Winslow Week Three

With Sister Coral We got to put up these little Christmas trees at a museum in Holbrook

 

 

Hello friends! Happy late Thanksgiving!! I hope you all found a billion things to be grateful for!

I got to go on exchanges with Sister Coral in Holbrook this week and she is amazing! I absolutely love her. She came into the mission with Sister Baird and was trained by Sister Higgins. She has the biggest heart and is so motivated by her love for the people of Holbrook. The best thing about going on so many exchanges is getting to learn from all the incredible sisters in the area, like her. I LOVE her!! While we were together, we got to teach a few lessons and it was so fun. She is really energetic and we were able to just bounce comments off of each other. The chances aren't very high... but I would love to be companions with her! Good news is thought that she goes to BYU so I'll definitely see her post-mission.

On Thanksgiving we had a zone council in Joseph City, which was really great. That was the first time I met a lot of the missionaries there so it was fun. One of the main topics we discussed together was expecting miracles. It was such a great reminder to me that MIRACLES DO HAPPEN. Every day!! When we are doing what God wants us to be doing, there is no reason why we shouldn't expect miracles really. There's no reason why miracles can't happen today just like they did in biblical times! They might be different miracles because the world is different and the needs are different, but there will always be miracles, as long as we have the faith for them.

That night we were invited to a big dinner that one of the huge families in Winslow holds at the church. Their family is HUGE!! There were probably 5 long tables covered in food. So. Much. Food. They were such good company. Such a fun family! Also, the last Thanksgiving I had at home with my family was in 2015!!! That's so freaky weird! But they're always in my heart, so we're never really that far apart. (even though someone told me last week that San Antonio is 1000 miles from Winslow... Is that true??)

Other fun things this week. We met a few really great part-member families, and one of them gave us a tour of their 3-story dollhouse-looking home, which was exciting because we had driven past it a lot and always wanted to know what it was like on the inside. And we helped make a book-themed Christmas tree for a Festival of Trees auction. My hands were absolutely covered in glue from modge-podging little pieces of paper to the outside of ornaments. But I didn't have the rolling-in-glitter job so I was saved from that mess! We listened to Christmas music while we worked on them and it was SO fun. I love Christmas.

Another exciting thing: the two of us spoke in church yesterday! My topic was peace in Christ, so I used the youth theme scripture for the year,

Doctrine & Covenants 19:23
"Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me."

I broke the verse down into the four main parts, and one of my favorite parts was "listen to my words". There are two common definitions to the word "listen": to pay attention to a sound OR to follow the advice of someone or give heed to them. So do we give heed to Christ? Really this comes down to the question: Do we believe Christ? Not just do we believe in Him, but do we believe Him. Do we believe that when He says, "inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land" (1 Nephi 17:13), that He really means it? Do we believe Him when He says that if we humble ourselves before Him, and have faith in Him, then He will "make weak things become strong" (Ether 12:27) in us? How about when He says to us, "Come now, and let us reason together, [...] though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18)? Do we believe that? It makes sense that we would have to give heed to these words from our Savior if we ever want to have peace in Him. When we listen to Him, trusting & believing that He only speaks the truth, then we will be able to feel the peace of knowing He is leading us in the right direction, He can make our weaknesses strengths, and He can wash us clean of our sins. It is so important to believe Him and listen to Him.

Best part of the talk though? It was almost 30 minutes long. Ha. That actually wasn't the best part, it was the WORST part. We were told to prepare 15 minutes each, but when it was our turn, there were still 50 minutes left of sacrament meeting! So we had to adjust accordingly. Actually now that I think about it, maybe that was the best part. I had to add some stories and experiences into my talk that I hadn't been planning on sharing, and it was 100% led by the Spirit. There is no way I could have done that without divine help! Heavenly Father was so taking care of me. And just the fact that I was able to stand up there for so long without dying of fear was pretty miraculous in and of itself. Thank you Heavenly Father!

It's been a blast! It's almost December so don't forget to go to lighttheworld.org to start planning how you will give the way that Christ gave this Christmas season!!

With love,
Sister Bohman