It snowed!

Hello,

So last Monday Sister Pope and I went to a tree farm - there are so many in Sumner! We found the cutest little tree and we named her Myrtle. I love getting real Christmas trees, plus they smell good.

Tuesday was really great we had Zone Training on fulfilling our purpose - it was awesome. The Zone Leaders asked a lady in their ward to share her conversion story and it was really powerful. She talked about how every missionary made a difference and impact in her conversion no matter how much or little they taught her. So that was really neat. That night we had dinner with a new family that moved here in October the Williams - they are really great. We showed them Light the World and their 5 year old son said, "Wow, Jesus said yes to everything...well except things that are dangerous." It was so cute and funny. We also had a lesson with a less-active and she had a non-member friend over so we talked to her about the church. She said she was looking for a new church! She lives in Tacoma so we gave her a Restoration pamphlet and a Book of Mormon. She said missionaries could come by so we sent her referral to the Tacoma mission.

Wednesday we had interviews and counsel from Sister Rasmussen. Sister Pope is now gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free. She is still having stomach pains but hopefully this new diet will help to see what the problem is. So that night we went to Dairy-Freeze to get ice cream before she had to go cold turkey the next day.

Thursday we had a lesson with Wesley and read Alma 24 and 48 - the lesson went really well and he was able to connect the Book of Mormon to his past experiences. It also snowed tonight. It maybe snowed 1/4 of an inch and everyone was freaking out. Sister Pope was really happy I am the driver because she has never driven in snow before. I thought I would escape the snow this year but looks like it followed me to Washington.

Friday was the ward Christmas party! It was so much fun! There were so many people there. Also a miracle happened. The Paynes in the ward (the ones that live on the horse farm) own a house that they have been renting out. Well Amy the lady that just moved out will still be living in the ward boundaries. She is a non-member but when the Elder's Quorum helped moved her she asked questions about the church and loved the sense of family. Brother Payne invited her to the Christmas party and she came. During the dinner she asked Brother Payne a lot of questions and he taught her basically the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration/ Priesthood authority in 10-15 minutes. He asked her if she wanted to take the discussions and she said yes. He introduced us to her at the party and we are really excited to start teaching her. She moves in to her new house at the first of the new year. So we probably won't be able to really teach her until then, but what a miracle! Member missionary work is what it is all about.

Saturday Sister Pope's stomach was really killing her but she decided to go finding. The first person we talked to was named Doug. He was taking his dog outside next to his apartment. We introduced Light the World and then starting teaching the Restoration. He was really interested. He asked about church and said he would like to come on Sunday. He prayed at the end of the 20 minute lesson. The spirit was so strong even though it was freezing and I literally couldn't feel my toes at the end of the lesson. It is okay because Doug prayed for us that we would stay warm. (He didn't come to church the next day but we are going to follow-up with him soon).

On Sunday during Relief Society I sat next to Sister Fry and she told me that Riley Welty (her 8 yr. old grandson) really wants to get baptized. They aren't going to their dad's that much anymore so they are here Sundays. She said if we asked if and taught him about church this week he would come. I was so happy to hear how he really wants to get baptized because we asked him before and he said yes but at the ward Christmas party he wanted to know where the font was. I know Riley is going to get baptized and I have a feeling it is soon. Later that night we had a lesson with the Whitmans. Brother Whitman is just glowing. He just received a calling to be an assistant cub-scout leader. He also will be called as a Home Teacher at the new year. He was feeling a little overwhelmed so we focused on the blessings he has seen and how we can help him. We also talked about temples and the peace that will come from doing baptism for the dead and in a year receiving his endowment and being sealed. We talked about preparing ourselves to go to the temple and Sister Pope brought up also making your home a temple. That was inspired! I was prompted to share D&C 109: 13-18. Because the home is compared to the temple in sacredness I replaced the Lord's house with the Whitman's house when I read the scripture. It changed their perspective and then they starting listing ways they can make their home more of a temple. It was such a great lesson. This week one of the Elders that taught Brother Whitman years ago that they were really close with is coming to visit because he couldn't make it to the baptism. So Brother Whitman is really excited and Sister Whitman wants to make sure he gets to meet us. So that should be fun!

So a lot of miracles this week. I am so grateful to be in Sumer! I really could stay here for at least 9 months, but we will see what the Lord has in store.

Merry Christmas,

Sister Wynder

P.S. Being a missionary is great especially at Christmas time!

Picking out and decorating Myrtle, the Christmas tree (Bryn probably doesn't realize this but one of her great-great grandma's name is Myrtle!)

Those of you who know the story of "Pearly Paul" will like this picture - we sent a cut out picture of Pearly Paul so Bryn could put it on her tree!!

Pictures of the big "snow storm" they got and getting ice cream

So we are working with a part member family right now the Todds. The mom was inactive but is returning and has been coming to church for the last 3 months. The daughter Kyra is inactive but we get along really well and the whole family loves missionaries. She has a letter press stamp and I thought it was the coolest thing so then at the Christmas party she surprises me with one for me!!!! It makes sense now why she asked me what my first name was...