I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Sister Rossi and I kept thinking that snow was going come to us....but it never did. It rained instead.
Last night as we were sending in our numbers for the week, Sister Rossi and I looked at each other and wondered why our numbers were so low....we realized it's because we pretty much Christmas Carol'd around Virginia every night instead of proselyting. Oops. We sure made a lot of memories.
On Christmas Eve, Sister Rossi and I were on our way to give some members little gifts we made for them when we stumbled upon our Methodist friends and their LIVE NATIVITY! We waved to them from our car and they summoned us to come join them. Somehow Sister Rossi and I got roped-tied into being a part of their Live Nativity. I was Mary and Sister Rossi was the angel. We had a time shift and everything. It was funny when some members of our church came to take pictures of the camel and ram only to see us with our missionary badges and fake baby Jesus. When Sister Rossi gave her talk yesterday in Sacrament Meeting, the Bishop introduced her as "The Angel of the Methodist Nativity".
One of Sister Rossi's Christmas Eve traditions is to watch a movie and the mission wasn't going to stop us from that tradition. So, we pushed our beds together to make a MegaBed and watched a movie our church produced called, "Johnny Lingo". It was pretty much our only option. It was a good time. After some self-reflection, I realized that on a good day, I am most likely a, "three-cow-woman."
Christmas Day was so wonderful. We spent it with members and we felt so loved and appreciated. It was so good to talk with them and laugh. Shout out to the Jensen family for having the funniest mission stories. And for the Noel's for talking about movies with me while Sister Rossi skyped her family.
Skyping my family was wonderful. I thought I was going to be a mess but I kept my composure. My dad used the timer on his phone to keep within "mission rules." Each of them talked to me for eight minutes alone but apparently my dad went over time (he was giving me words of advice) and so my mom ended up going over time as well. Then they all joined in for the last ten minutes. I included Sister Rossi in these last ten minutes because she has such funny stories. We cried just a bit but mostly laughed.
The day after Christmas half of the missionaries in our mission gathered for a Mission Conference directed by our mission president, President Riggs. As always, I learn so much about myself at these conferences. President Riggs always knows what to say. He talked about "Being All In" while serving mission. He discussed the importance of staying focused and devoted while serving a mission. Something I need to work on. I am excited to improve myself in this area. Sometimes I get distracted by thinking about the future and all the things I want to do AFTER my mission. What I really need to be doing is to consistently think about the things I need to be doing DURING my mission.
Today we went to Mt. Vernon with two other sister missionaries in our area whom we love so much. We're quite a clan and it's going to be really hard leaving them this transfer. At Mount Vernon, I saw the bed where George Washington died. We also saw his tomb. It's so beautiful there! It was a wonderful way to spend my Preparation Day.
Happy New Year To All...
Love,
Sister Kelly
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