans, Mac and cheese (the good kind), fried corn bread, corn bread dressing (I have to admit to liking the other kind better), lots of Pecan pie, Sweet potato pie(that was a new one), and of course banana pudding! I have maybe had banana pudding twice before coming here...now it's a regular ;) Really though, it's so much better in the south! And it's everywhere.

This week feels like three all smashed together. 

Thanksgiving- It was super fun! We ran the Turkey Trot on Thursday morning. It was a 5 mile run with all sorts of members of the community. Oh how I miss running!! At least we get to do a little on the track by our apartment in the mornings. That was a blast though. Sister Demann actually won 50 dollars because everyone who ran was placed in a random drawing for money prices. Crazy right?! Later that day we went to a member's house for Thanksgiving lunch. We got to see lots of less active members and even non members. It was wonderful to see their family love and unity. There were many times when we were all able to bear testimony of the blessing of the gospel and families. It was a wonderful, spirit-ful meal. The neat thing was that President and Sister Cottle actually came to lunch with the same family! Pretty neat to have thanksgiving with your mission president.

A cute recent convert made a Christmas wreath for us
so Sister Demann and I sent our Christmas greetings :)
Make sure it's a season full of service and sharing the
light of Christ with all you meet :)
ALSO look up "A Savior is Born" if you haven't yet.

This week my testimony of fasting has been strengthened. Yesterday sister Demann and I held a special fast for a few certain investigators. All of them were close to their baptismal dates, doing great, and then all of a sudden..they were hit with different challenges that they weren't sure how to face. While we are helping them through their challenges, there is another level of conversion they must experience on their own. We knew Heavenly Father could help them with this if they had sincere desire and real intent. 

One of the individuals who had been struggling told us she was never going back to the church again, and that she was done. Our hearts ached for her and her situation, but we had to accept that it was in the Lord's hands. Naturally, we were shocked to walk into Gospel Principles class yesterday and find her waiting for the lesson. Later that night we met with her and she told us the story of how the Holy Ghost had been working with her. After watching the restoration video and reading a few scriptures afterward, she described a feeling that started in her heart, made her feel all "light and bubbly."She said she couldn't get rid of the feeling. It had stayed with her and somehow pulled her to church. She didn't mean to come, but did anyway. She told us she was trying to get away, that she was done, but that something wouldn't let her. We had been fasting and praying for her that day, and she could not deny the conversation the Holy spirit had with her spirit. When we open our heart, He WILL enter.  It was an incredible experience. 

Rug Doctor!

On Saturday we got to do a lot of service. We decorated the Ward's Christmas float and Shampooed the carpet of an investigator's house. They had 7 puppies that weren't potty trained :( I sent a pic of me with the rug doctor as the second attachment.  

Love you all tons!