Week 63, 12/20/2021

GAINESVILLE THE GHOST TOWN

Good morning all my beloved family and friends! As you can probably tell I'm loosing steam when it comes to sending out long well thought out emails every week. Haha I figured it would happen eventually. 

Love working at the Food Bank - yum

Anyways, things in Gainesville are actually pretty lame considering our entire YSA ward is out of town until January for the holidays. That means no volleyball night, no FHE, no tabling on campus, no institute, no paint night, and no lessons with our investigators:/ its pretty much a ghost town here. BUT it's given us plenty of time to serve and share Christmas messages with our family ward yay! (the ysa ward is still our favorite 🤫) 

We met with this older lady who just moved into our ward and had lunch with her. She invited us over and we walked in and the only thing in her house was a small desk with 2 foldable chairs. She had it set up for Sister Hancock and I to eat lunch and she ate on the floor. She fed us old salad and box brownies and it was the best lunch ever. Turns out she left a bad situation and came to Gainesville with almost nothing, yet she still was so happy to have us over and feed us with the little food she had. Even though she doesn't have much and she doesn't have any family to spend the holidays with, she is the happiest person I've ever met. All during lunch she was just talking about how blessed she is and how grateful she is for everything she has. If I was in her situation I would probably be in a pity party and complaining all the time! But she is so focused on Christ and she is just the happiest little lady ever. It was a really eye opening experience, and it just showed to me how God loves all of us and we really can be happy in the worst of circumstances. 

Here we are at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, U of Florida

Saying goodbye at transfers 

Along with visiting a lot of member this week I've watched the Christ child video probably about 10 times, and every time I get something different out of it. If you haven't seen it, it's a video depicting christs birth in a very realistic way. Something that I realized was that during Christmas time we're all especially focused on Christ (hopefully more than we're focused on presents and food anyway) but we should be focused on Christ year round! Christmas time is when we focus on his BIRTH, but we should always be focusing and studying about Christ. 

Brunch with the Ward Mission Leader

Oh look - its a bunch of missionaries smiling for another photo  😏😆😐😋😄😇😁

"He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death."

Mosiah 16:9 

Everything about his birth has to do with light: a new star, angels declaring glad tidings, a night with no darkness, etc.  There is a lot of darkness in the world these days.  He really IS OUR SOURCE OF LIGHT and HOPE in this world. And I hope that this Christmas season you can notice how he is a source of light for you individually! 

Have a merry Christmas. I love you all so much!

Sorry this email was all over the place but have a glorious Christmas!!🎄🎄🎅🎅❤🍿🌯

Luv, 

Sis Bonny