Sister Hannah Johnson: Christmas in the Field!

This week has been fabulous so far! :) Monday we went Christmas shopping for our companions (we did temporary exchanges with some sisters in Farmington) and I got Sister Taylor a dino pillow pet and avengers tape to decorate with :) we also bought martinellis which we will be drinking on new years eve! On Christmas eve we had one lesson...and they cancelled. but it was good anyways! we made brownies to deliver to people but sister taylor wasn't feeling well so we went home and colored the nativity set mom sent to me and had fun! funny story! we didn't have a dinner set up (which was a really nice miracle) so we went to papa murphys for one of Sister Taylors family traditions. we were gonna get a gourmet veggie pizza, but they were out of ALL toppings. literally, everything. so we were gonna get breadsticks and they said no charge, which was nice! then the owner runs to the back and brings out a giant family sized 5 meat stuffed pizza and says, "merry Christmas!". We were dying. we are already fed a ton and we didn't know what to do which a giant pizza! anyways, we cooked it at home while blasting handel's messiah and drinking shirley temples :0 so fun! Christmas morning we opened our presents! Sister Taylor had made me (with the help of Sister Light in Farmington) a disney princess blanket! its fantastic!!! haha and i got other cool stuff from my mom! because she is the best and looks out for me, she got me practical things...and this is why i love her! :) haha anyways, then we went over to a familys house for breakfast (the Morris's) and then skyped with the family! yay! it was so nice and i was surprised i wasn't homesick afterwards :) but it was really cool to be able to skype with the whole family...and Alex...and grandparents, etc! cool story to tell people! then we went to the Archibalds (brother archibald is the high councilman over missionary work) and ate lunch with them and then played Pit. Let me just tell you... I own at that game! a whole family and two missionaries were playing, and out of the ten games we played i won the first four and then another one in the middle. they were all getting really mad at me, but it was just a ton of fun! Sister Taylor may or may not have threatened my life...a few times... :P haha then we had dinner with a less active family and then a lesson with them. Thursday was a really good day though. We started it with a new missionary training follow up meeting which lasted till noon. then we studied a lot. After that, we had a lesson with Sister K which was incredible. We were talking about baptism because she is preparing to be baptized in a few weeks and out of the blue she asks if we wear jewelry. we said yes, and she asked if we would accept a gift... we didn't know what to say. But she has a lot of rings because for her they symbolize eternity and commitment. She gave both sister Taylor and i gold diamond rings that are beautiful and told us she was saving them to give to someone who was special and sacred and Godly to her, people she wants to be like someday. It was so sweet and special i teared up and had to hold back the tears, but now we have these beautiful mission rings that are so special and significant. :) anyways friday we had a district meeting and weekly planning and a new member lesson with S*, who was the little girl i got to see baptized my first week out. saturday was awesome too! we got to help a less active sister who is struggling with a few things clean her house and read the book of mormon with her. it was messy, but not as bad as she had made it out to be. we just had a lot of fun cleaning and vacuuming and washing dishes! :) its incredible to see the members and how much they want to help with the missionary work! we met with one of the bishops, and each one has a list of the nonmembers in their ward boundries. i think total number of nonmembers in the stake boundaries is something like 220? yeah, right!? its crazy! but its good, because we are all focused and President Hollingshead main focus is missionary work, which rocks! other missionaries are jealous of our president :) i've loved getting Christmas cards and keep the letters coming! i may not have time to write back, but they bring me soo much joy, its awesome!! :) and if you do sent a package... NO FOOD OR TREATS OR CHOCOLATE OR CANDY for awhile... haha its scary how people think missionaries must only live on sugar O.o but love all around and Keep the Faith! :)