Christmas time.....

Christmas!  Yay!  My amazing mother sent me a Christmas tree for the apartment and it is happily sitting by the non-functioning fireplace. Reminds me of Charlie Brown.  Also, we hung a bunch of snowflakes from the ceiling so our apartment looks like a department store.  They're fantastic.  So, the Christmas feeling isnt quite the same, but its fun to see the Christmas lights on houses and the feeling of joy.  But of course, theres no snow!!  There's FOG!!!!  I looooove fog!!!!!  Its so fun to drive around at night in the mystical clouds!  I dance around in our car every time we turn a corner and we can only see 5 houses down!  Its so fun.  

 Thanksgiving was grand.  As I said last week, we had a fancy Thanksgiving breakfast and then a lunch with a different member.  I love the members here, they are so supportive of the work.  They love us!!  

My back: improving. Its MUCH better than it was 3 weeks ago when I was crying out in pain just to stand up.  Doctor Armstrong is a GREAT chiropractor and I need to go back for the next few weeks until I'm better.  Every time I go, he re-sets my back so it can heal properly.  He told me yesterday that he had two different brother-in-laws who had to be sent home from their missions from Sacrolitis because they didn't get it fixed and after a while they couldn't walk anymore!  Lucky for me, I caught it near the beginning stages and am on my way to a full recovery and once I'm healed it will never happen again.  Such a random injury.  

Ashlees baptism had to be postponed again...every 3 days or so she has a breakdown and takes a few puffs but she really is doing so well because she used to be pack-a-day!  so I'm not complaining at 3 puffs every 72 hours!  BUT!  We have MIKES baptism this Saturday!  Mike has such a strength about him, We met him 3 weeks ago and he just sucked up everything so fast.  He told us last night on the phone that he was so grateful he met us,and that he was going to be a part of this for the rest of his life!  ITS SO EXCITING!!!  I LOVE THIS WORK!!!  

 The work is going forward as usual here in my area!  Transfers are today, but I already knew I was staying in Carmichael because I have another 6 weeks of training with Sister Williams (lucky me!!)  The zone is all leaving and we get new elders here, so its kind of sad, but I better get used to this because it happens every 6 weeks!  We all play zone sports together every P-day and we do Sunday night exchanges so we get to know all the elders pretty well who serve in this area.  

 We also scheduled ANOTHER baptism for December for a woman named Anne.  Anne is the most wonderful school teacher, she's in her 50's and she is going through a divorce.  Shes been surrounded by Mormons for the last decade, but her husband was so anti that she never checked it out!  With the recent separation and divorce, she decided that it was finally her time to be baptized.  Lessons with Anne for the last month are very different from other investigators because she already knows so much!!  She's been to church countless times and to Relief Society activities.  Shes so great and she's set to be baptized on December 17th!  YAY!  I'm so happy for her!  

One of our less active members expressed the other day that shes always had a hard time with prayer.  She won't pray.  She feels like an idiot because she feels like she's talking to a wall.  Because she won't pray, she has no relationship with her Father in Heaven and lacks a LOT of happiness and blessings.  I am so glad to be raised in a family where prayer was a regular part of our daily routine.  I love talking to my Father through prayer.  It has brought me so much peace and so many answers to trials.  I know He wants us to talk with Him regularly.  He doesn't expect us to do all of this alone!  He WANTS us to rely on Him!  That's the truth.  

 Random: Pomegranates right off the tree are amazing.  My birthday is in 2 weeks!  What the?!  Where did the time go?!  Yay for turning 25!!  Half of a century old for me!

I love all of you.  I can feel your prayers so don't stop them!  Sister Williams takes good care of me and she's still the greatest companion I can ever imagine!  WINK!!

 Sister Wilson