Happy Thanksgiving!

Let me tell you some stories of this week ...  first of all, I have about 100 days left on my mission. And that's scary! And weird.

The church is starting this new Christmas initiative called "He is the Gift." If you haven't seen the video on christmas.mormon.org or youtube... go look it up! It is so good. We had a mission meeting kicking it off and talking about how we can use this as effectively as possible. The church made special pass along cards that are included in this month's Ensign and as missionaries, we have to give out 10 a day. Which means we need to talk to 10 people a day. That's a piece of cake for me and Sister Tranchina .... we contact like crazy. Here's the cool  thing though - normally when we contact people, they are not interested at all, but even for people who aren't interested, so far no one has turned down the invitation to watch the video online. It's a powerful, short video all about how to apply Christ this Christmas. I think a lot of the time, if Christ is remembered at all, it's just about his birth. Okay, that's great- but then what? The Atonement was the real gift and we need to use that!  Anyways it's cool.  Mom, if you could post it to my FB that'd be great.

This week I lost my planner... and I thought it was the end of the world! Seriously my whole brain is in there. I felt like mom. It was kind of pathetic what an emotional wreck I was. But at the same time it made me feel good because it was really similar to the emotional meltdown I had in 12th grade when I dried cuticle oil on my new Steve Madden leather boots at EVIT.... so that means I'm maturing and prioritizing life- right? Hopefully. Anyways, it was lost around 2 pm and we couldn't find it on the street anywhere. I panicked because that night we had an appointment with someone who mysteriously called us and said we gave them a pass along card on the street and they'd been thinking about it and decided they want to learn more (that NEVER happens), so I wrote down her address and phone number in my planner. Sister Tranchina didn't write it down  so we had no idea where she lived or how to get a hold of her. I was trying not to panic about it all day but I kind of was. We were saying a prayer with the guy we had dinner with and right after we said Amen, Sister Tranchina turns to me and goes, "1756 N 900 W apartment 302!" ....What? Hahaha - and she repeated it over and over again under her breath and wrote it down. I was still confused. Then when we walked out she said that's where this girl lived. I was blown away, haha - like I wish I was that in tune with the spirit to be able to receive exact inspired addresses! We went to that address for the appointment ... and that wasn't her... HAHA false revelation. But, I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. We talked to a few people outside of the address we went to. Maybe we helped one of them? We ended up finding her address, taught her and it was great. She's prepared. But ... she has 2 kids ... and she's 18. Now when we contact people, we have to ask "how old are you? Are you married? Do you have kids?" because in ghetto Rose Park ... just age and no wedding ring doesn't cut it, haha. Our ward mission leader was joking about that and said, "I tried to contact a guy on the street and he was interested in meeting with you and then I asked those 3 questions ... then he got creeped out and walked away. Then I realized he probably thinks I'm hitting on him ..." HAHAHA!

Remember last week how I said we met that girl at a dinner who was a dancer for Ballet West and she's a member but so not interested and didn't have the spirit with her at all and we didn't know how to handle it because she wouldn't take anything we said seriously? Well this week we got a text from Stevey (friend who invited her over for dinner) and he said she called him late at night and was a complete mess ... she went over to his house and said she knows she's not happy and wants to come back to church and be a mom one day. I was in shock because I never ever would have guessed she would do something like that ... goes to show the Lord prepares people we least expect and worldly happiness isn't fulfilling enough for people.

Thanksgiving: President and Sister Hansen had us over for an early dinner. We helped them decorate the Christmas tree and had a wonderful meal. It was just the assistants and another set of sisters there but it was fun! We made pumpkin pie and these really good pistachio cream bars. I'm sending the recipe in a letter today to Daddy. Our P-day was moved to that day, but P-day ends at 6, so ... we had to find evening appointments. It was hard, but we found people to visit. And they ALL fed us. I thought I was going to die ... seriously SO STUFFED. It brought back terrible memories of last holidays. We don't purposely schedule 3 dinners; we're just desperate for appointments! Then they feed us because what else do you do on Thanksgiving? It was fun though.

Craig was baptized Saturday. Let me tell you about Craig in case you forgot. I might have mentioned him a long time ago. When I first got in the area, we were teaching Craig. He's 24, he's had a really rough past ... his parents kind of abandoned him and he's been in and out of foster care. I was convinced he was on some hard core drugs because his house was weird and creepy and he said weird things and would text us inappropriate stuff. He would keep all of his commitments but wasn't progressing at all. I also thought he had some kind of social disorder; Asperger's or something. We would be in the middle of a lesson and he'd be staring at me and say something like, "you look like a girl I used to smoke with. Did I smoke with you before?" Uh....  and in prayers he'd pray for "LOTS OF MONEY AND HOT GIRLS"- like just super inappropriate... and it was frustrating! Then he moved into the AP's ward. We did a hand off lesson and it was so bad ... I was so embarrassed and kind of felt like, okay sorry... here is an investigator who has no desire to progress and is never going to get baptized. Well, that was a month ago. Those elders taught him SO MUCH. He is a completely different person. All he really needed was love. Elder Patton and Tapia (AP's) really just love him and want to help him. They taught him how to be respectful to girls and helped him feel the spirit. His baptism was the coolest I've ever been to. He asked me to give a talk and I had no idea what to say; I could go up there and be honest and say, "well when I think of Craig I think of me trying to be his mother and getting him to behave and trying to get out of him what kind of drugs he's on, and him hitting on me and saying inappropriate things that my foreign comp didn't understand so she'd smile and nod ...." but I didn't, haha. He's seriously changed so much. The Lord prepares people. And I have SO much love for Craig ... he's hilarious. After his baptism I shook his hand and he said, "well what now... can I leave now?" Haha - I can't describe him ... he's like Napoleon Dynamite. Those elders worked a miracle. And now Craig wants to go to BYUI with me and Elder Tapia ... weird. I guess we’d be best friends.

My favorite line from Craig though was when he said he was moving; I asked why.
Craig: "Because my neighbor saw me naked. Would you want to live somewhere where your neighbor saw you naked?"
Me: "well, why were you naked?"
Craig: "Is that your car? It's ugly."

Hmmm, what else?  That's all I can think of right now. I love Craig. I love seeing miracles.

Heidi

Thanksgiving at President & Sister Hansen's

Elder Patton (left) and Craig