Christmas Celebrations

December 18th

Transfers are tomorrow and we don't have to go!!! We get to stay together another transfer :] We didn't think it would happen but it seems like President is keeping people together for a lot longer. Thank goodness too. We have a lot of work to do here.

We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday and it was so much fun!!! There were so many people there and it was a good night. This one couple in the ward hasn't been to church in over 10 years for whatever reason and we meet with them every now and then. We went over to visit M a few days ago and invited her to the party and her and P came!!! It was so cool! They got to meet a lot of new people so hopefully they'll want to start coming back to church as well. I would imagine it would be pretty scary to start going back to church after you hadn't gone in a long time but they seem ready and excited.

Yesterday after district meeting we got together with the other sisters in the ward and K and we went caroling. It was awesome! We went to a few members homes and then we went to a rest home and sang to a bunch of the people there. Man, we sounded so good.. I'm trying to talk them into doing a musical number in sacrament. This Sunday is our Christmas program at church and we're all in choir so I guess that's like the same. I'm really excited for that! I just love singing and I love choir and I'm so glad that it's working out that I can be in choir.

Last week we were invited along with other missionaries to a Christmas party at the Lorenzo Snow home. The couple who owns it are not members but they love history and they restored the home. So they gave us a tour and we ate and got to mingle. It was really fun :] All of these things are adding to the Christmas spirit and making the holidays perfect :]

 And of course being in Kirtland for the holidays is amazing.. I had been praying for a miracle to happen at sites and when we were there last week we met a woman named D. She was so sweet and as we took her on tour she said, "I knew right when I walked inside that I was standing on holy ground!" Before she knew anything that had happened there!! We gave her a full tour and she just loved it! She had so much faith and just knew that the sacred events that happened there really did occur. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she gave us her number and said we could call whenever :]

I hope you had a great week! Love you,

Sister Maynard.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

December 3rd letter~
We have spent a lot of time in Kirtland this past week.. But I just love being at sites so much!!!! Not only in Kirtland but the Johnson Farm as well. We went there a few days ago because one of the senior couples is moving to Kirtland this week. We stopped by and had them bear their testimonies in the revelation room. It's so incredible to sit in those sacred rooms and just think about all of the things that took place there. I can't wait for the WHOLE WORLD to visit the historic sites in Ohio. On Friday we were in Kirtland and they had a local HS Choir come in and do a little concert. I miss choir so much :[ I'm never in the audience and it was wierd!!! But it was the Kirtland ward's night at sites so I got to see all of the people I love in that ward. It was awesome :] So many cool things have happened since I've been there. Lot's of people going on missions :D

We have been tracting a lot and doing a lot of follow ups with people we meet. Hopefully something amazing will come of that :] And it's been awesome because the weather has been perfect!!!!!! Oh my gosh I love Ohio weather because it's just gray and foggy and mid 50's.. Perfect!!!! We met this really cute couple yesterday tracting. The old man was sitting outside while his wife was loading up the car. We talked about Supernatural because their dog's name was Castiel. We talked to them about the Book of Mormon and they were way open to reading it. They said they didn't claim a religion but believe that Christ is our Savior. They also said they had been meeting with JW for a few years. They go over every week and read from the Bible. Sooooo.. haha we'll see. There are a lot of JW here and EVERYBODY thinks that's who we are. But we aren't.

Didn't you LOVE the Christmas Devotional?! We watched it with the S's and it was so good!!!! I have been thinking a lot about gifts recently and thinking about the gifts that Heavenly Father has given me. When Pres. Uctdorf was talking about not only being a good giver but a good receiver it kind of just tied together all of the thoughts I've been having lately. I mean, we give gifts because we love people. Heavenly Father loves us so He gives us gifts. We need to use those/bless others and not take them for granted. But I do sometimes. But there's this one gift that I have been given that I just can't seem to figure out how to develop it.. It's so strange! I really just have no idea. But I am really grateful for the gifts I have been given. Now on a more temporal level, people give us gifts all the time through like physical gifts and like compliments.. Just the two I've been focused on. And recently I have developed this habit of being all weird about it. But that's really ungrateful to be all wierd! I don't know. Just something that's been on my mind. Gifts are awesome and they are definitely a way of showing love--See The 5 Love Languages ;]

Sorry my thoughts are a little jumbled. I hope all is well. Ohio is great. I love it.

Sister Maynard. 

December 10th letter~

Hello Everybody.

This has been kind of a strange week. We have been meeting a lot of people and teaching lessons but then nothing happens and they don't progress. We met this one guy who was way solid. He let us teach him all about the Book of Mormon and asked if he could have a copy and said we could come back the next day. So we did and he wasn't home :[ But we're going to try again because he really seemed interested.

We have been praying/fasting a lot to find the elect. Are any of these people we're meeting the elect? I don't know.. I don't really know how to know without teaching them until the end. I really hope that they are. I'm ready to start seeing success. It's frustrating to not have any idea the impact I'm having here. But I know that Heavenly Father is going to do what He wants with my efforts here. We're working hard to find people and we will. Maybe we already have.. Again, I don't know. I just feel kind of lost as to what to do next.

We had a zone meeting a few days ago and it was a little over my head but amazing some of the things they were teaching us. Somebody from Salt Lake came out and trained all of our leaders on a new technique or something. Okay, it was a lot over my head and I don't really understand it. BUT I know it will work when I finally figure it out. They also introduced something that H has been doing in her mission where you ask to leave a blessing on people's homes. They didn't go over it too much but I'm excited to learn. We are going to see some really big results when we start using these things in our missionary work.

Christmas is coming :] Still no snow here so it's been awesome. It feels like Christmas at home but people here actually want a white Christmas and I don't get it. But it's supposed to be snowing here soon. Here is a link to a video that you may or may not have seen before. It's from last year but still amazing!

Love you,

Sister Maynard.

Alright.. This week. I'm not even really sure what happened. It been a crazy week. Probably more downs then ups BUT the ups always make up for the downs.. R is so over meeting with us which has been rough. We watched him change so much and the gospel was really helping him but I guess he's not totally ready and committed yet. So we are just focusing on J and finding new gators. We met this one girl tracting and it was awesome. Of course we have to tract the neighborhood with the street "Yorkshire" in it, right?! Well the first lady we knocked on was really not happy that we knocked on her door. Ohhhhh boy. Sometimes people are just not very nice. And it's always annoying when it's the first door. But a few houses later we met C!!! She talked to us for 15 minutes and seemed to have a lot of faith in Jesus Christ and she was interested in the Book of Mormon. We introduced it a little bit and prayed with her and went on our way. We have an appt with her in a few hours so hopefully that works out. She seems really solid. Then we tracted this little side road and met F! We'll see what the Book of Mormon can do for him. He also seemed really interested in reading it :]

It was snowing for a bit a few days ago and we definitely tracted in it. It was so cold and we just laughed the whole time at how ridiculous it was that we were outside walking in the snow for hours. But it was fun. I think that I will definitely be over snow by the time I get home.. And I'm currently the driver so pray for us that I can learn how to drive in the snow super fast. I have a few times so far but it hasn't been bad.

Thanksgiving was awesome. We loved every minute of it! We spent time with the S's and then went to the P's and had a great time there and then we headed off to Kirtland to spend time with the missionaries. We watched Emma and I just love that movie! It was so good! Emma was such an incredible woman. I love being able to learn about her so much at the sites. She went through a lot but she knew that Joseph was called of God to be the prophet and she fully supported him.

Our Nativity display at sites also started. It's so beautiful. I have never appreciated Nativies more in my life then I do now. So many people come in from around the area to see them and they just love it. It's the perfect opportunity to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Man, He really is the center of everything. NONE of this would be possible without Him. We wouldn't be able to change and become better people, we wouldn't be able to be with our families forever, or return to Heavenly Father.. It wouldn't be possible! But Heavenly Father loves us so He sent His Son for us.. Isn't that incredible?! It makes me think of when King Benjamin is talking to the people about how we aren't even as much as the dust of the earth (Mosiah2:25) and yet, Heavenly Father has a perfect love for us. The holiday season is amazing. I know that it's not even December yet but Christmas begins early in Kirtland haha. And we get to dress up in nativity costumes with the little kids that come in :] I'll see if I can get some pictures because it's AWESOME! 

 Oh, another cool story.. We have been going through our former gator pile to find people to teach and we called this lady a few weeks ago but didn't get in touch with her or something.. But we're tracting a few days ago and this man opened the door and says, "My wife isn't home right now.. She should be home in 20, but do you want to come in wait until she gets back?" We were like uhhh... We'll just stay out here :] so we talked to him for a bit and he told us his name and we realized this was the house of the woman we called a few weeks ago!!!! They were taught a few years ago and we're going to try to pick them back up.  

Kay, one last thing. Yesterday was just aboslutely amazing. We had zone conference with a few other zones. We started off in the Kirtland Temple and sang Christmas songs and some people in the mission leadership bore their testimonies. Then we sang more Christmas songs. Then we split up into zones and we all had the opportunity to bear witness of our Savoir in a place where he has shown His face more than 4 times that we know of. Probably a lot more.. So many incredible things happened in the Kirtlnad Temple and of course we got to sing The Spirit of God. But bearing my testimony is something I don't like doing when it's not teaching. I just get all nervous and stuff and don't know what to say so I just avoid it. But I had to yesterday. So I just prayed that my words would be guided by the spirit and I just went for it. It's not very often that I feel my words are guided by the spirit but I really felt that yesterday as I was sharing with others that I know that Christ is my Savoir and that He loves us so much. This is all true.. What an amazing work that we're doing. Not just full time missionaries but everybody who shares their testimonies of the Savoir with others. When it truly comes from the heart the spirit will always be there to bear witness of the truthfulness of your words. I. Love. It.  I love this gospel. I love Heavenly Father's perfect plan for us. HE LOVES US!!!!!!

Sister Maynard.

Ps. Check out Ness. mormon.org/vanessa I love her as well. And check out mormon.org/christmas. There's lots of fun things going on with church media!!!