I’m sure many of you out there are in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. And I am too. But it turns out that Christmastime is different as a missionary. Who knew, right?
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| Hermana Petersen and I tried hard to take a cute comp picture haha |
Hermana Petersen is really good about member work, so we’ve been calling inactive members. We’ve also driven out to their houses so that we (from a safe distance) can give them Light the World calendars and just see how they’re doing. This week, we drove up to Mt. Pleasant, which is just outside Columbia and in our area. It’s a cute place, unless you stray a bit too far. What do I mean, you ask? Well, I’m glad to answer. Hermana Petersen and I were hitting up these members’ houses, leaving calendars. Mt. Pleasant (and a lot of Tennessee in general) is pretty spread out, and it goes from civilization to … not … extremely fast. So Hermana Petersen and I were going to one member home, on the outskirts of town. The numbers on the houses weren’t clear, and we were basically driving on backroads. We were going along, then realized we’d passed the house, but the road was so narrow that we couldn’t just turn around. So we went a little farther down, and we suddenly saw this house that straight-up belongs in a horror movie, and then it was just trees and spookily lit woods. Luckily, no one got murdered that night, but something has happened there.
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| The other hermanas insist that it's prettier in the other seasons, but I love Tennessee right now! |
We’ve been teaching a lot of member lessons in general this December, which has been super fun! The members in the Columbia ward are so amazing, and their testimonies shine so brightly over phone and Zoom calls. It’s absolutely insane. I love getting the opportunity to love them.
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| Here’s the whole district! Back row, left to right: Elder Nelson, Elder French, Elder Parkin, Elder Myers. Front, left to right: Hermana Harris, Hermana Newton (who’s she), Hermana Likes, Hermana Petersen (you already know!). |
Love was a big theme at our district council this week. We were discussing how missionary work changing with the pandemic has been a blessing, and Elder Parkin (our amazing district leader) talked about how important it is to love the people as a missionary. He had us read from John 15, which says:
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Elder Parkin had originally been serving in Malaysia and was reassigned to Tennessee. The adjustment was initially really hard for him, but you can just tell that he loves the people he’s serving. That’s true for everyone in our district.
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| Columbia’s city hall, which has been made world-famous by the “Hannah Montana” movie. |
It’s true that you need to love the people, but I think when we say that, it’s sometimes not understood what that group is. Loving the people is loving the born-again Christian who yells at you on the phone and tells you that he won’t read “Joe Smith’s new Bible.” It’s loving the cashier at Kroger and the widow in your ward. Love goes to every single member of your district and to your companion. It’s praying for all of those people, and everyone else in Tennessee, every night.
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| Elder Myers brought this sign to our little photo shoot. Apparently we were supposed to bring “Christmas.” |
In Mosiah 2, King Benjamin teaches his people:
17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.
I think I’m finally starting to understand that.
— Just happy to be here,
Hermana Newton
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