Hi!!! <3

First of all thank you for letting me know about Karen's passing. My heart hurts so much for her family. What hard news to hear. It brought me lots of tears. But I am so grateful for the Lord and His plan of happiness. I have learned this week how important it is to trust in the Lord. Sometimes it is easy to think, hmm, are you sure that's right Heavnly Father? Because I'm experiencing lots of sadness and pain! But, He is always right. We see the blessings eventually if not right away. I'm most happy to see that Bridgette is doing well and herself again. My heart aches for her. I love her so much and miss seeing her bright face. Please send her all my love! If I wrote her a letter could you get it to her? It already looks like there have been miracles from this hard adventure. How lucky our ward family is to have Bishop Miller. Joe is amazing and I can only imagine how wonderful of an experience the blessing Bishop Miller gave to Karen must have been for all of them. I wish i could have been there for the funeral. I know it was beautiful. Please give their family all of my love and support. I wish I could express my self better. My heart really hurts. I love their famiy so so much. The real question is, who will take care of all the stray animals? ;) At least we know that any pets who have the passed away are now being taken care of really well! haha I will miss that sweet spirt of Karen's so dearly. <3

On another note, thank you SO MUCH for calling Karina annd for the wonderful package! My scriptures are beautiful and my companions and I have had so much fun with all the fun treats. <3 We are having a haircut party with one of my favorite ladies, Kimberly Andelin. She is this amazing single mom who faught in the army and is just way too much fun. She has the best kind of personality and has been through sooo much. She recently had her records removed from the church and we are not sure why but she loves to have us over and share messages with her two little boys. Anyway, we are bringing the biscoff spread you sent so it can be a real preparation day party! ;)  

And Karina just loves you, Mom! I showed her a picture of you and she just thinks your gorgeous as well (p.s. I showed the cute picture of you, dad, and Lily to everyone and soo many people asked if it was your baby!) I'm so glad you got to chat with her. I just knew you would get along so well! And thank you for my chirstmas present! I'm so excited to wear it! (: I know you are really helping her out as well. She is moving out of our area but she is going to be across from the Walmart where we shop at on preparation days so we have a plan to meet up there every week!

So transfer news came this morning. Sister Bates is leaving and Sister Britton and I are staying! It was such a relief to know I am staying. I am starting to feel so at home and I love everyone in the area so much and I am just finding my way around! Working with 4 wards is crazy and I'm just getting the hang of it. On the other hand, it was CRAZY to find out sister Britton is staying! This is her SIXTH transfer in this area. By the end of this transfer she will have been here for HALF of her entire mission. She is incredible and I know she is staying so she can be Sister Traing Leader her for another transfer and also be here for so many that need her. She is the best trainer I could ever ask for. We are sad Sister Bates is leaving, but she is the only one in our district being transfered. We are beccoming such a little family! I love my district leader and everone in the distric!

This weekend was amazing because it was stake conference and the First Presidency Christmas devotional! We got to eat with Elder Evans from the Seventy before the adult session and it felt funny because normally we are there helping out for the dinner! - Not that I did that much, but it felt weird to be on the other side. Elder Evans was wonderful. In the adult session he talked about the beautiful He is The Gift video and asked us to think about WHEN we discovered the gift, HOW we have embraced it, and challenged us all to SHARE it. Sister britton was called up by him to bear her testimony, it was amaizng. 

I am so excited and grateful to be a missionary during the Chirstmas season. I am feeling the true spirit as I represent Jesus Christ and share His message to all. Be able to be at the Conference Center for the First Presidency Chirstmas devotional was a neat experience for Martha. (Billie got super sick :( but was able to watch it with her friend on tv. It was so cute, she was like: "I really don't want to miss this experence but it will be nice to see it at home with Andrea, and I really just want some peppermint tea! I can't remember if that's allowed!"  haha  We told her it was and I said I would bring her some of that yummy chocolate pepermint tea you sent, she was so excited!) I was worried about Martha because she was sleeping for most of the talks during the devotional, but when President Eyring spoke it was like he was talking directly to her! She loved it so much and felt the spirit so strong! She said she was filled with peace and joy just like he talked about; she said she would remember that night forever.

We haven't been to see the lights on Temple Square yet but Justin and Kris are taking us on Friday! We are so excited!! Every year in this area they hold a service called the Inter-faith devotional and there is a committee of all the leaders from the different churches. Each year they switch off the church where it is held and choose who the speakers will be. We just had it and it was so beautiful and unifying! The churches included ours, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, and so many others! It was soo so cool! You should talk about doing something like that in Holbrook! 

Fun tid-bit of the week: the people of Utah love my style. So far I have been told I look like a girl on the inside of a snow globe, an American Girl doll, and a Christmas cookie! lol  It's the small things in life that make me excited.

Anyway I hope your Christmas season is staying full of Christ and not too stressful. I love being able to celebrate Christ everyday and know it can be extra special for all of us this Christmas season. I love you so much. I love love love you! (: I hope you're feeling Christmasy and sharing the He is The Gift video with lots of people. Pray for people who are prepared and the Lord will provide! xoxoxox te queiro muchisimo!! 

p.s. Hopefully I will be able to write Karson soon but let her now I am so grateful for the letter she wrote to Michael! xoxox

oh another p.s. Karina said she approves of both mom and dad as true Spaniards!