Two for One!

With Christmas time around the corner, there seems to be deals EVERYWHERE.  So I figured we should have a 2 for 1 kind of a deal on Heidi's blog. That is why I didn't post her last letter, wanted you to have some suspense and then the thrill of the deal! OK not really.  I got stuck out of town at a work conference and my week got a little crazy.... but still enjoy your deal ;)

First Letter!

Well I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving week! I know I did! So many great things happened this week. :D I hope I can give them all justice.

MONDAY! Lesson with the mom of N. She talked about the changes she's seen so far in N and how much happier she is since she's been taking the lessons. It was so great! During the lesson, our car got towed :( Who knew you need a visitor's pass to park in a visitor's parking spot? (The person who towed them knew...) Lame! But we got some yummy tomales while we were waiting for a ride, so it was great!

TUESDAY! Since it was Hermana R's birthday this week, I was in charge of sneakliy letting our hermana training leaders in so they could decorate our apartment. Let me tell you it was hard work! It's very hard to be sneaky with companions. (LDS missionaries have to be with a companion 24/7, they do not go anywhere without their companion going with them)  But it all worked out in the end and she loved it :D Set N with a baptismal date! Woot woot! She's so ready for this and so excited. After our lesson, she asked if she could go to church every sunday and if she could go to all the young women activities. Umm  yes please!!! So that was great! Also, she talked about how much her mom has changed since she started taking the lessons. She said the other day while she was cooking she was blasting gospel music, and just singing and dancing around the kitchen. I so wish I had been there to see it! Haha. Oh how I love this adorable mom and daughter.

WEDNESDAY! It snowed!!!! So cool!!!! It didn't stick but it was still pretty awesome. Also, that night we had a member come out with us to a lesson. He ended up bringing his whole family. It was so great!!! And he was so awesome! He is a recent convert and so has never been on a mission, but you would never know he was ROCKING that lesson! We basically didn't have to be there.  I LOVE STRONG MEMBERS!!!!!

THURSDAY! As you all know, it was Thanksgiving :D We got TWO dinners! Woot woot! They were so great! Shout out to Hermana Edwards! One of our dinners was with a Guatemalan family. It was so great!  I was sitting next to the dad, and he was just regaling me with all his awesome tales of Guatemala. You are with some pretty amazing people honey. I hope they respond as well to the message as this family was describing it! Thanksgiving was just overall awesome. And it was Hermana R's birhtday!!!! we had lots of fun blowing up balloons, popping balloons, wrapping and unwrapping presents, singing different versions of happy birthday and candles! So great.

FRIDAY! Zone Meeting! We gave a training to the all the English people on how to contact spanish people. It was great! And yesterday we got our first referral from the zone. (Each mission is divided into zones and then within the zones they are divided into districts)

Woot woot!!!!!

SATURDAY! We had two service projects as a branch! (A branch is a group of members that is not large enough to be a ward.) One moving our Presidente to a new house, which is beautiful! and the second raking leaves for our second counselor. It was crazy how many leaves there were! Like three times as many as the pictures I sent! But it was lots of fun. We had a ton of members helping us out. All men of course haha we were the only women and they were just cracking jokes about us needing to go in the kitchen and make them food..  Our branch is full of hilarious people I love it so much! It's so fun every day.

SUNDAY! Hung out with the other Hermanas all day for another set of exchanges to help the sickies rest! And on Sunday we talked a lot about how the work really is being hastened here and this is the time for members and missionaries to join together! It was so amazing! Everyone in our branch has really caught on to the missionary spirit! Everyone is bringing friends and family to activities, to church, to the temple, and to lessons with the missionaries! Even our investigators are doing it! It is so incredible. The Lord has really prepared people to be ready for this gospel, and he has prepared the best way for them to do so through their friends! It's amazing.  As you're thinking of your gift to Christ this year, think about how you can be a great member missionary! I know that the Lord will help you in all your efforts to share the Gospel of Christ. It's easy, and it's sooooo worth it. Everyone around you is a beloved son or daughter of God. You could be the difference in them getting back to their Father. I hope that you realize how important your part in this great work is.

I love you all! And hope you have a great first week of December!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!! I love Christmas time :D And I love Christ!

A Dios!

Hermana Albright

Second Letter!!

Hello hello everyone! And a holly jolly christmas to you all!

Basically, I love being a missionary during Christmas time! All the stores are playing songs about Christ, and even the people that usually think they're too cool for school enjoy taking a moment to thinking about their Savior. If only every month was december!!!

SO I am officially six months out now!!!! GAH! How did that happen?? Time just fliiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeessssss by! I didn't do anything to celebrate, my six month mark just came and went without me even noticing!!! Until a couple of days later, when I noticed the date and was like, wait what? What just happened here? No way this is real! But it is. Elders are out so much longer! I can't believe I'm already a third of the way done! So crazy!

So this week was a blast and a half! So one day, it got up to like the 50s/60s in temp, and it was so warm the ice cream truck came out to play! We found a lot of people one day buying ice cream from the ice cream truck! My favorite way of finding people :D  On Friday we got to have an amazing youth christmas activity! We sang songs, made cookies, had the BEST hot chocolate ever, and of course talked about Christ! I loved it! Being with the youth is the best! They're all so amazing. Yesterday it snowed! Church was cancelled and school was cancelled today! What the what? But it's not even snowy outside anymore. Just like that lame snow day we had that one year in vegas. But apparently, we aren't allowed to drive our mission cars in the snow. So we weren't able to go to the christmas devotional :( so sad! i'm gonna try to watch some of it during pday though. But probably not this one. One day. haha. How was it? I hope you all enjoyed it! If you didnt get to, do so now!!!! I'm sure it was amazing.

Have you figured out your gift to Chrsit this year? If not, take some time tonight to think about what you can do to show your appreciation for the Savior and what He has done for you. God gave us the greatest gift of all, His Son. What will you do to accept that gift in your lives?

Sorry this is a short one! I don't know what happened.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hermana Albright

If you have not heard yet... Heidi is going to Argentina!! She will be leaving on Wednesday!!! Who knows when her next letter will be, depends on P-days in her new mission.  We will keep you posted on her exciting new adventure!