finnaheck and the american gerbil society

i know, i know, the title of this email should be something much more Christmas-y.... but that's what this week has been haha finnaheck! (my new favorite word, courtesy of my new friend & district leader elder stafford)

so this week has been cray.

long story short: i am happy. SO happy. and standing all amazed and the love Jesus offers me. 

long story long begins now.

sooooooooo i basically didn't eat or sleep at all the week of transfers (#anxiety #weightloss #woo!) but it's fine, i'm feeling much much better now hahaha (i think i have a problem.......)

oh also, can we make a new rule? it's called never mention ever ever ever me coming home. as far as everyone is concerned i am going to be a missionary in wisconsin forever. okay? okay. :) :) :)

because EVERYONE here is asking me how long i've been out and i hate it hahaha. i'm going to start lying....... "a couple months....... or so.........." :) :) :)

but anyways. that's okay.

notes from monday: this mormon message http://www.mormonchannel.org/christmas-videos?v=2919740155001 reminds me of my brothers and dad. also, did you catch that the guy in the car is the same guy that cuts him off?? and the subtle gold, frank, & myrrh? :) :) LOVE it :) :)

here is something that is true: this scripture. D&C 24:12. i am confused about how i am not exhausted and dead. i do this FULL-TIME ALL THE TIME. p-day is not a day off hahaha it is a day of craziness. i give (or at least am trying to give) my WHOLE SELF to this. how am i not dying????????? because the Lord keeps His promises. that's how. :) :) :)

seriously though, it's a miracle.

also d&c 84:80.

HEY wanna know something cool?? :) :)

so i was reading in the Book of Mormon about Samuel the Lamanite, and how he makes all these cool promises, and then later on when Jesus comes He's like "hey didn't samuel make you this really cool promise?" "yeah" "and didn't you see it come true?" "well, yeah" "so how come you didn't write it down?" 

funniest verse in the Book of Mormon: "And it came to pass that Nephi remembered that this thing had not been written."

beautiful. way to go Nephi ;)

but then i was thinking about it and realizing.... woah. the Lord has made me SO many amazing promises!! and i've seen so many of them fulfilled!!! so this week i've been writing down the promises the Lord has made to me in the scriptures and then how i've seen them be fulfilled and holy WHAT the Lord is amazing and merciful and gracious and good and I love Him :) :) :) :) :)

so that's been lovely.

what else?

oh. i'm planning on going to nauvoo june 2014 to see my greatest friend sister c go to the temple to be sealed to her husband there, so anyone who wants to join me, feel free. :)

i seriously want that to happen. write it down. :)

in other news, our apartment in kettle is a MANSION. we have two bathrooms (TWO BATHROOMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and i feel like nobody is appreciating what a miracle this is. but it is. a miracle. i love it hahaha. and it's like huge and fancy and we have a real live Christmas tree so i love it :) :) 

also..... transfers are hard. moving was hard. really hard. i really love appleton forever <3 and it's been weird not knowing ANYONE or where ANYTHING is, because i've been in the fox valley for almost a YEAR and i knew everyone and where everything was. so that's been weird and hard because i am prideful hahaha. but i'm adjusting. and i'm finding out God's plan for me here. and I love kettle moraine and i love sister blood so that's good :)

FINNAHECK. we have had a great week. 5 new investigators in 3 days. and saturday morning we had 5 other lessons in the 3 hours before lunch. aka best of my mission, probs. and the greatest part was we were laughing and happy the entire time :) :) like even knocking on strangers doors i was happy, and i feel about tracting about the same way nephi felt about cutting off laban's head. (:))

so that's been lovely. also my new friend k asked me on wednesday why i know the Book of Mormon is true and i loved that. I love to feel the Spirit. I love, love, love it. I love to answer questions, i love to help people to come to know their Savior more!!!!

THIS IS THE GREATEST CHRISTMAS EVER. it doesn't even feel like Christmas hardly because i'm not with family and i haven't been shopping or napping or watching the muppet's Christmas carol but THIS IS THE GREATEST. this is Christmas. this is the Spirit of Christ! and i can never never never get enough of it :) :)

oh, so you're probably wondering about the american gerbil society.

apparently this is a thing that exists. and something we heard aaaaallllllllllllll about at our dinner appointment on friday hahahha i might never stop laughing about it. i might never stop laughing for the rest of my mission. idk. probably the rest of my life actually. i just am SO DANG HAPPY. it is ze best. :) :) :) missions are hilarious. everyone should serve one :) :) :)

friday was teaching and spiriting and falling on ice and almost dying in the freezing rain.... literally so sketch hahahaha i was STRUGGLIN so hardcore..... do you even know what freezing rain is???? it is not safe for sister missionaries hahaha. first of all, our car was all ice over so we couldn't even get in, and then we broke in, and then we could see so we waited, but then that night it was raining and freezing and the windshield wipers were making the most ANNOYING noise that i COULD NOT HANDLE and then i couldn't see because there was ICE on the windshield so we had the heater going but then my FACE was on fire and i COULDN'T HANDLE that so i'm strugglin to take my scarf off and stay on the road AND tell sister blood a hilarious story and long story short it is a miracle we are alive.

jk. please don't worry about me hahaha we're fine :) :) :) just missionary struggles hahaha.

oh speaking of which, did i tell you about that one time when there was freezing ice everywhere and i was trying to go and declare the restored gospel/good news of Jesus Christ but there was ice everywhere so i could not make it up the sidewalk at all?? literally sliding like a penguin hahaha goooooooood times :) :) :)

aahhh. have i mentioned how much i LOVE THIS MISSIONARY LIFE?????????? because, i do :) :) :) and, i saw my friends elder scott & elder schvanveldt! from mission leadership land & gb :) :) love them. love all the elders in the whole world. the wisconsin milwaukee mission is the best in the land, probably. :) :) :)

also, i love sister blood and am grateful for her <3 we are like instant best friends because we get each other on so many things. and she makes me laugh constantly and she makes me want to work harder and be better. and, go figure, the work is great when you're laughing and happy! it's easier to teach and testify about the gospel plan of happiness when you're living it and you're SO SO SO SO HAPPY. :) :) 

so yes. i am happy. i am a witness with my whole life and soul that following the Savior Jesus Christ IS the way to peace and joy NOW, and in eternity. please let there never ever ever be any question that I KNOW He lives. I know that the baby born in Bethlehem IS the Savior, the promised Messiah, the Light and Life and Hope of the world. I know it. I'm trying to give my whole life to declaring that He lives and that He IS what He declared Himself to be. :) and I love Him <3

FINNA. HECK. FAMILY. i love this mission life. somehow on saturday we used a million miles and ended up in Merton......... i don't even know. i think it's in our area somewhere. my gps led us astray. it was fine. i sent home a picture haha. :) :) 

happy, laughing, every day of my life. if you pictured me this past week laughing and driving and sliding on ice, ding ding ding!! you were correct :) :) :) also if you pictured me eating a delicious panini thing that i made up on saturday for lunch, you are doubly-correct. and also a tiny bit creepy. :) :)

sunday............ there was no church. 

let me repeat: THEY CANCELED CHURCH. #devastated.

So, a while back we were having a training on the importance of back-up plans and how we should make back-up plans for every activity, even the ones we think are super solid like baptisms and stuff, blablablah......

well. i apparently need to repent. because i have never made a back-up plan for CHURCH hahaha but apparently when it snows almost a foot in 3 hours, even the wisconsin-ites cancel church. aaaaaaaaand the ward mission leader called us and was like "you should probably stay inside all day" and we were like seriously? and he was like seriously. sooooooooo we did. we did all the productive things we could think of (dear future and current elders: PLEASE use your best handwriting in the area book always) and then we watched church movies that did not strengthen my testimony they were so weird hahaha. and then we made transfer guesses for the rest of Sister Blood's mission. it was fun times and i laughed so hard i cried (shocker.) :) :) goooooooooood times inside! snowww dayzzzzzzz!

but anyways.

it was a marvelous time.

i miss appleland.

i love kettle moraine.

i live in a town called oconomowoc.

i love it unnaturally much.

the church is true, my brothers and sisters. Jesus Christ really is who He says He is. He really can take our burdens upon Him, give us strength, sanctify & redeem us and make us Whole <3 <3

I. LOVE. HIM.

i give my whole life as a witness that He lives and loves us.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FAMILY. 

this Gospel is the plan of Happiness. I know that it is. I. am. so. happy. and I know that it is because of Jesus Christ :) :)

Merry Christmas :) talk to you wednesday <3 <3

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxox

SISTER CECE PROFFIT 

ps good reading = D&C 76:5-10, 19-24, 40-42. also this:

As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ two millennia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and the infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice. None other has had so profound an influence upon all who have lived and will yet live upon the earth.

He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father, He was the creator of the earth. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). Though sinless, He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), yet was despised for it. His gospel was a message of peace and goodwill. He entreated all to follow His example. He walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead. He taught the truths of eternity, the reality of our premortal existence, the purpose of our life on earth, and the potential for the sons and daughters of God in the life to come.

He instituted the sacrament as a reminder of His great atoning sacrifice. He was arrested and condemned on spurious charges, convicted to satisfy a mob, and sentenced to die on Calvary’s cross. He gave His life to atone for the sins of all mankind. His was a great vicarious gift in behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth.

We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary. He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world.

He rose from the grave to “become the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:20). As Risen Lord, He visited among those He had loved in life. He also ministered among His “other sheep” (John 10:16) in ancient America. In the modern world, He and His Father appeared to the boy Joseph Smith, ushering in the long-promised “dispensation of the fulness of times” (Ephesians 1:10).

Of the Living Christ, the Prophet Joseph wrote: “His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying:

“I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father” (D&C 110:3–4).

Of Him the Prophet also declared: “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

“For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—

“That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (D&C 76:22–24).

We declare in words of solemnity that His priesthood and His Church have been restored upon the earth—“built upon the foundation of . . . apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20).

We testify that He will someday return to earth. “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Isaiah 40:5). He will rule as King of Kings and reign as Lord of Lords, and every knee shall bend and every tongue shall speak in worship before Him. Each of us will stand to be judged of Him according to our works and the desires of our hearts.

We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.

 

http://jesuschrist.lds.org/SonOfGod/eng/testimonies-of-him/articles/the-living-christ-the-testimony-of-the-apostles-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints

 

i meant COULDN'T see in the freezing rain. i am dumb.

can everyone please ignore all the horrible horrible typos in this? the delafield public library is nice but this keyboard is not my friend. and i forget how to grammar and spell. #missionlife #tooold #ohwell :)