Week 62: Deck the Hall

Season’s greetings!

We got milkshakes at Xelapan that had little candy canes and were very festive!

My companion is very beautiful, and it needed to be appreciated.

Christmas is in five days, and I’m extremely excited! My highly anticipated box came to the office, which I was absolutely stoked for, and am still so happy about. Hermana Noyola has done the service of hiding it for me so that it’s out of sight, out of mind. Although there aren’t really that many places where a package can be hidden in this apartment. What I’m saying is that if I really wanted to know where the package was, I could. But gifts are meant to be opened the day they were intended to be, so we wait.

“When I rule the world, I’ll plant flowers!” So strange to see so many things in bloom when it’s *supposed to be Christmas*! But it’s all good, even though time doesn’t feel like it’s passing at all.

I am astonished at the pace at which time is moving. In a lesson the other day, someone asked me how long I’ve been out on my mission, and I almost told her eleven months? Which was the time I was at when I started serving in Baul. I have no clue what was going on in my brain.

I just think the sky is very pretty

This week, we’ve been visiting all the members we possibly can. It turns out there’s a ward mission budget, and we used it to buy nativity sets to give everybody. Along with that, we’ve been telling the nativity story, over and over again, and I am shocked by how much there is to learn and apply in every single lesson. Every time, we share something different, that feels specially made for the people we’re talking to. I love it.

John 8 says:

12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Again, the sky is very pretty

There’s very clear symbolism in the star indicating Christ’s birth. And while it seems silly to point it out, I think it’s a very important element to recognize. As we’ve been able to give this week, both by sharing a message and providing a physical object, I have seen that light in the homes, faces and words of others. So decorate your homes, and decorate your hearts, with light! Not only does it make things obviously brighter. It makes it happier too.

—Feeling jolly,

Hermana Newton