Hectic Holidaze

 

12-30-13

Dearest Family,

    Well I saw you guys this week!!!! :D It was a bunch of fun to face-time everyone and see you all! I was surprised I didn't cry until after! All the other sisters in my district said they cried the entire time during their Skype. I love you all and miss you all! 

This week was RANDOM!

     So last Monday, you know how I said we were going to go ice skating?...Well that didn't happen. When we got to the rink, it was packed full of people! We decided it wouldn't be safe because some of us didn't really know how to skate (me) and it was too easy to get separated from your companion.  We decided to walk to BYU campus and go bowling instead...so we started walking and realized it was a lot farther than we thought...then we found a bus stop with a bus coming towards us that has "BYU CAMPUS" flashing across the top, so we made a split second decision and all got on the bus. When we finally got to the bowling alley on campus it was awesome because we found out that missionaries bowl for free! We had a lot of fun, and I got a strike on my first try!...but it was beginners luck because I kept getting gutter balls after that...I bowled a 50 and rocked it!                                                                                               

 

                                                                                                          Guessing my gift like Dad does!

    Christmas Eve was a fun day. Most of the day we spent at a less actives’ home helping her wrap presents and clean her house. She just had surgery so she was struggling to get around and we just helped her. Then we had dinner at a home where their son was in town and he was less active and his wife wasn't a member. We had a fun time getting to know them and sharing a Christmas message. Then we spent the evening at the H home. Bro Hair is one of our mission leaders and he's the best! While everyone at home was fighting over presents I was sitting in a "shock" circle in the H living room. They had one of those devices that shocks you and makes your arm go all dead and tingly and we played with that for seriously an hour and laughed our heads off. Everybody thought I reacted the funniest to it, and they kept putting the shocking pads on me; on my arms, legs, the back of my neck, my forehead....I thought I might have a seizure or something! But I was fine and it was a lot of fun. We shared a Christmas message with them and then sang a bunch of Christmas carols. That night we got a gift from a sweet lady in  one of our wards. She owns the cutest print shop and she's this really fashionable classy lady. She gave us super cute sweaters. I love my pajama pants by the way! They were so comfy and warm! :) We laughed when we saw what was on them, 'cause Sis A. and I have been trying to help each other diet, and I said "If I can't eat sweets, I might as well wear them!" The next morning (Christmas morning) for exercise we opened presents! Thank you so much for all the gifts! They were perfect & what I needed.  Shout out to all the relatives who sent gifts too! Like Sharee, Grandma and pa Merkley for the necklace, Grandma and pa for the money and G-pa's testimony, the Giles, and Aunt Mindy. Also tell the ward thank you for all the cards and snowflakes! They are all hanging from my ceiling in the apartment. It was fun opening presents together.  Then after we studied we got ready for the day.  Then I face-timed you guys!!! That was great! I had been feeling a little homesick and seeing you guys made it a lot better. I felt like it was just enough to tide me over until the next time I can Skype you. 

      Christmas Day was spent visiting members’ homes, and our investigators who had invited us over.    The rest of this week was anticlimactic. It was hard because a lot of appointments fell through and a lot of people are getting sick here. Though a lot of the snow is melting there is still a lot of ice all over and it's freezing at night when we are out walking. But yesterday it had melted enough to ride our bikes a little bit again.

    So today we are going to a Painting of Christ Art Tour with all the sisters in our zone. I'm excited because I love looking at art and I heard it was really good! So I'm stoked!

Gift from my brother Carl!

    So G, our golden investigator, has stopped contacting us and we're super sad :( We're still praying for him a lot and hoping he comes back and wants to continue towards baptism.
    This week I learned a lot about putting all my trust and my will into God's hands. You should see if you can find the talk "The Fourth Missionary." It's amazing. It totally changed my perspective and helped me realize how much I need to improve and how much I need to just let go of absolutely EVERYTHING and let God be in control. I like being in control. I'm stubborn. I want to decide for myself what's best for me. But what's best for me is letting God decide what's best for me. It's scary to let go of control. But I've done it before. Especially when I was deciding to serve a mission, I kind of let myself drop into free fall and let God catch me. It's the same out here on my mission and for the rest of my future... The only way to know who I am and who I can become is to let God mold and shape me. The only way to become like Him is to let Him change me completely. If I don't come back from my mission completely changed, practicing meekness, humility, diligence, patience, charity, obedience, faith, hope and every other Christ-like Attribute...then I failed. I'll never be perfect, but if I haven't mastered the game-plan to work towards eventual eternal perfection, then serving a mission profited me and others nothing. I'm working on it. It won't happen all at once. But I'm striving to let God be in control and to be a devoted missionary in heart, mind, might and strength.
     This church is true and God loves us. I love you all and I'm so thankful for the knowledge of eternal families. I miss you and pray for you daily.
Love Forever,
Sister Lenise Diane Volmer                                             Traditional picture with the Christmas gifts!

 

P.S.
Thank you for all the letters this week too! I'll try and write you all back ASAP! I have a lot of thank-you notes to get out!