Dear Family,
Thank you so much for all the wonderful Christmas packages!! I felt so loved. I received Ellie's, Nichole's and your package all the same night! We are having so much fun decorating our little house for Christmas and listening to Christmas CDs. THANK YOU!! I will write each of them and let them know how much I appreciate it! Do you have Nichole and Ellie's addresses? I seemed to have misplaced them!
This week has been one of the best! We ate "dinner" (aka the South's lunch) with Brother and Sister Weatherford for Thanksgiving. It was so good! I even tried this thing called "gibblets." I'll spare you the details as to what is in it, but it tastes pretty good! My favorite dish was the sweet potato soufflé. Where has that been all my life?!
I just love the holidays! Everyone is so much more open to listen to our message. On Thanksgiving, we gained four new investigators in the first hour of proselyting and the day just kept getting better! We had such a tender moment in one of our lessons. We had knocked into the Eady family and began to teach. The children were enthralled, asking such inspired questions. They answered our questions with such sweet, sincere responses. Their mother wasn't so open. She said that she and her family had been led by God to their new church and that they were not interested in going to a different one. We just asked questions about her and her beliefs and she just opened up to us. The more we talked to each other, the more her whole demeanor shifted from suspicious to loving. She noticed that Sister Gearheart and my nametags were different. We explained and she asked us to say something in Portuguese. We both said our testimonies in Portuguese and then repeated them in English. The Spirit was SO STRONG. Then with tears in her eyes, Sister Brown bore her testimony in English. During this whole part of the lesson, the mother was just crying and at the end she gave us all a hug and said she would be at our church! It was such a tender mercy of the Lord that I got to be a part of that. It felt like I was walking on sacred ground in her humble trailer--the Spirit was that strong!
I love being a missionary! I am just so happy all the time! I have always been rather stingy with my love and more than a little prickly, but I am learning every day how to love and how to accept love. I have learned that I do not accept love very easily! Especially, to those who are not my family, but I am learning. I am also learning that I have a lot of love to give! My companions and those I go on exchanges with always comment on how much love and charity I have for the people. They say it is one of my strengths! I don't know if I quite agree with that, but I know that I have changed. I have changed so much, because I do love the people and I think they can sense it. The walls of suspicion they have built around their hearts melt away as we speak and as we listen and as we pray. It is so incredible!
I love you all so much! Not a day goes by that I don't pray for you all. I am so glad that you were able to use something from my letters in your lesson! I am so excited for the Christmas card and to open my Christmas packages! I am so proud of you Pops for being worthy to receive your new calling! You are going to do an amazing job! Make sure you email me your talks so I can read them to!
Love you!
Sister Daniels
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