He Gets To Keep His Beard And Long Hair :)

Week 39, Transfer 6

Area: Yuba City (Tierra Buena Branch)

Compañera: Hermana Park

A little longer than normal, but some cool stories this week!

Highlights

Thanksgiving this week!!! Due to a slowly improving concussion (please keep praying for Hermana Park!), we weren't allowed to leave the house until Friday, so I cooked up our own Thanksgiving dinner for lunch on Thursday! Hermana Park and I pooled our resources - stuffing, mashed potatoes, and rolls from a member a few days earlier. I even Meta AI'd a gravy recipe that doesn't involve any actual normal gravy ingredients because we're living on a missionary budget here. I ended up making mushroom gravy, and it actually turned out really good. We were scared until we ate it, to be honest. We even got to call our families! So fun to see so many family members at Thanksgiving dinner in Utah! Also, shoutout to my mom for DoorDashing us Thanksgiving dinner. Those burgers were 10/10.

Despite the concussion, we were able to have some incredible lessons! Shoutout to the hermanas we live with for joining phone call lessons and helping us out with exchanges to make these lessons possible! We have three friends praying about baptism right now. The gospel truly has changed their lives, and it’s been a privilege to watch the process and guide them through it. They have been prepared in such cool ways to learn about the gospel and let Christ in to fill in the missing pieces. Please pray for Salvador, Ezequiel, and Gladys! And keep praying for Junior!! December 14th will be a good day.

Super bomb DC this week. We watched it over Zoom, but still super good. We talked a lot about goal setting. As prep, we also read the talk See Others as They May Become by President Thomas S. Monson (Oct 2012). One recommendation: GO READ IT!!!

Got an interesting call this weekend from some of the Elders asking if we had "chicken chunks" to make soup with. One of them is practically on his deathbed with this nasty cold that's been going around. Miraculously, we did have chicken that was perfect for soup because we'd just visited a friend earlier that day and he gave us so much random food, including said "chicken chunks." So sweet of him. It was cool to see how the Lord's hand was in the most random of situations. He knew beforehand that all this Elder would want is chicken noodle soup, and He provided a way! Since we were also taking a concussion break so Hermana Park's head wouldn't split in half at the time, the elders across the hall from us were borrowing our car. We were able to send them with the chicken and give him a much-needed priesthood blessing.

The gospel stream is now playing strictly Christmas music as of December 1st. That was a good day.

One of our friends told us he wants to be baptized, but right now his biggest concern was that he couldn't keep his long hair and beard... He was relieved to hear that mine and Hermana Park's dads and brothers have very nice beards.

Spiritual thought

See Others as They May Become by President Thomas S. Monson

"Sometimes letting our brethren know they are needed and valued can help them take that step into commitment and full activity. This can be true of priesthood holders regardless of age. It is our responsibility to give them opportunities to live as they should. We can help them to overcome their shortcomings. We must develop the capacity to see men not as they are at present but as they may become when they receive testimonies of the gospel of Christ."

President Monson goes on to tell the story of a missionary who baptized many, many people. His secret? He attempted to baptize everyone he met. How? "If he knocked on the door and saw a man smoking a cigar and dressed in old clothes and seemingly uninterested in anything—particularly religion—the missionary would picture in his own mind what that man would look like under a different set of circumstances. In his mind, he would look at him as clean-shaven and wearing a white shirt and white trousers. And the missionary could see himself leading that man into the waters of baptism. He said, 'When I look at someone that way, I have the capacity to bear my testimony to him in a way that can touch his heart.'"

To this missionary, it didn't matter what the people looked like, who they "seemed" to be. He saw deeper. He saw the potential they have as sons and daughters of God. Everyone needs to feel loved. It's an innate need we have, and there's a reason for it. By entering into the waters of baptism and making further covenants with God, a big part of our end of the promise is to love and help others. There is NO OTHER WAY, no other kind of love that is as complete, as perfect, and as unconditional as the love God has for His children. One big reason why covenants, such as baptism, are so important and meaningful in this life is because, through them, we have greater, purer, more direct access to the love of God. How? Because we're living our lives in a way that the Spirit can dwell with us ALWAYS, and with the gift of this Spirit, we can feel of this love in such a deep and powerful way in all circumstances. In turn, we help others recognize it as well.

Happy holidays! And don't forget the reason for the season (Jesus Christ!!)

INVITATION: Go read the talk, but also! Do something this week that will open a door in your life to feel God's love for you a little deeper and closer in your life. It is VERY possible for everyone to feel it, and His arm is stretched out to each one of us... always. And it is one of the most amazing, comforting, guiding, complete, unconditional feelings in the whole world! If you're struggling to come up with a way to feel His love deeper, let me know and I'd love to help you come up with something!

Keep being awesome!

Hermana Ellis

Fotos: link

Notable Quotes:

Henry (the like 8-year-old son of our branch mission leader during our MCM meeting): "I'm in chARge, buddy!"

While listening to a Christmas song

Hna Ellis: "In another life, I would be a big black southern grandma and I would sound like this lady."