Wonderful People and (Mostly) Wonderful Weather

Hello everyone,

 

I hope you are all happy and doing great!  I certainly am.  This week has been so wonderful and it seriously flew by.  Every week I can't believe it's already time to weekly plan or email or go to church again, because I feel like I just did it.  Next week is transfers.  I really don't know how I feel about that.  Everyone in our ward keeps telling me that I better not be leaving anytime soon and I say, "Don't worry.  I'm staying forever."  But I've been giving everyone copies of a cute picture of Sister Urgel and me.  

 

This week I really realized the importance of fun, church activities.  This week was the Relief Society Christmas party.  (If there's no Thanksgiving to celebrate, why wait to start celebrating Christmas?)  But it was the greatest activity ever!  There were three recent converts, four less actives, and three nonmembers there!  I was so happy.  I also LOVE Relief Society.  Like I didn't want to leave Young Women's when I turned 18, but now I am starting to just love everything about Relief Society.  I feel like I am best friends with tons of women here.  Sister Urgel spent most of the activity talking to the small Filipino contingency of the Relief Society and I just flitted around as I do from group to group.  It doesn't matter if they are 85 or 55 or 25.  I just love them all!  We just have so much genuine fun!  The first hour of the activity was performances and the second was eating and mingling.  They asked me to sing "Oh Holy Night" and "Mary Did You Know?"  I ended up going a capella because almost everyone in our ward that can play the piano is male.  Isn't that interesting.  I played in Relief Society on Sunday.  But everyone loved my songs and they were so, so nice.  Now all these people want me to sing at their dinner appointments because they realized that I can sing.  This ward is just wonderful! 

 

Speaking of wonderful, Sister Urgel is that!  We have so much fun together.  We crack each other up.  We are so, so different but we work it out.  Having a companion is such good practice at getting along with people.  I love it.  This week the weather was crazy!  It gives me headaches and makes me really tired all the time.  One day it will be super hot with the super burning sun and we have the air condition on full blast when we're in the car and the door open at home.  The next day it will be cold and POURING rain.  The rain here is so hard core.  Then we'll have the heat on in the car and the house.  It's too much for my brain.  

 

But our investigators are doing well.  We don't have too many progressing, but the ones that are are doing super great.  Shardae is so faithful.  She's been so brave and she wants to change even though she's scared and it's so hard.  But she is living the word of wisdom and the law of chastity and is really committed to keep it up.  I think I told you?  She is lesbian and it's so hard because she doesn't exactly understand why she has to keep it even though we've really researched and explained it with the Proclamation to the Family.  She does know that she needs and wants to trust God to make and keep her happy!  Heemi is great as usual.  I think that this quote is SO true! "First I obey.  Then I understand."  We don't always have to have the exact, perfect answers to everything.  We just need to trust God. 

 

I wish I had more time, but just know that I love you.  Enjoy your turkey this week.  Our dinner appointment on Thursday got cancelled so we will probably eat tuna because we are poor!  But don't worry.  It's ok. :)  New Zealand is gorgeous!\

 

Heaps and heaps of love!

 

Arohanui,

 

Sister Clarissa Johnson

 A lady named Lana gave Clarissa this piggy bank for when she gets married. "Her Money" is much bigger than "His Money"!