Winslow Week Eight

Hello, friends!! I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!! I sure did!

Highlights of the week:

• We had Christmas morning breakfast at our stake president's house with all the other missionaries in the area. His family gave us all gift bags of different things and we had a little gift exchange game with them, which was really fun. President Palmer has 3 return missionary kids so it was really great talking with them about their missions and what all they learned while they were out. They all agreed that Christmas is a very special time as a missionary!
• This may be silly, but the best part about breakfast with the Palmers was watching the elders open their presents from their families. All 6 of the elders brought their Christmas presents to the Palmer's house so that they could open them together, we didn't get that message (and we'd already opened them...) so we just got to enjoy the show. It was actually probably the highlight of that day (besides Skyping!). They were all just SO happy and excited about every little thing, like a bag of beef jerky or a new tie clip. It was just pure happiness and gratitude. I love those elders!!
• Skyping was amazing! Let me tell you. I love my family. I LOVE them. And I got to meet Ashley's fiance, Erik! They were sure to let me know the exact amount of days I have left (they know that because it's the countdown to their wedding too!! Save the date!). Best part of Skyping though? We had to say goodbye, but we'll get to say hello again in less than 3 months (:
• On Wednesday we got to start teaching a new family, the Yellowhairs! They're members of the Church, but they haven't been active in a while and need some testimony-strengthening. They're super sweet though and I'm really excited to help them relearn the gospel of Jesus Christ!
• Jodie had her baptism interview! She is SO ready!! She was going to be baptized on Saturday, but some things came up that were completely out of her control so it had to be moved to January 12th. She was really heartbroken about moving it, but it will still happen!! She is so excited about the gospel and she's already living it. Please pray for her!! The amount of opposition she's facing is ridiculous, but she's not letting it win!
• We got to go to a different baptism on Saturday because they needed someone to play the piano and that's what I do! It was really fun because we didn't know anyone there but they were all just so kind to us like we were a part of the family! I love that about the people here. I got to play piano while the girl that was baptized was changing into her dry clothes and it was just such a peaceful moment. The Spirit was already in the room from the baptism and I think the soft piano music just helped Him linger longer in people's heart while they were waiting. I'm so grateful for music!! And I'm grateful for parents who provided me with years of lessons in it!!

This week's theme for Light the World was Light Your Faith and I LOVED getting to share that message with people. I love that the Church put that for the last week of December. Even though Christmas ended after Tuesday, the message of Light Your Faith that I really took to heart was that Christ remembers us all year round so we should remember Him all year round. It's easy to think about Jesus Christ every single day as one of His missionaries, but that's something I want to do better at when I'm not a missionary anymore too. We had a conversation with one family about how we can remember Him each day and the mom said something like, "I have this picture of Him up right over there. I LOVE the picture, but now I'm so used to it that I never really look at it. I need to start actually looking at Him everytime I walk past it." I really really liked that because I do the same thing! So that's my invitation to each of you this week. You probably have a picture of Christ up somewhere in your house--so look at it! And remember Him! I'm so thankful for the Christmas season dedicated to celebrating Him and I'm thankful for a new year and a chance to embark on a new adventure with Him right by my side. 2019 is going to be amazing. I can already feel it. :)

I love you!
Sister Bohman