34 - Tis the Season

Yes, It Snowed!

So last week, remember when I said it was going to snow later? Well when we walked into the library it was raining, and then when we walked out two hours later, it was snowing! Like, wet snow that pelts you in the face and kinda hurts snow, haha. 

I guess lots of schools were let out early because of the snow. And it was raining today when we walked in the library and I think the same thing is gonna happen again, cuz it's supposed to snow, again! haha. The weather has actually been very mild! Around mid November was really cold, but it hasn't gotten as cold since then. It's supposed to be really cold the day after Christmas, but still not as cold as it was in mid November!

Sister Burt's New Hair

After emailing last week, Sister Burt and I got our hair done. I got mine cut. Finally I got all the back of my hair chopped off again. It's always liberating to get my hair cut. 

Even though it looks basically no different from the front, seriously a small dog was born on the ground because I have so much hair on the back of my head! haha. People are always amazed at how much hair I have. 

Sister Burt got her hair dyed a dark brown color with burgundy low lights. 

It suits her very well.

Caroling In The Snow

That night we had plans to go caroling, and the weather didn't stop us! 

The weather really wasn't too too cold. It's just hard when it's actually snowing because the roads are always bad when it snows. 

But oh my goodness, I loved caroling in the snow! Even though it makes it harder to sing haha.

Caroling for one of the members

It reminded me of the caroling parties we have back home with my family, only we were bringing people poinsettias instead of way awesome treat plates with superly awesome decorated sugar cookies. 

And we were caravanning in the snow instead of on the dry streets of Tempe, Arizona. 

It was a little bit weird because we were only caroling to members when we should have been caroling to less actives... but we didn't orchestrate the whole caroling thing... So I count it as good service. 

It was fun.

Here is the story of the week.

On Saturday we were tracting in Tea and we met someone whom I will call Elizabeth. She seemed really nice and we set up another time to come and see her at a time that worked better for her. Later when we texted to confirm the appointment, her husband, whom I will call Henry, texted back, and asked us who we were. He told us he was just getting out of the hospital and we asked if there was anything we could to for him. He told us he had been instructed to wear thermocare heat things on his lower back everyday because he was still experiencing problems from having spinal surgery a year prior and he just hasn't been able to afford them that regularly. So for our return appointment, the member that went with us was willing to buy him one. We were able to serve Henry in a unique way.

We showed Henry and Elizabeth the He is the Gift video for the lesson. Elizabeth was more inclined to answer questions and with her husband's silent nod of approval, she explained that Henry has been angry because of the painful death of his saintly grandmother in 2007. So anything involving religion is a sensitive topic. Henry explained to us a bit about his grandmother's death, that she was killed because of someone who was texting while driving. The texter walked away with a few bruises while his grandmother suffered in the hospital for a long while before passing away.

He used to be a strong believer in Jesus Christ, but has had a hard time with his faith ever since then. But he has just recently started to soften his heart because of the birth of their now six-month-old baby girl.

It was no coincidence that we came knocking on their door at this point in Henry's life. Heavenly Father knew he wasn't ready to be taught the gospel before, now he is. We have a return appointment with them next week.

So that was Wednesday, halfway through the week and then... Sister Burt, poor thing, she got the flu! It's been going around like it always does this time of year, and she fell victim to it. I just feel so bad because she had the flu at this time last year too and it was so awful that she told me, "Sister Sanderson, I would rather die than have the flu again. I'm serious. I give you full permission to kill me!" And then she gets the flu, sad face. I may be 'killing her off' in mission terms, but I wasn't about to kill her in real life. I was helpless as I saw the progression of the awful virus causing her so much misery for three days give or take.

The good thing is, I am ok! It is a miracle that I haven't gotten the flu, and I thank Heavenly Father for blessing me with good health at this time!!! I found things to do with no problem. I had plenty of Christmas cards to write as well as miscellaneous letters. Plus, we have the entire standard works that we can read! I studied some Isaiah. It was fun.

The other good thing is, Sister Burt is feeling much much much better now and we can go out and work tomorrow! Yay! Also, we were able to fulfill our baptismal covenant yesterday and "comfort those that stand in need of comfort" (Mosiah 18:8-10). There's someone in the other ward whom I will call Sam who we know very well from spending some P-Day hours with her and stuff and she's been struggling to rekindle her testimony amongst an array of obstacles. Sister Burt and I were able to be a friend to her on Sunday. And, it's great because since Sister Burt goes home in a few weeks, she will be able to talk to her as much as is needed - she hopes - when she is no longer a missionary. Yaaay!

That's it for this week! I'm excited to call my family for Christmas! Stay well everyone, and happy holidays!