Happy Thanksgiving! And now Happy December!

I am EXHAUSTED! We got back from a sister activity last night. It was a riot and a half! We got to stay up as late as we wanted and sleep in! HOLLA! But unfortunatly my body is getting used to waking up at 6:30 AM! Sick, so so so sick! I went to bed at 3:30 excited to sleep in but my phone alarm when off at 6:30 and I woke up. My body wouldn't go back to sleep. I felt like crying. It might just be the saddest moment of my life. So at 6:42 frustrated as I can be, I climbed out of bed and over several bunk beds to the door. It was cool though that there was only one other sister up, and the mission president and his wife. We got to talking and I just felt so blessed to have such a caring and humble servant to watch out for us the next few years.

I was able to keep up tradition and make gingerbread houses at the sister activity. It was hard to maintain the detail that I normally do based on a few factors:

#1 Limited Supplies! How am I supposed to build a gingerbread masterpiece without ANY sugar cubes. Don't people know about structure here?

#2 Time! We only had 30 minutes!

#3 Nothing is as good as mom's "cement" frosting. It just isn't the same.

This year's theme was Book of Mormon Stories. I roughly depicted 3rd Nephi 11. I covered a cinnamon bear to look more "Jesus like!" Tradition lives on!

Something I realized this week was how hard it can be when you hear someone reject the blessings of the gospel. It struck me hard to realize that this gospel is something NEEDED in life. It isn't just nice to have, or even that you will be a better person for having it, but really, this is the bridge that leads us back to eternal life. The greatest blessings we can have all come from God. The greatest joy we can have is following the Savior Jesus Christ and taking him as our guide back to the Celestial Kingdom. We are so blessed to have the restored gospel in our lives. I have found the urgency behind missionary work as we teack people about baptism. I hope it catches fire! People NEED this! I am so thankful for the prophet Joseph Smith who restored the power to baptize in the name of Jesus Christ to the earth. I am so thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who wants to help us in anyway possible to see us with Him again!

I love you all so much! Miss you!

Love,

Sister Meldrum