Mirroracles!

Happy Thanksgiving you turkeys! As Mom would say... ha ha ;) Love ya Mom! This was a great Thanksgiving and we were so blessed! The members are so good to us; we got to go to lunch (which was a dinner) with the Ks, and then dinner with the Ms! Sooo many people offered us a dinner.

Can I just say that I love the members here? They are awesome! Every single one of them. They are so converted to the gospel and love this work. I really love working with the priests in the ward, and have made it a goal to really get them involved and coming out with us. I wish I would've known before the mission; I went out with the missionaries once. And I had no idea what was going on, or what my role with them was as a member. So I just bore my testimony and it was a lot of fun :) BUT anyway I think you should encourage the priests in the ward to proactively call the missionaries there and get a time to go out with them on exchanges. Often. That is one of the very best ways you can prepare for a mission, is just by doing missionary work. Read the Book of Mormon, read Preach My Gospel, and do missionary work with the missionaries there. It's an all around win-win situation =] One of my favorite things about working with the priests is just seeing them get all fired up for when they go on their missions. Something clicks in them and they just light up! They start talking to their friends, and losing the fear of rejection if someone says no. And we always have fun while at the same time meeting so many great people to share the gospel with! I love the members. It is only with the members' help that the real growth the Lord has told us we are capable of (with His help) will take place. It is taking place. Supposedly the Orlando, FL area is one of the hotspots for the church that is expected to just explode over the next several years. It is great to see and hopefully play a part in laying the foundation for that.

So this week at church we had 3 of the R boys! They are such a great family. Right now we have dates with those 3 for Dec 24! We are hoping to baptize their family on Christmas Eve, the Lord willing. How special would that be? Then they could be confirmed Christmas day :) The A family, who came last week, are still solid and we are going to meet with them this week. They are such a neat family as well. And then the 3rd amazing family we are working with is M & L! They are great. They weren't able to come to church yesterday because of their business. We were able to meet with them a couple times though this week, one of them where we helped put a table together and then read from the Book of Mormon together as a family at the newly assembled table. After that M, the head of the household, gave the closing prayer and did amazing! I love them so much. I love all of these people. They are becoming like family to me. I will be really excited for you guys to get to meet them all someday =]

Well, my time is almost up, but things are going great. Elder Mullen is such a blessing to be working with. He is a great guy and loves the work. He is exactly obedient, and very positive. I love it =] I am learning so much from him, one thing being to expect miracles daily. This is the Lord's work, you know ;)

A couple quick questions - Well, quick for me to ask =] I've just been thinking a lot about you Mom & Dad lately (and the siblings too =]) But I just want to know more about you! So these are some questions I have:

*What would you say are some of the gifts (as Elder Waddell talked about in Gen. Conf.) that you received from the Lord for serving your mission? How are they helping you in your lives today?

*How did you enjoy the MTC? What did you learn there?

*What did you do for schooling (college), and how did you decide what you wanted to do? Where all did you end up going, and for how long? What classes did you take and enjoy and would recommend?

*What is the whole story of you and Dad meeting and how did all of that play out?

*What can I do for you and the rest of the family to better love and serve you?

*What did you find/are you finding effective in member missionary work?

Ok, sorry =] I could go on. These are a great start though! I would love to just learn more about you, I feel like I really took for granted having such wonderful parents/family before the mission. I hope when I get back I don't overload you with questions and talking to you. So, in an effort to lessen that, I figured I'd start asking some of the questions now =] I love you!

I know the church is true =] God is so good and loving and merciful to us. He is in the details, as Sis. McNeill taught us in her homecoming talk. I love you all, keep on keeping on!