Hello To The Natalie!: Week 47

Feliz Navidad! Wow, well here it is, Christmas Eve! I cannot even believe that it is already here! This last 11 months has flown by and I am shocked that I am already celebrating Christmas as a missionary. It has been a very weird season, but a good one. I don't think I have ever had such a selfless Christmas before, which is cool. Today in our district meeting we were talking about the first Christmas and how the shepherds celebrated it. The things that we came up with were...1. They were told not to fear, that it was a happy time. 2. They were told to go and find the baby Jesus. 3. They spread the message of the Savior. That was really cool for me to think about because I feel like for the first time in my life I am celebrating the birth of the Savior the same way the Shepherds did. I am out here, trying to lose my fear, coming to know my Savior more and sharing the message! That was a really special bit of personal revelation that I was able to attain today and it is making Christmas so much more special and exciting! There have also been some other Christmas-y items this week, starting with Tuesday. Tuesday was our mission Christmas party! That was a lot of fun because we all got to get together. We also watched a picture slide show of some of the recent converts all dressed in white on their baptism day and after it was over there was a list that scrolled through all of the names of everyone who has been baptized this year in the mission. That was such a sweet experience to see all of those photos of people about to make their first covenant with the Lord, they were all so happy! And then added to the joy was the excitement of seeing the names of the people I had taught and had the pleasure to know. That was a really special moment. We then sang songs and had a few speakers and lunch. Lunch was fun because on our table were our gifts...nothing big or fancy; a bag of cookies, knitted slippers(for the sisters), and a little book of missionary testimonies, but they were SO thoughtful...just a way for us to know that people were thinking about us and that is really what matters the most. Then after the lunch and all, to finish our party we all went to the temple together. It was so neat! The whole session was missionaries and it was so cool. It was one of the sweetest experiences to be in the Celestial room together and to hug Pres and Sis Howes and just realize that that is how heaven is going to feel. Then later that night we went to visit one of my favorite people, the Fredrick's. Sister Freddy had gotten us some Christmas light necklaces, but we ended up leaving her house with beanie babies...mine is a baboon named Cheeks! Ha ha, it makes me think of my brother Jess. He knows why! And she also gave us some YUMMY banana bread! But again, it meant so much to us that she thought of us. We have received a few other gifts from members...not many, but some and really the fact that people are thinking of us is such a blessing! One tender mercy came to me on Saturday. Many of you may know that my favorite part of Christmas is reading Christmas stories by fire/tree light with my family and that is the thing that I have missed the most this Christmas, but on Friday after dinner, Sis Rosenlof said "My visiting teacher gave a us a book of Christmas stories that we have been reading every night, would you like to join us tonight?" Oh man, my heart did a dance! I was so happy and it was so special I just wanted to cry! Then on Sunday gave me a copy of all of the stories from the book so that I could read them on my own for Christmas. I am grateful for people that help the Lord to answer my prayers. It is something so silly and insignificant, but to me it means the world. Then to finish of the week before Christmas, last night we went on a tractor hayride where we drank cocoa and sang Christmas carols! It was so fun and actually kind of chilly so it felt like we should be singing carols...but "Let it Snow" still seemed a little out of place. Jajaja. I have seen more than one "let it snow" decoration....it is a little absurd here in Arizona. Well all in all this has been a good week and I am looking forward to the next two days. I am so grateful for the chance that I have to serve the Lord at this time and for the chance to be able to give him the gift of my time and energy this Christmas season. We are so blessed to know of his birth, but more than that, to know of the atoning sacrifice that makes his birth so important. I am grateful for that, and I know with all my heart that that little boy born to Mary is truly our Lord and Savior and that in Him and by Him and through Him we can live forever in the presence of our Father in Heaven. I love you all and I hope that this letter finds you all full of the spirit of Christ this CHRISTmas! Love Hermana Parry The Quality isnt to good, but this is all of the Sisters in the mission in their slippers!

Me and Cheeks...He was driving. Jajaja

Kerr and Scott

This picture is especially for my mom. Do you remember that GIANT tumbleweed that got stuck on our car on our drive to idaho for the lacrosse tournament?