Sister Allie Slater: MERRY CHRISTMAS... and stuff.

It is hard to explain how weeks go on the mission… so I will share a visual. You know in Tangled when Rapunzel first leaves and she runs around saying “this is the best day ever!” then she gets all sad and says “I have to go back.” then she continues back and forth? That is EXACTLY how missions go. Haha. One day it will be like this is the best day! Then the next day you will want to go home because the day is rough… as Flynn Ryder would say us missionaries are very at war with ourselves :)

Tuesday was Wes’s birthday! Happy Birthday Wes!:) It was also P-day so we made him a brownie cake :) He thought it was store bought! We were pretty proud of ourselves. It was so delicious! Wednesday was one of those I wanted to go home days haha it was REALLY long. We don’t have the car this week (bummer) so we are on foot, which stinks. It is also really cold, AND no one is home. Honestly. And if they are home this is what they say “come back after the new year.” Haha ok... yeah that happened all day! So we got nothing done! It was just long but Sister Thomas and I got to know each other better so that is always a plus!:)

We went on exchanges this week, it was fun! We have new Sister Training Leaders, Sister Ure, and Sister Wagstaff. Sister Ure trained Sister Thomas so of course she wanted to come to Hayden Run and be with Sister Thomas so I got to go to Riverside with Sister Wagstaff. It was so fun!:) We knocked this guys door though... he was mean. I was not a fan. He opened the door and we shared an He is the Gift card and he goes “Oh… so you are Mormon?” And we were like ya! What do you know about Mormons? And he was like “I know a little.” We were like sweet! So we stared sharing the restoration and he goes “Actually… I know a lot about Mormons.” Then he started talking all this anti stuff! What the heck? He totally played us! He like went off about Joseph Smith and how we aren’t Christians... ok whatever haha. We got a little defensive but all ended well :) Exchanges were super fun though!:)

We walked A LOT this week so Sister Thomas and I had really random conversations as we are walking. My favorite this week was a heated debate... Edward vs. Jacob. I have not had this debate since Jr. High haha. It was fantastic! She was all for Jacob... and I was like nooo what the heck? Edward all the way! We also had a Peeta vs. Gale debate... Peeta for life:) Haha it was really funny!

It is just so cool being able to share the He is the Gift with everyone!:) It is such an amazing video and people outside of the church really appreciate it! I feel like people remember that Christ truly should be the center of Christmas but people just forget with all the craziness around them, it is nice to be out here in the mission and be able to take a breather and truly devote myself to the true meaning of Christmas :)

OH MY GOODNESS! So my mom is doing a 12 days of Christmas thing and one of the days I get this huge box and I am like hmmm what is in this? I open it and in it is my FAVORITE SOUP!! Heidi Brittain’s famous creamy chicken noodle! Yum :) It was all nice and frozen when it got to me! WHAT IS LIFE? I was just in shock for the longest time. Especially when I sat down to eat it. I was sitting here in Ohio eating my favorite soup from Utah… I was mind blown. Best surprise ever :) Thank you mom and Heidi! We went caroling this week which was fun! I didn’t realize how much caroling truly means to people but it really does! I really like caroling :) It just adds so much Christmas spirit :)

MONDAY WAS THE BEST! Again my P-day this week was Tuesday and we had our mission Christmas party/devotional. It was AMAZING! We did white elephant gifts, slide show of pics from the year, talent show, minute to win it games, and just a bunch of fun stuff :) The best part though was the actual devotional. It was filled with beautiful songs about Christ, and of course it was filled with the Spirit

:) President Daines shared a sweet message which talked about how there were no rooms in the inn for the Savior to be born, and how we should always have room in our lives (the inn) for the Savior. Sometimes it seems we have so much time to do everything else that there is hardly time for the best gift we have ever received. As Christmas comes this week may we all make room in our “inns” for the Savior. I know that if we do that our lives will be filled with so much joy.

I love you all so much. I know Jesus Christ lives, and He is our Savior and Redeemer. I have come to know this more and more everyday I have been here. He can truly heal us. I am grateful for Him, and grateful for His birth. Have a Merry Christmas :)