Merry Christmas! 

Craziness this week. We just became the 14th iPad mission. Every missionary in our mission has an iPad for planning and accessing teaching materials.

I've decided that the best things happen when your original plans fall through. As missionaries, a lot of people don't keep appointments with us, so we have backups for our backups. One such backup was a minister's wife. We tracted into her last week and she politely said she wasn't interested, but asked if we would pray for her mother who is in poor health. After our plans fell through Sunday night, we decided to go caroling at her house. Her family was down from Oregon and she invited us in for cider and coco. We had a great discussion about the importance of missionary work and service. They are such nice people. It's funny, the woman told us to come in out of the "cold." In this part of California, their impression of cold is a little skewed. 

One interesting thing we've run into while tracting is that a lot of people don't know why Christmas is celebrated. The man of the family we live with said he read in the news paper that only about 41% of people know that it's when we celebrate Jesus Christ's birthday. We've been sharing Luke 2 with people who are willing to learn about it. I love that when I read the scriptures I always learn something new, even if it's something I've read a million times. In Luke 2, I noticed verse 19. It says that Mary kept in her heart all the things that the shepherds said. Mary is a great example of faith in God. She was a young woman who had a huge thing asked of her, but she never complained. She didn't always know everything, but she had faith that God would guide her in His ways. I know that Jesus Christ died for our sins, so that we can return to live with Heavenly Father after this life. He loves us so much.

I've found a few of people who speak German here, and we are all very excited. it's a rare thing in Gridely, CA to find a German speaker. Elder Allred is from Germany, so that's cool too. Also, I have people to practice Portuguese with, so basically, I've got it made right now.

I hope everyone is having an amazing Christmas season and focusing on the things that matter most! I love you all!

Love,

Sister Arthur