Mar Vista: Transfer 8: Week 4 Merry Christmas!!! Dec. 20, 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I love Christmas so much! It really is the best time of the year to spread the good news that Christ was born and that he still lives today. Everyone's heart is a little bit softer as people come to focus on Christ and as many people realize that they haven't really thought about him throughout the year. We've been seeing so many miracles, especially in the Visitor's Center. It is kind of sad to be away from all of the people at home that I really love, but I have been too busy to think about it as I have tried to do everything possible to take advantage of this prime time to teach about Christ. The other day when I was in the grocery store there was a huge line and only one check stand open, so we went through the whole line inviting people to come to the Christmas concerts at the Visitor's Center. I've never been able to be that bold and fearless in that type of situation to just talk to a crowd full of strangers waiting there grumpily in a grocery store line, but it's Christmas, so it changes everything. People listened and were happy to hear about it because they saw that what we were offering was good, free, and was something they wanted. If only they could see that the gospel and salvation are the best and most important things they could receive in their life! We would spend a lot more time just teaching instead of trying to get out there finding people and showing them that this is important and valuable. That is why as members it is so important to show people the happiness that you have and how it comes from living the gospel so that they'll want a piece of it. It is through your example that they can see of how it could change their lives.

We had our ward party on Saturday and the bishop invited his neighbors that aren't members. They are an adorable British family with two young kids. They loved the party and felt at home with all of the young families and young kids. We are hoping they will be open to having us teach them, but we are trying not to pressure them or scare them away. The ward is really afraid that as missionaries we are going to be too intense and scare their friends away, so we are working on building that trust and showing them that we are able to follow the spirit and do this work God's way, and that if their friends are open they will feel and know that this is true, no matter what we do or say. I make mistakes all the time, so I'm really glad that this work isn't dependent on my efforts alone, its all about letting the spirit work through us and he's the one that gets the job done and converts these people. We are just the messengers, like the shepherds and the angels that announced the birth of Christ, all we do is invite people to exercise their faith to come and see, and to come to know that Christ is their Savior.

The other day, right before the Visitor's Center was about to close and we were telling people to leave, I walked up to a couple and was about to tell them that we were closing when I noticed that he was explaining to her the pictures of inside the temple, so I asked if she was getting ready to go to the temple and he told me that she wasn't a member, so I talked to her for about two minutes and told her about the Book of Mormon and she told me that he really wanted to read it, so I invited her to have the missionaries go over to teach her and she accepted. It was an amazing miracle and another testimony to me that when someone is ready to accept the gospel they will feel the spirit and we won't really have to do anything, we just have to invite them! I barely did anything to help her, because I literally only talked to her for two minutes, but she had been prepared by the spirit and was ready. There are so many people around us that are ready to come to Christ and change their lives, and we just have to invite them. Remember, "It is better to invite them and have them say no then to not invite them when they would have said yes!"

I hope that you are all thinking a little bit this season about how you can share the gospel and be like the shepherds and the angels in the story of Christ's birth, because that is where the truest and purest joy will come from, as we see the joy on our friends' faces as they change their lives for the better. I know because I have felt it so many times on my mission, and I want you all to feel it too! I love you so much and am grateful for the wonderful examples you are to me, and the ways that you remind me and help me to be a better person just by being you. I have the most wonderful family and friends in the world, and I sincerely love you all. I don't know what I would do without your love and support.

Have a very merry Christmas!

Love,
Sister Dansie

(cont. from 12/28/2010 post)
7. Marquez and Reyna family!
8. Marquez family- they gave me a stocking and a scarf :)
9. Me and Sister Dickson
10. Sister Salazar- she is going home this week :(
11. Me and Scott Anderson- Angela's institute teacher- I forgot to tell you in the letter that I saw his on his way to New Zealand, he stopped by the VC

Mar Vista: Transfer 8: Week 3‏ / Dec. 14, 2010

Hi family!

Things have been really crazy at the Visitors' Center this past week with all the lights, but its been good. On Saturday we had over 3000 people come into the center. Our daily average is usually about 200. Its fun being busy like that, but it takes a lot of energy. We've also been trying to get our ward excited about inviting their friends to the Visitors' Center as a way of opening the door to their interest in the church. Its been going pretty well so far. Mar Vista hasn't had very much recent success in terms of missionary work, so it is hard to get people to break out of that being the expectation for the work in this area and have the faith to invite their friends and get things going again. We're working on it though, slowly but surely.

On Saturday we had a Relief Society activity decorating wreaths to take to the less active sisters in the ward, and they asked Sister Dickson and I to sing, which was fun, and we also got to decorate a wreath. It was a good way to get to know all of the sisters in the ward. They are all really nice. There are so many beautiful, picture perfect moms that live in the UCLA married housing and are in our ward. On Sunday in Sacrament meeting they blessed a baby and announced that it was the eighteenth baby of the year. Isn't that crazy? Eighteen. There are a lot of adorable little kids. It is so interesting being thrown into what feels like a completely different world, but then realizing that the church is still pretty much the same, wherever you go or whatever the ward is like. How can you not see that its true?! Mankind can not do that on its own- there would be too many differences and changes in the church from ward to ward. The church truly is governed by God through his Holy Spirit.

So, I'm not really feeling up to writing much today, but I love you all! I feel like the weeks are going by quicker and so basically I just have less to write anyway. :P But I am doing really good. I'm loving sharing the gospel and helping people find the true joy of Christmas through following Christ, so, what more do I need, right? I'm very happy, and I hope that you all are too.

Have a great week! :)

Hermana Dansie

Pictures:
1-3 Santa came early this year to the sisters at the temple apartments. :) (aka Elder Hancock, the Vehicle coordinator/ one of the senior couple missionaries needed to practice for his role as Santa at a ward party.)
4. My wreath :)
5. The Reyna family! They came up to see the lights. They are doing so good! They're going to be sealed as a family next December.

Mar Vista: Transfer 8: Week 2 / Dec. 7, 2010

Hi family!

My new area is so beautiful!!! I have all of Venice beach, which is a really interesting quirky area which kind of reminds me of Yachats, Oregon in a way, and there is this beautiful canal system that runs through this one neighborhood and they all have little paddle boats and canoes that they can take right up to their houses. It is a really fun area. We spent a day walking around visiting less active members and street contacting, and we invited everyone to the free Christmas concerts at the Visitors' Center, so everyone was really nice to us, which apparently is a big change from what Sister Dickson is used to in this area. It is really nice being able to offer them something free that they want. Hopefully it bring them to the temple where they will be able to feel the spirit and want to learn more. Christmas time is the best time to be a missionary! I love how everyone is thinking about Christ and how people are so much friendlier.

We had a miracle that same day as we were walking around Venice. We were trying to find a less active member, and we ended up going right up to the board walk, and we walked along it for just a little bit but then asked each other "Are we supposed to be this close to the ocean?" and then realized as we looked over at a bunch of shirtless people playing volleyball that probably not, so we turned in to a road out of beach view and ran into a woman that came up to us and said "I know you, you're missionaries!" She was from Honduras, and it turns out that she had been investigating there and was about to be baptized, but then moved here and lost contact with the church. She was really excited as to show the things that she remembered while talking to us, like the Relief Society and Joseph Smith. She lives out of our area so we got her information and sent her the missionaries. It was so amazing to find her, and to realize that at that exact moment if we hadn't been obedient and listened to the spirit we wouldn't have been able to have that opportunity and see that blessing. People that are that prepared and amazing from the very moment that you meet them are few and far between, so it is a big miracle to find them, and it increased my faith that there are people who are ready and waiting for the gospel, and literally just don't know where to find it.

Our main investigator right now is named Sam. He is about sixty and he feels the spirit and has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, but he just feels really loyal to the church that first introduced him to Christianity and helped him change his life around. The poor guy has a lot of health problems, and last Monday he had a really bad fall and broke a few ribs and punctured his lung. He is a strong, stubborn guy, so he didn't stay in the hospital for treatment and was just planning on resting and toughing it out. We offered that he receive a blessing and he accepted, so we went over with the bishop and another elderly man from our ward and they gave him sweet blessing of heath. After they finished Sam looked so peaceful, and he started saying his own prayer thanking Heavenly Father for the blessing and for sending us to help him. He really is sweet. I've never seen or even thought of thanking Heavenly Father right after receiving a blessing, and it was really profound and touching. We are hoping he will eventually feel more comfortable coming to church and recognize that this really is the one true way to return to live with God.

The Christmas lights all went up at the temple and are so pretty! We also have free concerts here every night at seven, so it has been really fun. I love being here in the visitors center! On Christmas Eve and Christmas day the Visitors' Center Sisters are performing the concerts, and my companion and I are in charge of organizing everything which has been really fun. i've also been put in charge of making flyers and programs and those sort of things for the concerts, so all of my skills I've learned from working with Dad all my life have really paid off. :) I never thought that the things I learned there would cross over, but i have to do computer and office stuff all the time here. I'm really glad that the lord has helped prepare me throughout my life for my mission, and I know that my mission is preparing me in a big way for the rest of my life.

Well, I love you all so much! Take the First Presidency's advice and don't get too stressed with all of the holiday preparations. Always remember whose season it is we are celebrating.

Hermana Dansie


PS I met Chelsea Hightower! How cool is that? i saw her last night at the Christmas Devotional. I'm attaching a photo.

1. My new companion Sister Dickson
2. We took some glamour shots in front of the temple
3. Venice canals
4. Sister Dickson and I
5. Me and the temple lights. This doesn't show very many of them- there are a lot more.
6. Giant nutcracker at a member's house
7. The view from my new apartment- 6:30 am sunrise
8. Chelsea Hightower! For those of you who don't know, she is one of my favorite dancers from "So You Think You Can Dance?"