seasons greetings!

Sister Meiners
Dec 19, 2017
5 min read

merry christmas!!!!

sister bushnell and i on exchanges this week! we were cast in the nativity.

christmas party last week!

So some crazy miracles have been happening out here in the CCM!!!!

Sorry this email is a million years long, but…

Everyone wants to hear heartwarming christmas stories during the christmas season am i right????

I dont got a ton of time so i’ll just go over some miracles that have happened in the past 24 hours.

The old lady, pt. 1:

Remember waaay long ago in June when we had that zone conference in Lethbridge while I was in Taber and it was a miracle cause the elderly home next to us caught on fire and then 80 missionaries helped evacuate? Well now, that old folks home is in my zone, and we sang Christmas carols there last night with the other missionaries in my zone. That was 5 transfers ago… and I was the only one of those missionaries at that zone conference (i’ve been in the so long lol) and after we sang, i was greeting all the adorable elderly and introducing myself. And one old lady looked at me and said “were you there at that church during the fire?” and I said “yes i was!” And she said , “I remember you, you were one of the first girls I saw when we came in your church. You brought me water and tissues.” And my heart just about melted. What a tender moment, for a woman in her 70s to remember seeing me, a random stranger, who helped her over 6 months ago in her time of need. It made me think about the impact we really have on people in the little things.

Now do you want a heartwarming story? Mom, pull out the tissues for this one.

So about 2 months ago we started teaching a woman named, Akelio and her family. They are so faithful and I love them sooo much. But Akelio is a single mom of 5 young kids. And she works back to back shifts, and shes sooo busy. We had called her and we set up this appt. We texted her that morning trying to confirm but we never heard back. We invited a bunch of people to come to the lesson but everyone was busy. At some points it was like, ok is it even worth going? We dont have our car (the elders actually crashed it yesterday….) and its snowing and no one wants to go and shes not even answering….

Nevertheless, we found a willing member to come with us, and we just showed up.

First miracle? She’s home. And she lets us in. We haven’t met with her in weeks so we were overjoyed. We get in and start talking. I had been so torn all day about what lesson she needed at this time. Sister Rhead had never met her, and I was just not seeming to get an answer on what lesson we needed to prepare. But soon after being there I realized why.

We started talking about how much Jesus Christ loved her. And we asked what Jesus Christ’s role in her life was. And she told us that she had just lost both her jobs. And she had been praying and fasting for the past 2 days to know what to do. She wanted to start her own business but she didn’t know how. And Sister Phillips, says “well I know that God has put me in your path, because I’m a business consultant, that helps people start their own businesses. And I’d love to help you if I could.” And Akelio just starts crying. It was literally an answer to her prayers! And we had nooo idea of that, and we were like what the heck, this was so inspired!!!!!!!!! And Sister Phillips said how last month she had bought a book on starting your own business, and she didn’t know why she had bought it, but now she knows it was for Akelio.

Akelio suddenly had hope, and she said how she had been praying to know what to do. And when we had texted her this morning she had picked up her phone 10 times to cancel, but every time she did she just felt like she couldn’t. And even though she didn’t want us to come, she knew that we would come if she just didn’t respond.

And she looked at me straight in the eyes with tears and said “Thank you for not giving up on me.” And that just brought me so much peace. Those struggles of wondering if I’m adequate because all my appointments fall through, or if our investigators even care if we come, or if I’m even a good missionary, those are all wiped away when I know I’ve helped someone gain that faith-- and see that people really are here for them.

And lastly, Sister Phillips asked what Akelio is doing on Christmas Eve. And Akelio said nothing. And Sister Phillips said, well have you and your kids come here for dinner! And Akelio again, this precious refugee mother just starts crying. And says, “this will be my first Christmas here that I will actually spend with another family.” And at this point we were all in tears. The Spirit was so strong.

What I love most about this is how Sister Phillips, though pretty young, has had some severe illness that has caused her to be unable to work for the past 6 years. She told us after, "I finally feel like I have something to contribute again. Heavenly Father has given me this opportunity to bless her life with my talents, but really its a blessing to me to be needed and to feel valued."

Its like my favorite mission scripture that I share all the time, "He that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together." (DC 50:22)

Find a way to uplift others this Christmas, because it will uplift you while you do it, and #LightTheWorld.

Salvation Army:

Also, we got to serve at the Salvation Army church, and they have an AMAZING thing set up where you go and shop for their kids and help them pick out gifts from donations. For a few hours, I got to help Syrian and Napoli refugees pick out toys and gifts for their children this christmas. It was beautiful.

Old lady, pt. 2:

Lastly, an old woman saw me after the carols at the old folks home and just started hugging and kissing me. She was a member, and she was so sick of having elders… she was really excited to see a sister! She held my hand as we talked about her dog that had just died. As we left she said “my heart is yours forever!!!!” Hahaha, soo cute.

And people, all of this was just YESTERDAYYYYYYYY. Seriously, i love Christmas. And there are SO many blessings and so much good when we just look outside yourself!

Love you all, and Merry Merry Christmas! sry this email was so long lol

P.S. I did a lot of secret #LighttheWorld challenges this week and as much as I love telling you…. Its more fun that I did them in secret :)

pics: