"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"

It's a rainy rainy Christmas season here in the Bay Area! and I sing to myself "It's beginning to look a lot like Oregon!" It's still beautiful and Green, but chilly and WET! It makes being INSIDE the Visitors' Center for most of the day quite rewarding! We have amazing experiences in the VC during this Christmas season. We have various free Christmas concerts every day this month and that brings so many people from so many cultures and religions into the VC! last night we had around 1000 people come through because the performance was "Handel's Messiah" and it was just incredible to be able to share the spirit of Christ with everyone as they came in to celebrate Christmas with their families! And a lot of the families that come in are so willing to share the spirit we bring with others that we're receiving a LOT of referrals! It's so great!

Last week was my FIRST Zone Conference! It was a BLAST! We listened  to some incredibly powerful talks from the quorum of the 12 Apostles, and also President Meredith (who is the BEST Mission President everrrr!) and also had a really fun gift exchange game (I got I big pack of fun colorful pens and cute papers, toiletries, and lots of munchies!) but the funnest part was watching the elders stretegyzing how to get the sports balls and calogne! Oh man they crack me up. It was definitely the spiritual recharge I needed, being a missionary is more than just incredible and life-changing, it's FUN! :D

We only have 5 hours of proselyting this week (the rest of the time is in the VC) so it's really hard to do the finding and teaching we would like, but working in the VC is also an AMAZING blessing and we've had the opportunity of bringing some of our investigators up to experience the spirit that can be felt there! I Love the Christmas season and I also Love the VC, and Sister Garcia and I are looking forward to spend more time in the area after our Holiday schedule is over!!! 

Have a MARVILOUS Christmas time, you all mean so much to me and I'm so grateful for the love I can feel from all of you as I'm out trying to serve the Lord the very best I can! Remeber to remember HIM this Christmas, think about all He has given you and what you can do in your life to give back to Him.

Con Amor,

Hermana Mitchell

another week already?!

HELLOoooooo! It's a BEAUTIFUL day up here at the Visitors' Center! the air is so clear I can see all the way across the Bay, even the redness of the Golden-gate bridge! It's usually pretty foggy, but it's a clear crisp December day today :) This week has been really good, really hard, but really good. We're struggling with the area we're working in a little because we're just in the VC so often! So it's difficult because we have to put our investigator lessons on the back burner sometimes, and then the people we are working with aren't following through with the commitments we leave them. We care about them SO MUCH, we're fasting and praying and trying to see them as much as we can. I love Christmas! ...but I'm excited for when this Season is over and we can focus more on THEM and THEIR needs. 

But anways, We've had awesome experiences in the VC, the Holiday schedule we're on is fun, but stressful--sometimes we're scheduled for 9 hour shifts, It's just crazy! but we always have lots of wonderful experiences welcoming people in and sharing with them a piece of the Savior's love and joy this Christmas Season! In fact, last night I was standing at my assigned "holiday spot" with my temporary Companion, Sister Sia (they split us up so they can have more languages in more places to accommodate the cultural diversity of people who come in :) and guess who walked right up to me and gave me a hug?! UNCLE DAVID!!! I definitely took a double-take! It was sooooo good to see them all! Mia is getting SO grown-up and Aunt Jan is still so beautiful (as always)! and it was so so so fun to see the boys' smiling faces! I really was just stunned a little bit, but wow, it was such a blessing! It reminded me just how important our family is to me, why I share the message I do--because life would be so hard without families to be here for us, to keep us feeling loved, spiritually and physically fed, to help us grow when times are hard, and to bring us the greatest Joy that Heavenly Father has in store for us! The Gospel has been restored to help us be those strong and eternal families that He wants us to become! and then I meet people who don't have strong family relationships, or don't have any family at all, and that's when I realize how much I want to share this gospel with them even more. The love and support this gospel brings is life-changing, and the Lord is preparing people to receive it every day, some people don't know what they're missing and it's our job to help them know that God is our Father, Christ is our brother, and their Gospel brings us all together to find that love and support we need in this life! It's such a blessing to be a part of this great work at this great time! 

Christmas coming and I'm just way too excited! The concerts are going to be soooo much fun, we're performing both on Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day! AND I've been asked to sing a Solo in my branch on the 23rd and I'm going to sing "Estrella de Luz" or "Star-Bright" (If you're part of the Mitchell Family, I KNOW you know this song! I just wish Daddy could be here to play it for me! :) and I've also been asked to play a song on the piano in the Spanish Ward that meets up here on Temple Hill (we go to their meetings a lot too as a special re-activation assignment) I don't know what I'm playing yet, but I'll make something work! I feel so blessed to have all of these amazing opportunities to bare my testimony by sharing my musical abilities!

I'm learning sooo much every day, the Spanish is still up and down like a roller-coaster, but I still feel like it's improving. Sister Garcia says "HELLO!" and is still helping me so much and being such a great trainer :) I love the Lord! I love being a missionary! I'm grateful that He is letting me be a part of spreading His truth abroad! I invite you to remember the sacrifice He gave for you and the love that He has for you this Christmas season and carry that love with you wherever you go for ever and ever!

All my love love love!

Sister Mitchell

December!

Happy December my dear friends and family!

It's been rainy rainy rainy all week week week! But finally the sun came out and the air is fresh and clean and the plants are green and it's just BEAUTIFUL here. I'm so blessed in so many ways. Like the Visitor's Center! WOW what a blessing it is to have it as part of my calling, this season is a little crazy and definitely keeps us on our toes, but the Christ-centered joy it brings to those that come in to get out of the rain or cold is just amazing, I'm so grateful to be a part of it! Even just last night we had a man and his family come in, just 3 minutes before we were closing, and he asked US about church, what it's about, where is the chapel, and when do the services start! and I told him! in Spanish! The VC has an amazing purpose, and the majority of people who come really do want to learn more, or at least are appreciative of our friendliness and Christ-centered teachings. The work is real and progressing and I feel the love and support from those around me and especially from the Lord.

Did you get to see the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional?! I didn't because I was working in the VC, but I heard it was really special. I love teaching about the prophet and the structure of the church to those who come into the VC. They really are called of God to direct His children (that's US!). Make sure you apply their teachings, as you do, you will see that they really are called of God because your life will change for the better, and only good things come from God!

Tonight the other sisters in our branch (we're so blessed to have 3 companionships working in our branch!) and us are going to have a Family Home Evening with a big family, and some of them aren't church members! we're planning on sharing a wonderful message about Christmas (We're going to wrap up a picture of Christ like a present and ask the kids to talk about what they want for Christmas before they open it up and find Christ inside, and apply that to how He is the greatest gift we could ever imagine! We'll also go around a say what gifts we can give to Christ [serving others, being nice, etc]--Like I did growing up at home--It'll be way fun), singing lots of Christmas songs (I'll probably sing a Solo too, because sister Garcia likes volunteering me on the spot for things like that :), and playing a fun game (prepared by the other sisters). I love being with families and especially children, children are just so pure and teachable, that's probably why Christ asks us all to be like them :) I love you all! Make sure you carry the feelings of love and gratitude you have for Christ durning this special time of year with you forever!

Hermana Mitchell