My Little Heart Grew Three Sizes That Day

Happy December everyone!

The Christmas season is here again and my heart is filled with joy! Don't you just love this time of year? Christmas lights going up, people waving at strangers, it just seems like the whole world is happier at this time of year!

This week was a simply wonderful one, full of humbling moments, and exciting ones, spiritual ones, and ones where your sides hurt from laughing to much. Here are a few of my memories:

-This week we ate spicy homemade crock-pot chili with S, and his adorable son L, and S's mother-in-law while we taught about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel.

-This week we felt prompted to stop by a women's house and we turned out to be an answer to her prayers. She was baptized about a year ago and hasn't come to our ward since she moved here about 6 months ago. She had been feeling completely alone and abandoned by her husband and was trying to come to grips with the possibility of having to be a single mom. We sat on her couch and cried with her, and read in the Book of Mormon about the power of righteous mothers. And we talked about how OUR righteous mothers made the biggest difference in our lives. And then she came to church yesterday :)

-This week a young 15-year-old boy and his twin brother asked us to pray with them that they would finish high school. And we did. And we told them that they could accomplish anything they put their minds to and that God loved them.

-This week a young mother went another week without a job, but felt as though we had been sent to explain the gospel to her. And she felt peace.

-This week I texted Sister Cottle and asked if her and President would like to join us for a lesson at the E's house. They ended up taking us to dinner and to the lesson. President and Sister Cottle cozied up with the E's kids, helping us teach about the gospel of Jesus Christ is a happy memory in my head.

-This week we told a man, who suffered from a stroke and subsequent coma about two years ago, that Heavenly Father wanted him to take care of his body and that he needed to stop smoking. And that we were going to help him.

-This week we had Thanksgiving dinner at the M's house and we burned 3 dozen cookies that morning using a bad pan. But we ended up with enough good ones to deliver them to the people that we love.

-This week we stopped by a girl's house and the man who answered the door told us that she didn't live there. And then we ran into the girl outside just as she was getting home and we realized that her step-dad probably doesn't like us very much.

-This week we attempted to teach lessons with too many kids and not enough discipline, watched other children show off their dancing and rapping and karate skills, and scooted other children off our laps. Repeatedly.

-This week we watched R (who just got baptized) as he helped us teach about the Book of Mormon and listened to him share his testimony of its truthfulness and how much it has helped his life. And my little heart grew three sizes that day.

It was an awesome week. And this coming week is Sister McElroy's final week of her mission. We are going to rock it. Go big or go home. Literally.

I love all y'all!
Sister Szilagyi