Tender Mercies

Christmas breakfast

Christmas Day 30 minute video chat! (I'm sorry I cut out Jason! I should've moved my face.)

Christmas time!

DISCLAIMER: those are all fake presents! Don't be fooled.

Mother Mary, aka Sister Ward

Singing "Were you There"

Angels and the shepherd

Hello!

Thank you to everyone who sent me a Christmas card! I absolutely loved them and felt so loved by receiving them. 

What a busy week it's been. On Monday we had a team of people from KSL (a Utah network) get footage of what the Temple Square Mission is like/how it works. It was pretty interesting--we'll see how it turns out in April when it will air.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday we had Zone Conference from 9am-4pm. Talk about a spiritual feast! The topics were based off of Preach My Gospel chapter one, Our Purpose as missionaries, and the Atonement. President Risenmay has such power in teaching. He can teach about the Atonement in a way that expands my mind. It deepens my understanding just a little more about our Savior. A point that stands out to me is that we can't come to understand what the Atonement can do for us unless we experience pain and sorrow. They Savior has been where we have been before. He understands. He went through all the pain of the world alone, but we don't have to. I love Him for that.

Yesterday was our big Christmas celebration! It started with sacrament meeting at 8am which consisted of musical numbers and beautiful talks by President and Sister Risenmay. Then we had a big pancake breakfast that one of our senior couples, Elder and Sister Spencer, took A LOT of time to prepare for. Elder Spencer says he has never made a batch of pancakes from flour he hadn't personally ground himself. So he took the time these last few weeks to grind enough flour for 160+ people. It was wonderful.

Then I got to skype my wonderful family! It was wonderful to see your faces and hear what you've been up to. Why does everyone have to grow up so fast? I loved the familiar noises of home too. :)

By the way, I forgot to mention we got LOADS of snow Christmas Eve night, so we trudged through it after the morning activities to return to our apartment and took a short nap (score!!). We came back to the square and had present time. Several wards, a stake, and a kind member prepared gifts for us. Everyone received a stocking, a Temple Square Mission sweatshirt, a backpack, water bottle, hats, and much more. We were very blessed!  

Then we had our Christmas program which Sister Eging and I were in charge of coordinating. It included musical numbers and Christmas stories and a short play of the Nativity story (see pictures)! All in all, it was a lovely day filled with the Spirit--and a little too much sugar I might add.

From 4pm on, we were back to our normal assignments. We met a lot of nonmembers on the Square and shared the gospel and our testimonies with them. 

Also, we had some time in the teaching center and I contacted an investigator another sister transferred to me. She responded by saying she has been loving meeting with the missionaries and is on date for baptism January 21st, my birthday! I was so surprised! There is no better Christmas present than that. We have a phone appointment this week so I'll share more details about her story next time.

The Lord is so good. I'm grateful to him for everything He's given me. He is willing to bless us more than we can handle sometimes, and that's how I feel right now. During this Christmas season, the schedule is demanding. We wake at 7am and go to bed 11:15pm every night but the Lord keeps us from falling over, that I know with my whole heart. Energy seems to come out of nowhere. When I got sick a couple weeks ago it only lasted a couple days, but I know that it was because of the priesthood blessing I received that I was able to continue on.

May the Lord's tender mercies be upon you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

1 Nephi 8:8--"And after I had traveled for the space of many hours in darkness, I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to the multitude of his tender mercies."

xoxoxo,

Sister Butler