Oh what a beautiful morning! :) Dec. 30, 2013
The sun it out today and it's looking like it might warm up... but I'm not so sure. There is a member in our ward who texts us when the weather might take an unexpected turn and the forecast says it's going to be cold this week. It's supposed to be -19C today. All I know is that is pretty cold!
This week was awesome! On Christmas Eve we had our read-a-thon and read the four gospels in 9 hours straight. I've never read the Gospels that fast so it was cool to see what was repeated in all the books and some of the other details only contained in one of the books. It really brought the spirit of Christ into the season for me though. Then on Christmas we got together again and started the D&C. We got through 60 sections in four hours! It was crazy! There were probably 25-30 missionaries sitting in a big circle in the relief society room and we each read a verse and went around the circle and just kept going and going. We're finishing the D&C and the Pearl of Great Price tomorrow and New Years Day. We had tropicana orange juice and cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas! (It's tradition!) Then went to the read a thon. Sister Dyer and I left the read a thon a little early to go skype our families and it was so worth it :) It was so good to see them! Then we visited a girl named Kate that just got her mission call to Mexico! It was crazy because she's exactly a year behind me! She put her papers in last November, got her call in December, and she leaves at the end of April! I'm so excited for her!! Her Christmas presents looked a lot like what I got last year :) Mission preparation gifts. Hahaha. Christmas was so great!
Austin is amazing! We met with him twice this week. In the first lesson we finished teaching him about the Restoration and set him with a baptismal date for the 19 of January. Right before we quoted the first vision in Joseph Smith's own words I told him he would feel the influence of the Holy Ghost. After Sister Dyer said the first vision, he sat there for a minute and then touched his chest and said, "I feel it right here." It was one of those undeniable moments! It was so powerful! Then we taught him right before church yesterday and our branch mission leader sat in on the lesson. It was another powerhouse moment. Austin loved church! He was such a trooper because the guy who gave him a ride had to come early to church to come to branch council and then had to stay late for a little while so Austin was at the church ALL DAY! And he loved it. Sacrament meeting is last in this branch, so at the end of all of it we asked Austin how he felt and he said he felt the Holy Ghost. I love the way he describes the spirit! He said it feels like vibrations from really loud music at a concert, but instead of those vibrations going into you, they are going out from you! Isn't that awesome?!
Church was not only an amazing experience for Austin, but for me too. I needed it a lot. Taking the sacrament was so sacred because I hadn't taken it the week before because of the ice storm, so I felt the difference. In our combined meeting for the fifth sunday the branch president talked about the stake's new theme for 2014. It's "Feed the Spirit. Nourish the Soul." So we had a really good conversation about that. We read some of my favorite scriptures in the Gospels. John 21:15-17. As we read it there was a connection in my mind between three scriptural phrases. "Feed my sheep" "The first great commandment" "If ye love me keep my commandments" The greatest expression of love we can give to Jesus Christ is to "Feed His sheep." And the first great commandment is to love God. It all just made crystal clear sense in my head that if we truly love God and are motivated by that love to keep His commandments, the first thing we naturally do is share the Gospel. I don't know if I'm explaining it very well, but it was super profound for me.
I'm so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for the opportunity I have to "Feed His sheep" full time. I love being a missionary. I love this work. I hope you all have a happy new year filled with lots of new years resolutions to not only live the Gospel more fully, but to share it.
Love and Prayers, Sister Felix
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