Marissa In Mississippi

Happy Holidays everybody! Are you excited for Christmas? I AMM!!! 

                    XoXo,

                          Madi Adele

 

 I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!! Mine was fantastic!

My Dad will be happy to hear that I started off my thanksgiving with a good ol' turkey bowl.

We played with the Stake and all the missionaries in the Shreveport Zone (but Sister McGrath, Sister D, and I were the only Sisters to show up!) #girlsruleboysdrool

The turkey bowl was more of a major mud fest.... everyone kept slipping and landing in the mud.

It was flying everywhere.

In fact, I'm pretty sure I ate some...

It was a blast though. Our friend Bill (getting baptized the 14 of December!) even came and watched us play!

The sisters and I decided it would be nice of us to make something for our friends. We made them some little turkeys and went and passed them out. It was a fun little craft for us to do together and we had a good time trying to make each turkey different and special in it's own way!!!

We had thanksgiving dinner at the Finklea's house, and I finally got my taste of some REAL GOOD southern food! Oh man! There was so much food we even had left overs! My favorite things that we ate were the sweet potatoes with brown sugar & pecans on top, and the cornbread dressing.

It was so fun to spend time with them even though I really missed being with my family! It was fun to hang out with Elder Taylor and Elder Spence, and we all brought pictures of our families to show and tell each other. :)

I ate so much food that I was in a food coma! What else is new!? But here is a cute picture of our district with the Finkleas!

I have some good stories to tell. We met a bunch of spanish people this week and we had trouble communicating with them. I tried to remember the little spanish I knew... but Sister D just told us to testify of Christ and they will feel the spirit!

So she tried that... and this spanish lady just looked at us like we were crazy people. BUT we did get numero telephono!!!

(where is my Grandpa Mansfield when I need him?!)

We found another spanish family and a very old man was sitting in a chair outside his trailor. We said something to him and then he just started going off in spanish! Somewhere in there I caught "navidad" and told the sisters he was talking about Christmas... so we sang him a Christmas Carol which we think he enjoyed very much. We said Adios and later as we drove past we yelled Feliz Navidad out the window... which he yelled back to us! And then we started singing together!

A funny little tender mercy from this week: Sister Madsen gave us a bunch of left over cupcakes from the baptism and the Sisters and I didn't want them.... I asked if we could give them away, but they said "We can't give strangers food, that's creepy!"

We tracted into this cute girl named Brittany and there were a bunch of kids running around her house. She told us she was babysitting and then later she told us that it was her birthday! So we sang her happy birthday and shared a little message about Christ. Then Sister McGrath asked if she "wanted some birthday cupcakes?"

SO we ran to the car and got them. I said something dumb, like "they aren't poisonous!" and we left with an appointment to see her next week.

The Sisters laughed at me but I said it was MY idea to give the cupcakes away! It just had to be the right person. :)

Other events of the week include:

-Helping Ben and Tracie break into their trailor because they locked themselves out and we were supposed to be teaching them a lesson!

-Playing piano for a baptism

-Sister D melting our shower curtain

-Finding a sunflower mailbox! (I love sunflowers!!!!)

-Finding enchanted lane

-A flooded yard from all the rain

I had a wonderful fast sunday yesterday, it was just what I needed! I gain so much strength from hearing everyone bear their testimonies at church. Bill even fasted!!!!! We told him that it was fast sunday the day before when we were teaching him - but we didn't really explain what that meant.

We could hear his stomach growling at church though! I love that he is showing his faith so much that he does things we don't even suggest/ask him to do!

We went and saw Bill later that night and he showed off his NEW SUIT he bought at the mall - for his baptism and for wearing to church! He said he felt like John Travolta :)

He is getting so excited for his baptism!! He takes such good care of us sisters. Always giving us things - tangerines, pencils, flashlights, caramels.... I just love him and who the gospel is allowing him to be - his best self!

I love mission work! I may never come home!!!!!