Half Christmas

Zot,

So today we celebrated half Christmas with our District! It was so much fun! We met in the Senior Couple's apt and listened to Christmas music, exchanged white elephant gifts, made snowflakes, played games and ate a delicious meal together! It really was wonderful. And that is why the North District is the best district. 

In other news, our investigators are still going great. We had 3 come to church this past sunday which was huge! I haven't had that many investigators come in one week since the beginning of my mission (aka the glory days). We hope that two of them will be baptized in this upcoming August! They are both really ready but we are trying to really really make sure they are well prepared, they understand and especially are ready to make this life long commitment.

One of the biggest difficulties with the church right now on Reunion is that we have more less active members than active members for the whole island. People keep leaving but the number of people coming in is much smaller. And lots of strong members move to France or other countries (for work, stronger church) so the church is suffering a little bit right now. We are hoping that bringing in strong new converts can strengthen the current branch and maybe re-vive some of the longtime members. It gives me a lot a lot of appreciation for the strong support and organization that we have in America. Luckily we are able to benefit from all the years of pioneers and the beginning struggles. Here the church is still very much young and pioneers are happening everyday. The first members to ever live on Reunion are still in this branch. They are in their 70s but they are here and their young grandchildren are the only 3rd generation members for the whole island. 

This week we actually saw lots of surprise success. I say surprise because while we haven't changed a lot of our methods we are seeing a lot more interest than usual. This past week while porting we met 2 different families who were open to letting us come back and teach them. That NEVER happens. I have almost never taught a family here in my whole mission life! In addition we met with several people who turned out to truly be searching in their life and are now new amis. It truly is miraculous because this simply doesn't fall out of the sky like this in Reunion. Really I know they are blessings from the Lord. Now Sr Gardiner and I are just trying to figure out what we could possibly be doing to merit such blessings! We haven't found our answer but we are focusing on giving 100% of out hearts to this work and getting rid of all of our pride and being 100% perfectly obedient. Which is pushing us to be better missionaries because we might have been good before but I personally am trying to take extra efforts to make sure everything is as aligned with the Lord's will and my handbook as possible. Lately both of us have really felt that our time on a mission is quickly arriving near its end and that now is the time that we need to "sprint" the last leg of the race and give it all we got. We are living the dream right now being companions and sister training leaders and working in the sector that we "grew up" in when we first arrived. The Lord is blessing us abundantly and we are trying to live righteously for each blessing He wishes to bestow on us. And that's what it is like in real life too - that is, life after the mission. It all comes down to obedience. The Lord can only bless us and bestow us with knowledge and faith IF we live obediently to merit it for ourselves. Think about ways that you can be more obedient in your life. What are the little things that you still slack on or ignore. Most of us are trying to live in Zion but also own a summer home in Babylon. What is that one thing/movie/tv show/music/what not that you need to give up? Reflect on it, find it and give it up. The Lord can only turn us into celestial people if we are developing a celestial will that resembles His own. 

Love,

Sr Stewart