Hope this works?

Alright, the group email is struggling. I'm not sure why it isn't working, but maybe this time it'll go through.

This week I'm really excited for Christmas. I love how we get to celebrate the birth of our Savior at this time of the year. I love seeing the lights, and I love seeing all of the people here, often with friends or family. We were talking to a member about the lights, and we were talking about our Savior - we have over 5 million lights on Temple Square, I certainly don't notice the one light that is a little dimmer or the one light that may have burnt out. But our Savior notices. He notices each and every single one of us, He knows exactly where we are in our spiritual growth, and how to help us shine brighter. He knows when we are a little dimmer, and He knows when we feel like our struggles are so great that we're just about burnt out. And He is mindful of us, and He wants to help us and to heal us to and to lift our burdens. Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, and He shares that light with each us so that on the days when we feel dim, we can find warmth in His light. 

I love you and all and hope you have a very Merry Christmas, I hope as you celebrate you remember our Savior, Jesus Christ. Not just that He was born, but that He lived a perfect life and sacrificed Himself for each one of us. I read something about Shepherds and Sheep Herders the other day. A shepherd knows each and every one of his sheep, often giving them all a name. A sheep herder is someone who just drives the sheep forward in one big woolly mass. Jesus Christ is a Shepherd. He knows us all, and He loves us all. He suffered for each of us individually, not in one great human mass. I know that He lives, and that if it weren't for His perfect life and resurrection, we wouldn't have Christmas, because He would of just been a normal baby born in a stable. But He wasn't a normal baby, He was the Son of God. And I'm so grateful for Him.

Monday is my new day for Pday. I have realized though that I'm a holiday magnet - if there's a holiday coming up, that's probably the day my next pday will be haha. So with Christmas on Monday, my Pday got changed to today. I guess two pdays in a week is our reward for no pday the last week and a half haha. 

Love you all! Hope this email goes through :)

All Grown Up

Hello Everyone!!

Well, this is it! My last week of training. Come Wednesday I'll be moving to a new apartment, be in a different zone, have a new assignment, have a new Pday, and also have a different companion! I won't be with my trainer anymore - I'll be officially trained and able to take English and Spanish tours and investigators all on my own! (Well, all on my own with my companion who could or could not speak Spanish) So that's exciting! Sister Aguilar got her outbound call this week, and she'll be serving in the Tempe, Arizona mission for the next two transfers! She'll come back to Temple Square on March 7th (Happy Bday Chase) and then finish her mission here on Square. She's excited to be getting out of the cold!

1. This week was pretty good! We've been teaching quite a few lessons to our investigators and have been able to get a really good relationship going with the missionaries in their areas. So that's always a plus. The standard of excellence for our mission is to teach every investigator 2 lessons a week, as well as have daily contact. So it's really fun getting to talk to these people that we love so often and help them progress. It's really great.

2. The Christmas Devotional was this week! Since I have another Christmas on the mission, I'll go to the next one so I didn't go to this one. But I got to watch it afterwards and it was really nice! Christmas is really a great time of year when we get to remember the birth of our Savior. But Christmas isn't Christmas if we don't remember His life and glorious resurrection too. His birth in that little stable in Bethlehem wouldn't mean much if He hadn't of lived a perfect life and given Himself as a sacrifice for us, only to rise again. I am so grateful for my Savior and for His redeeming love and mercy. I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who loves me and has a plan for me, and who definitely knows much better than I do what is good for me and what will help me grow. We teach our investigators every day about how there is a God in Heaven who loves them, and yet sometimes we as the missionaries can sometimes forget how that's still true for us too. I love the knowledge that we have that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us. That' so special to me.

3. It's so cold here!!! I'm definitely not in Florida or Mississippi anymore. Oh well, I have a warm coat so I'm luckier than a lot of people. The lights here are beautiful, the Christmas crowd has started picking up again, probably because it's December. It still isn't as busy as the Sisters last year remember it though. Oh well, I like it when there's a little less people, it's easier to have a meaningful contact that way. We get a lot of members around Christmas time, but whether someone is a member or not, everyone could use a little lifting. So come to Temple Square!!! We have lights and the Spirit! It's great!!

I love you all and hope you have a great week! I don't know when my next PDay will be so stay tuned.. since I'm moving apartments, that means I'm moving zones. So next Wednesday is transfers and then my Pday should be the day after, but since I'll be in a different zone my Pday will be a different day so I don't know when I'll next be emailing. Have a great week! 

-- 

Sister Black

P.S. Send me mail. I love it :D