Feliz Navidad!

FELIZ NAVIDAD A TODOS!

Wow- Christmas is in two days!! I've been learning that the 24th is actually the big day of celebration in hispanic culture instead of the 25th, so maybe it will feel like two Christmases in a row! It looked like it was going to be a white Christmas but it suddenly got warmer and now it is just raining. But it's not so cold outside, so I'm not complaining about that! On Christmas Eve night we are invited over by a family. On Christmas Day, my companion and our roommates (the Elizabeth English sisters) and I will open our Christmas packages and go to a zone activity at the church. Then Sister Willis and I will go to a sister's house to Skype with our families and have dinner with the only complete and active family our area (besides the bishop and his wife)- the Cannabarros from Uruaguay, who we also spent Thanksgiving with!

Our combined Spanish ward/ English branch Christmas party this week was a once-in-a-lifetime event! Let's just say that there were clowns and Winnie the Pooh involved singing "Feliz Navidad" in the church. It felt a little bit like Times Square, but I believe it built some unity between the ward and branch and was a good time. No one else will ever understand the things my companions and I experience here... haha.

Today our zone went to the mission home for the "Jingle with the Jeppsons!" Breakfast, bell-ringing activities, and scripture study with President and Sister Jeppson. All of the missionaries adore our mission president and his wife. It was good to feel like we were at home for a minute. All of the elders got ties and the sisters got cute scarves, too!

I feel strongly that there are a lot of people in this area of Elizabeth who are ready for us to teach and will want to be baptized! This week we walking down the busiest road in our area and I was feeling bad for not talking to a few people I felt like maybe we should have contacted. So then we determinedly stopped a lady who was walking down the street with her husband and son. They were in a hurry, but we explained to them a little bit about the Book of Mormon, gave them a copy, and set an appointment with the mom. She confirmed it! And she was there! She had lots of questioned and even prayed to know at the end if it is true.

We are fasting and praying for our investigator named Hermana Morales. She is from Mexico and has two daughters and two sons. She has met with the missionaries for a long time and is finally feeling the desire and determination to be baptized! She's stopped drinking coffee and tea and has come to church every Sunday since I've been here, except the day when the schedule was changed because of snow. She's gone through a lot of hard things in her life and the Atonement has been blessing her with more hope. She's had a baptismal date for the 29th- this coming Sunday- so we are praying that she can make it!!! We have been finding some new investigators who we are excited about and even got some member referrals this week for two couples from Cuba! We'll keep working diligently and obediently. The miracles have come and they will keep coming!

It's crazy to think that in about a month and a half, I'll have spend a full year in the mission field! I miss my fam, but I'm grateful to be out here in this crazy state having adventures every day. I have grown spiritually, mentally, (maybe not physically...), and felt myself be molded by God into the woman he wants me to become. I'm learning that as children of God, we have so much more potential than we could ever imagine for ourselves. But He knows. Christ made it all possible. We just have to show our faith and love for Him. I am SO blessed. We all are. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

John 3:16.

2 Nephi 26:24

I love the last two lines of "Oh pueblecito de Belen" or, "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" that says, "Aunque su nacimiento paso sin atencion, aun lo puede recibir el manso corazon." Rough translation: "Although his birth passed unnoticed, the meek heart can still receive him."

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Love,

Hermana Marissa Martin

Skyping on Christmas Day with the fam!