Closer to Christmas!!!

Monday December 10, 2012

A WEEK CLOSER TO CRHISTMAS!! We made our little christmas chain this week for me and my companion and the elders in our ward. On every little paper circle every day we have something to do that is christmassy like hug your companion sing himno number whatever and have a snow ball fight with paper. I am not 100% sure the elders understood the idea of the activity, but we are having fun with my companion. The elders had 2 BAPTISMS this weekend, so basically the misisonaries running around with their heads cut off for two days (whats new). with smiles from ear to ear. They were two brothers one that has 11 years and the other that is 15. The testimony of the younger is so strong and his feelings after he was baptized was JUST SO POWERFULL! it was like he was givng a talk in church, dear sisters and brothers I know GOd loves every one of us and when we do what HE says he blesses us with happiness!! A testimony so BIG in a kid so small. Really sweet baptism. 

This week I have really learned the importance of our relation personal with God. It is the basis for everything that follows in the gospel. If we love God we want to go to church and keep the commandments, and love our neighbor. and when we understand We are his children we act differently and serve others and have a personal dignity that is divinely attained through our conversations from God. This it is so critical to pray and read every day because how can we have a personal relation with God if we don´t talk to him or listen to the respuestas through his sacred scriptures. When we have this relation with God EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE!! I learned this in a lessson in English this week where I tried to pray in english and wow.....ya fui ya. The joven we are teaching is really good and really intelligent but doesn´t believe he can have a personal relation with God. its really sad, but he is progressing when I got here in Magdalena almost six months ago he said he didn´t even believe in God. some people progress little by litte and others in leaps and bounds J defintiely is little by little! 

We have planned for the 29th a baptism of a young boy whose dad just got baptized last month after 15 years of invetstigating the church. M will be baptized by his dad the end of this month we are so excited!! He is so funny we always look forward to teaching him. and in general people who are excited about learnimg the gospel. 

Had lasagna with a family the other night and I was just so happy it wasn´t CHICKEN OR RICE!! YAY!! 

Excited to talk for christmas we have permission to talk the 26th for phone but I think really any day with skype. so just let me know what day is best for you all. 

Love you tons have a week full of prayer, scriptures, and get to know God better! 

Love your SISTER ATKINSON, awesome. 

Navidad!!!

So my companion is learning english. And she REALLY LOVES CHRISTMAS!! She is learning to sing jingle bells in english What an adventure....it's great fun to hear her try to pronounce the words in english.. maybe it would have been better if we started with I am a child of god.but she really loves christmas (to illustrate this point picture two very awesome and powerful sister misionaries walking down the street, book of mormon in hand and ready to share the gospel with every creature that moves. The scene is very wonderful and powerful like a classic black and white movie very serene and respectable. Just as Hermana Pardo sees lights and something green and colorfull off to the left....and begins to squeal and dance and ¨¨oh my goodness NAVIDAD!!¨ and all of a sudden our serene powerful moment turns into an anime cartoon with sister atkinson and her palm to her forehead and one of those sigh signs above her head and sister P prancing around happy with the life emitting cartoon images of hearts and christmas trees and presents and st. nicholas all over the place......¨Sister this is the fiftieth tree you have seen today THEY ARE ALL THE SAME!! but i really love my companion) She really never has had a christmas in her house (she was always working with her mom in their store selling toys all hours of the night) so this is the first christmas she can celebrate as A REAL CHRISTMAS. So i just have to smile every five minutes when she sees another christmas tree. but felizmente we are going to pass christmas together!!! BLESSINGS!!! 

Everyone has their tree up, in our house we usually put up the tree the last week of december but here it is a sin to not have your tree up the first day of december. pretty sure its a law. Its quite funny to count how many trees are in the apartment buildings of 18 floors. Ba ha ha. But the work is just moving right along we actually have people to teach and this is exciting. But they really are having problems attending church. if you could pray for R who's hija is sick, and R with his health and the wife our president of our mission. She has returned to the USA to have a surgury and is really passing for a hard time. We are without our MISSION MOM!! AHHHHHH!! Everthing may just fall apart. just keep her in your prayers and Hermana L in the ward had an attack in her brain and now is paralyzed she is 86 and was baptized just last year. Please keep these children of God in your prayers

But a funny time we had this week was when we were teaching an older lady very catholic and she invited us to her house. JUST IN TIME TO DECORATE HER HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS! my companion was feliz with the vida!! over the moon happy. she was content to help a lady we just met decorate her house with the nativity and put up her lights and just little things she even gave us our first christmas gift!! Little doilies that she had hand stitched!! wow! God really blesses us with the greatest randomest blessings! but it meant the world for my companion who has never decorated her house or a tree! How misericordioso is our God. 

We are really hoping that the trials that our investigators are going through will pass and they can accomplish their baptisms. All is a trial of faith just keep the faith and do the work. all will be fine. 

Love you all have a GREAT MONTH OF DECEMBER and always remember the Why of christmas that Jesus was born with a great work to do. He accomplished the impossible so that we can have our families for eternity!! I think every month should be christmas in that we remember that christ died for us and we review our actions all the month and put new goals for what we can do better in the next month or year. 

sister atkinson, 

PS. remember those light shiny things you sent for halowween?? we totally took off the haloween part and wrapped them in thin wrapping paper and now they are our CHIRSTMAS lights and we found the smallest christmas tree in our room and tinsel!! we are hard core christmas in our room! so awesome we are so excited to work hard all this month sharing the gospel of christ! and singing christmas hymns! 

Gracias por su amor y caridad, ps I hope derick is still living and tasha and dia...and 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KANDIS B. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH SORRY I dont have your emai! but I hope all is well in the boy pool and that your studies are just rolling right along!! HAPPY 22!! WOOT love ya!  Hermana Atkinson