MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!! Christmas as a missionary is the best. There is no other right answer. We also have the BEST members here, and anyone who tells you otherwise is absolutely wrong. We had breakfast with the Johnson's, who pulled out stockings for us!! They were overflowing with goodies. Sister Johnson said that giving the missionaries stockings was more fun for her than giving anything to her own children. We also had two dinners. YES, TWO! Earlier this week the Bragg's called and invited us to dinner, and when we told them we already had one set up they said, "Oh that's no problem! Just let us know what time it's at so we can plan ours around it and you can come over here and eat with us too!" So two dinners. The Magill's were first, and they also stuffed stockings for us. I was completely amazed by the kindness of people. I've always been on the giving end of acts of service, but to be on the receiving end when I really needed it was very humbling and amazing. At the Bragg's house, keep in mind this was AFTER our dinner with the Magills (I ate as little as I could without offending anyone) they had us sit down to a table with pasta, chicken wings, garlic bread and brussel sprouts. It looked so amazing! Sister Bragg goes, have a seat! Feel free to get started on this, it's just the appetizers!" I almost threw up when she said that. It was really great food, and they then brought our mashed potatoes, pudding and prime rib. Once again, it tasted very good, but I think I single handedly gained 40 pounds in one night. Texans are very generous, let's just leave it at that.
This last Sunday was the Christmas Music Broadcast that our mission puts on every year. We watched it with a non-member at a member's house and halfway through the program, Brother O'Brien came over to invite the members to his 8 year-old daughter's baptism. He saw Alethia and invited her too! She said she would love to go, and she did!! And she really liked it!! She's at the point where she wants to get baptized, but just needs to stop smoking, so keep her in your prayers! Also, church is at 1:30 and she has trouble going sometimes because she sleeps in... and with the new year our church time is changing to 8:30....... so REALLY keep her in your prayers!
Our friend Pam is so amazing! She's so excited to come to church, but gets anxious and is nervous about everything being so new, so she didn't end up coming to church yesterday :( Feel free to pray for her too!
RAY HAS A JOB!!!!!!!!!! At least we think so. We've called him a lot this week and one night he texted us and said, "Stop calling, I'm working right now." So hopefully that's what that means. But things are looking up for Ray!We did a Secret Sister gift exchange with the sisters in our zone, and I was a little nervous because I don't think anyone except my companion really knows me, but I got a succulent and those little tablets that you put in water and they grow dinosaurs!!!!!! They know me better than I thought :) Robin gave us bubbles for Christmas!!! We love Robin.
Back on the kindness train, on Sunday we walked to church. For backstory, our car is given a limited amount of miles we can drive per month, and we had a lot of big trips we had to take, so we're trying to conserve miles this week by walking to closer places. Closer meaning church is 3-4 miles away and closer than any of our appointments will be. But on the way to the church AND on the way home some members pulled over and offered us rides which cut down at least 40 minutes of time. It was so nice of them!!
One last thing THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE CARDS AND LETTERS!!!!! I love love LOVE you all!! The Mail Lady is probably crying right now.
I think that's about it for this week... happy new year!! Love you all!
Sister Roberts
The Bragg family The Johnsons Presents under our tree CHURCH
I forgot about this but last Monday me and Sister Stoddard got our hair cut and I asked for her to take off two inches and she definitely took off at least 3 or 4 but it's fine I'm coping