Rainy Days and Mondays: Sumner is Hallmark

Merry Christmas Week!!!!

So many miracles this week - let me tell you about them!

But first on Thursday we had a zone conference + Christmas Devotional. We had training and went over the basic fundamentals. President Rasmussen talked about the Green Bay Packers and Vince Lombardi and related it to missionary work. I thought of dad when he said Green Bay Packers. We had lunch and then we played a game that was straight up a Christmas riff-off!!! No joke - we all split off into zones (there were about 5) then Sister Rasmussen would point and a zone had to start singing a Christmas song. We went back and forth until my zone was in the top two zones basically having a sing off. Sadly my zone lost but we went through so many rounds it was crazy! So much fun though.

We went back into the chapel and each zone delivered a Christmas message and musical number. The spirit was so strong. I love that at zone conference we do training first and then we change gears and focus on the Savior and what we are really striving to become. I love that and it really helps me to keep in perspective what my purpose really is as a missionary.

Miracle Time -

So Friday night we stopped by the Fry/Welty home to invite Riley to come to church. Right when we got there he asked "When can I get my head dunked in water?" We told him he needed to come to church and he replied "I know." We had him read Moroni 6:5-6 and we were talking we noticed that he was looking at the pictures at the beginning and so we asked his Grandma if he had his own Book of Mormon? She said no because she has a lot of copies so he has been reading out of that. We asked Riley if he would like to keep that Book of Mormon? He got so excited and he turned to a random page in Jacob and said oh this is a good scripture and started reading. He also wanted scripture markers and sticky notes. Keep in mind this kid just turned 8! We asked him how he could know if the Book of Mormon is true and he replied "At the end of the lesson I want to pray and ask if the Book of Mormon is true!" Seriously so adorable and he did pray! He is the sweetest kid and we also told him that we have a Book of Mormon coloring book if he came to church and he got even more excited. Sadly his dad from Oregon picked him and his brothers up for the weekend last minute and so he wasn't able to come to church. So sad but he should be able to come next week.

So on Saturday the mission had "Festival of Finding" where we went out tracting and contacting from 10am-5pm. We got together with a couple of sisters and starting out in Surprise Lake where I was companions with Sister Erickson for 2 hours. It was basically like we were white washing - not knowing the area. We picked a street and before we got out I said that I had a Spanish pamphlet just in case. Sister Erickson said I have a Russian one that I have always wanted to give out. We talked and we said we are going to find a Russian family today. I also had a prompting to carry The Family a Proclamation to the World with me. The first house we knocked on was a family that was super nice and said we could come back. The second house we knocked on had a scripture on the door in a different language. We looked at each other and said what if it was Russian?! A 16 year old boy answered so we asked him and he told us RUSSIAN! We taught him the Restoration and he prayed at the end of the lesson. His family is very involved in their church but he said we could come back when his family was home. So cool that we found a Russian family. The third house we knocked on was ANOTHER RUSSIAN FAMILY!!! Holy smokes! We taught the mom and she was looking for a different church. She kept talking about her family and how much she wanted to feel closer to Christ. We started teaching her and I gave her the Family Proclamation and set up a return appointment. I couldn't believe we found 2 Russian families in the first hour of finding. It was such a miracle.

The next two hours we spent in Sumner. I was with Sister Hammond and we were driving through downtown and it started to snow a little bit. We said we felt like we were in a Hallmark movie. Sister Hammond said "Sumner is Hallmark!" I totally agree, haha. We were able to find a few potential investigators - which was great. Then the last 2 hours we met up with the Hermanas in South Hill. We split up into groups of 4 and went Christmas caroling! It was so much fun. I was with Sisters Hammond, Bowman, and Hermana Reed (who is Kara Reed's cousin - Kara went to Cottonwood). The first house we sang to was a Hispanic family. Hermana Reed started teaching them in Spanish as the rest of us smiled...they told her they could come back and teach them. She told us that that never happens. We caroled to about 10-12 other houses. We also passed out the Living Christ as a Christmas present. A lot of people said we could come back. It was amazing to see how people's hearts were softened by Christmas carols. One man was smoking outside and we asked if we could sing him a song and he said let me go get my daughters. It was so neat and we are planning on going Christmas caroling on Christmas eve and day.

Those are some of the highlights of the week. I am so grateful to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. It is amazing what the Lord can do.

Merry Christmas! So excited to talk to you this week.

Love you,

Sister Wynder

Pictures from the "Festival of Finding"