Thanksgiving as a Missionary in North Carolina

Happy December Family!

Can you believe it is already December? That just blows my mind!

On Tuesday we had a couple of lessons, one with Sister Lassiter and one with Michelle. Michelle is still thinking about baptism and hopefully we will be able to set a date with her tomorrow. She is an amazing woman who truly trusts in God with all her heart. I love her so much!

That night we spent some time with the Snows, who don't come to church because of matters beyond their control. She taught us to make pie crust and we had an enjoyable evening and were able to get to know them better.

The rest of the week it was very hard for us to talk with people because of the holidays. Everyone was out of town or had family visiting. We managed to see a few more less-actives in the ward though.

Yesterday in Relief Society we talked about keeping Christ in the center of our Christmas celebrations. There was one idea that I really liked and thought I would pass along to y'all. I remember making a paper chain every year counting down the days to Christmas. I don't know if those of you who have small children do this, but the idea is to put a scripture about Christ on each of the chains and read that scripture every night or morning when you rip off the paper. Here is a list of 24 scriptures: (haven't looked at all of them, these are the ones we got on a handout)

Dec. 1: Isaiah 7:14

Dec. 2: 2 Nephi 26:3

Dec. 3: Matt. 15:30

Dec. 4: 2 Nephi 2:9

Dec. 5: 3 Nephi 11:1-11

Dec. 6: Mark 16:5

Dec. 7: Moroni 7:28

Dec. 8: Luke 23:33-34

Dec. 9: 1 Nephi 19:9

Dec. 10: 2 Nephi 9:21

Dec. 11: Matt. 14:17-21

Dec. 12: 3 Nephi 11:15

Dec. 13: John 13:34

Dec. 14: Matt 20:30-34

Dec. 15: 2 Nephi 2:26

Dec. 16: Matt 4:23

Dec. 17: Luke 2:46-47

Dec. 18: Matt 3:16

Dec. 19: 2 Nephi 2:6

Dec. 20: Luke 2:8-11

Dec. 21: Matt 1:21-23

Dec. 22: Helaman 14:2-4

Dec. 23: Helaman 14:5-8

Dec. 24: Luke 2:12-16

I hope and pray that we can all find ways to keep our Savior, Jesus Christ in the center of our celebrations this season. I know that He came to this earth and lived and died for us. I know that He is our eldest brother and He loves us so much and is always there for us if we just turn to Him.

I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Sister Shurtz