Christmas Festivities

December 9, 2013

Mis amigos,

So some interesting things have been happening here in Bakersfield. First off, with transfers! Drum roll..... I'm staying here in Bakersfield! Hermana O will be here also. But we're moving into an elders apartment! Talk about gross. We'll be doing a lot of cleaning tomorrow. We're excited to start off this transfer strong. We have good goals for this transfer, and we're hoping to see miracles!

We had a baptism this week! Her name is M. She is amazing. She grew up going to primary. She found the church through her teacher and wanted to be baptized. We were there to teach her. We got her ready for her baptism in 4 weeks. The service was amazing! The Spirit was so strong and there were so many people that came to support her. The room was full. Which is never heard of. She was so excited and happy to be baptized. I wish you all could meet her. Her testimony is so strong!

Along with the baptism, she invited a bunch of the girls that live in her group home. We're teaching two of them and one of them has a baptismal date for the end of the month! We'll be really busy with that, but I'm super excited to teach her!

We also had our ward Christmas dinner this weekend. It was great, but overwhelming! We had 4 investigators, 2 recent converts, and lots of less actives we are working with who showed up. It was great to be so busy! One of M's friends asked us how to be baptized. So we set up a date with her.

As transfers are coming up, we decided to give gifts to our district. We picked up a lot of random stuff from service projects, so we thought out which gifts would be best for who, and gave them gifts. One got a unicorn snowglobe (just so you have an idea of the type of gifts we gave). They all loved them and thought it was hilarious.

We were able to go watch the Christmas devotional last night! We watched it with a family that acts a lot like ours, so it was great to be there. We got to do part of their Christmas tradition with them, so it felt like I was home for a little bit.

But I wanted to talk about Christmas! Particularly the talk from Elder Nelson. Christ is truly the Prince of Peace. Through this Christmas season, when times our hard, we can remember that Christ is always there to provide us peace. We just need to turn to Him. He can give us the hope we need if we just turn to him. And it's not just the Christmas season. It's all during the year. He loves us, and that's why He died--for us. Don't be afraid to use that wonderful gift of the Spirit. Isaiah 9:6.

I love you all! Have a wonderful day. You're in my thoughts and prayers constantly!

Con amor, 

Hermana Lau