Week #66

Hey Family and Friends,

First and foremost HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I have been blessed with such an amazing mom. I love you so much! I don’t know what I would do without you! What a week it has been! Tuesday we were able to attend the Temple. President Cooper, about a month ago, invited us to prepare ourselves to enter the house of the Lord. Sometimes the missionary schedule is so busy you rarely have time to think, but I learned something while preparing to go to the Temple. We have to take time to ponder and be still to think and set goals for the future of things we want to accomplish. Then we take them to the Lord and he guides us. “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13). The Lords promise to us is, if we pray to our Heavenly Father and search him with all our hearts, we will find Him. I learned about my Savior and who he is to me. I love the Temple! 

The morning of Sawyers baptism, we headed over to the church, filled up the font, realized there were a few bugs in the font, got the bugs out (I was volunteered to get them out), found a restoration video to share after the Baptismal ordinance, practiced the songs, ran to our clubhouse to print off programs, took a picture with Sawyer and his family, all in time for the baptism to start right on time! The water was a little on the chilly side and when Sawyer got in he said “oooo that’s cold”. It was too funny! To watch him be baptized was a special moment. Sawyer has overcome a lot in his life. He is an example to me of someone who has used the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. After The baptism we asked Sawyer how he felt and he told us he felt peace. He was just beaming! I’ve never seen him so happy. We then asked what his favorite part of the day was and he told us “getting dunked”. We were all dying laughing! I love the Rosin Family! 

Remember the Tejera Family? They are the biggest miracle. Brenda’s Dad is the branch President in the Loma Verde ward. President Rivera's dream is to go to Temple Square and see the Salt Lake Temple. He's an old man and has never been to Utah. So Brenda and Santos planned a trip to SLC next June all centered on the Temple. Saturday we went over and started to talk to Brenda about that day's Light the World video. She was like, "Oh? Are you going to start?" (teaching/talking about the gospel) "Because I think this is something EVERYONE should hear! Everyone come to the living room!" So it was a full house and we started talking about Light the World. Day 2 was "I was thirsty and ye gave me drink." We read from John 4 about Christ and the woman at the well. 

"Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." 

We asked what the boys thoughts were on this scripture. They each shared experiences on how the Savior has helped them. This small discussion on Light the World turned into more and we taught them the Restoration. The family was so excited. We taught powerfully and testified boldy of the First Vision and of the Book of Mormon. When we gave them their own Book of Mormon to read as a family, the 9-year-old Aiden jumped for joy and 10 minutes later he was excited to tell us he was already on page 2! It was such a powerful lesson. We were then just talking at the kitchen table with the dad, Santos. We asked if he'd ever been to church on Sunday and he told us, "no, but to be honest with you, Brenda and I were talking and we knew we'd been good parents. We have a great life and a great family. But there are times I feel this feeling I cannot explain and I know there's something we've missed. We have to have something more, and that's why we have you over here." WHAT!? Sister Smith and I were OVER THE MOON! We know that Heavenly Father has prepared them and the spirit has touched them. WHAT A MIRACLE! Anyway, so they invited us to go to a tree-lighting ceremony at the Haines City Park. It was SO fun! The whole park was lit up and beautiful, and there was so much to do. They even had fake snow! Everyone's out in flip flops and shorts and they're blowing soap snow through machines. Florida! Gotta love it! 

President Rivera has prayed for many years for his family to accept the gospel. I know prayer is real and it works. We just have to ask in faith! They told us we were adopted members of their family and even told us to come back because they we're going to buy us stockings and add us to their family.  It was so funny, they asked us, "Are you busy on the 24th? And the 23rd? And the 25th? And tomorrow?"  It was wonderful.  I am so beyond blessed to be able to be a full time missionary. This season is about building each other up and serving one another. I know the spirit of Christmas, as President Uchtdorf taught us last night, is LOVE! Love is the answer to all things! When we have charity we will never fail! I love this gospel. I love my Savior! I know this church is true! Thank you for all of your support! Until next week :) 

Love, 

Sister Kenzie Graham 

P.s. we went Caroling and saw many miracles! I’ll tell you a detailed story about that next week.