Monday, December 29, 2014

Christmas Time!

I loved talking to you guys on Christmas day.

On Christmas day after Skyping we stayed at the Branch President’s house and he made us dinner and we played dominoes.  Afterwards we took a couple of pictures in the park.

I am not sure what we are going to do for P-day, Elder Schlub and his companion are in charge.

I have no idea what we are supposed to do for the New Year, hopefully we will find out soon.

Besides the phone call, my favorite part of last week was Tuesday because we went Christmas caroling as a district to the less active members in our ward.

Least favorite day of last week was Saturday because it seemed like people were in bad moods.
Something that made me laugh was I literally got stuck in the mud while trying to maneuver my way across a muddy field to get to a house.  So now my boots are completely covered in mud.

Something that really touched me was our investigator Antonio’s daughter Jordan sang Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas day.  He showed us a recording of it and it was so cute!

Our other investigator, Kevin, is good.  He has an interview with our mission president this next Sunday.  Everyone is progressing nicely and we go two more investigators, so we are being kept busy.

Truth be told I hate being senior companion.  I don’t want to remember struggling my last two months in the mission.  (Funny thing that just came to my mind…the Saviors last days were not his favorite either, yet he fulfilled his mission.  I just have to endure.)

Well, I gotta go.

Love ya!
Sis. Donner


Senior Companion

December 22

The ward Christmas party was really fun, there were a tone of people there too; every ward had a party.

I am called boss now because I am the senior companion.

I am finally getting over my cold, but now I am starting to get a sore throat, I can’t win.  I actually got cough drops today and Kleenex, so I should be covered.

Ok, so something really cute that happened was with our new investigators daughter Jordan who is 4.  We showed her a picture of Jesus and asked her if she knew who it was.  She said no, so we told her it was Jesus.  She replied, “Jesus!” and hugged the photo of him.  It was so stinkin’ cute!

Something that made me laugh is during Zone conference we had a white elephant and one of the zone leaders, Elder Savage, opened his gift and he got Eeyore slippers, but then someone stole them.  So he opened another gift and it was another pair of slippers.  So, he immediately put them on his feet so no one could steal them.  It was hysterical!  

We have a baptismal date set for January 17th for a guy named Cameron who already knows a lot and just needs to be taught the lessons; he is golden.  The Lord has really blessed us a lot this transfer.
Last week I struggled with not being depressed.  I actually talked to Heavenly Father today and it made me feel a lot better.  I seem to be having longer conversations with him lately.  He is sending me beautiful mornings to make up for the hard days.

My favorite part of last week was Zone conference because we had a lot of musical numbers, and sang Christmas songs, and just had fun.  I sang a solo during Zone Conference, Away in a Manger.
I enjoy every story I read each day and the ornaments, they really help me to reflect on things better about the meaning of Christmas and things I am going to change about me. 

My least favorite part of last week was Saturday.  It was pouring rain and cold, and we had two service projects.  We had not dinner because the family forgot.

I have no idea who we will be eating Christmas dinner with because 9 families want us to come over that day, so we will see.

Gotta go...
Love ya!
Sis. Donner

We came home last night and found this from the family we stay with.  I just love them!




Tuesday, December 16, 2014

New Investigators!

I don’t know exactly how to explain how I am feeling.  My cold has gotten worse; Saturday is when it became worse.  I can hardly breathe because I am so congested, but I am doing everything I can to get rid of my cold, so don’t worry.

Holding Bunny at one of our investigators homes.
Zone meeting was really good. We talked about what is a good lesson and about listening to our investigators.  Speaking of investigator, they are doing really well.   We have two baptismal dates for January 10th and two new investigators!  The investigators were pretty much given to us from God.  They actually came up to us and asked if they could take the missionary lessons.  It was awesome!
So the threesome isn’t all that bad except I am sometimes left out of conversations and it is a struggle for me.

For today we still need to go shopping, so we will do that after we finish emailing.  We have a progressive dinner for FHE tonight in the YSA ward and we have a ward Christmas party this Friday.
 
My favorite part of last week was Sunday because we received the two new investigators that day.

I will be able to go to the temple again on February 26 before I leave the mission.

Gotta go…

Love ya!

Sis. Donner


The pictures I sent are of the  Ahyou's cat.  You have no idea how he likes to drive us crazy!




Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Tis the Season...

I am staying with Sis. Wright and we are in a trio.  Our new companion is Sis. Neu and she is the cousin of my last companion.  She has been out 6 months and she is the oldest and has four brothers and is from Hawaii.  She was at BYU for a year before coming on a mission and she always wanted to serve a mission. We became a trio because they combined my old area with the elder's area. We all get along pretty well.  We have bunk beds now, and I am on the bottom bunk.


My week was pretty good.  We saw a lot of people and we have a new investigator.  Sadly we had two investigators drop us this week and one of them was on target to get baptized but he was afraid he would lose family members.  But overall, it has been a pretty good week.

The white elephant gift exchange last week was actually pretty boring.  There was no fighting over gifts or anything.  For the white elephant gift I bought fruit cake. LOL

My health has been pretty good for the most part.  I've been fighting a cold that came with a fever, but it’s all good.  I’m surviving.

The weather is being bi-polar right now.  It will rain, then the fog rolls in, and then it’s sunny.  I’m staying warm, so no worries.  

My favorite part of last week was taking pictures in a park full of lights at night.  It was really cold, but really fun.

So a couple of things made me laugh.  One was we got stuck in mud...the both of us. Then when we were headed home, I was talking to Sis. Wright about a scary movie and suddenly our car completely slows down to going 10 miles per mile. so we basically inched our way back home...I was laughing so hard. Then one time my companion decided to scare me so she jumps out around a corner and I jump back and fall on my bum. She was laughing so hard at my reaction.

This past weekend we had a ward Christmas party where we were to dress up as “Who’s” and we talked about how He is the Gift.

Something that touched my spirit was during testimony meeting on Sunday Sis. Wright and I were basically called angels because we were the answer to a 13 year old boy's prayer.  

We watched the Christmas Devotional at a members house, but we missed the beginning of it.  By the way, I love opening the letters each day that go along with the Christmas tree.  The stories really touch my heart.


We listen to the Christmas CD's you sent in the car. 

 I am looking forward to the Zone meeting this week.

I haven't asked about the phone call on Christmas yet...sorry!

Gotta go,..Love ya!
Sis. Donner


THANKSGIVING



Thanksgiving was low key for us.  I think the only new food I had on Thanksgiving was green bean casserole.  My favorite part of last week was definitely Thanksgiving.  We listened to Christmas music and just had a good time.  Our weather was nice for Thanksgiving, but now it is snowing.  I am doing my best to stay warm.

Church was really mellow, which was nice for a change; no meetings whatsoever.

Something that really touched me is the member we live with put up stockings when we left for the day, so when we came home the stockings were hanging up.

Something that I am looking forward to this week, well not really looking forward to, but I can’t wait for transfers this coming Saturday.  Please pray that me and my companion stay together for at least one more transfer.

Something that made me laugh was getting stuck in the mud with my flat soled shoes.  I had decided not to wear my boots because it looked like a nice day…wrong!  It had rained, so when I got out of the car to head into an appointment I literally sank into the mud and had a fun time trying to even walk in

Sis Wright and I are doing fine.  We laugh a lot and talk about everything.  The district is doing fine too, just as quirky and fun as can be.  So half our investigators are doing well and keeping their commitments, the other ones are getting slammed with trials, but they are doing well.

I didn’t get the CD you sent, but I did get the package with the miniature Christmas tree.  I absolutely love it!

Have you heard “He is the Gift”?  It’s an awesome Christmas video, you should watch it.  It’s on Christmas.mormon.org.  Encourage everyone to share it.

The rest of our p-day we are shopping, cleaning and doing a white elephant gift with the district around 3:30 at the church. We have a dinner appointment today at 5:30.   I have no idea what I will get for the white elephant gift.

Gotta go,

Love,
Sis. Donner