This is the picture of Allison seeing the BYU Women's Volleyball team!  

Let the Countdown Begin!

Mom, every day the calendar never ceases to amaze me! You are wonderful. Before I fill you in on my week, I just thought I'd say THANK YOU for all of the letters this week! Brother and Sister Ford, Pleasant 2nd Bishopric, Amy Dean and boys, the Hills, and many more! You are all so appreciated!

Omaha finally got hit by a little snow, but where I live (in WEST Omaha) we hardly have any on the ground at all! We are supposed to get a really big snow storm tomorrow, which is good because in every letter from President Weston he says he wants a white Christmas haha. We are having a Christmas Zone Conference tomorrow, which I am really excited for, mainly because I get really excited for every time I get to hear President and Sister Weston give trainings! They are so wonderful!

Christmas is going to be AMAZING. We will have dinner on Christmas Eve with all the sisters and the senior couples and then all of the sisters spend the night at the house that Sister Whittaker lives at. 26 sisters, one house. Craziness, but it will be fun! We will have our breakfast at a senior couple's house and then can visit people during the day and then skype you! It will be great!

This week has been wonderful! I have seen so many tender mercies of the Lord- I guess that is what Christmas time does for us. When the world starts to focus on our Savior, there is an added measure of peace and charity. What a blessing that is!

Thank you SO much for the books and cds. We are giving Mike one book for Christmas and one book for his baptism, and Gena the other book! We found this INCREDIBLE couple- Matt and Elyssa- and we have another appointment with them tomorrow night! They are so prepared, and I am so excited to spend more time with them. They are young- I think Elyssa is 2 years older than me, and they are engaged! We walked out of their house yesterday, half wanting to scream because we were so excited and half speechless. It's so crazy how being a missionary means you love people the second you meet them.

I love the Lakeview ward SO MUCH. They are so wonderful to us- I know that I have made lifelong friends here, and it makes me think of having the missionaries in our home when we were little. In fact, our Bishop is really young, and their kids are about the same age we were when Dad got called to be Bishop the first time. Really fun to remember! Thursday night is the Relief Society dinner and we are singing this awesome song by Hilary Weeks for it- it is Silent Night (which Sis Coats will sing) with this really pretty song. I think it's called the first night or something. No idea to be completely honest!

I can't believe my best friend gets married in 3 days! I love you Mat!

We had a visit from some VIP this week- Brother and Sister Cleverly, soon to be Elder and Sister Cleverly. He will be the new director of the TC starting next month, so he will be here for a majority of my mission! He came and took a tour, learned his "duties" and came and saw us sing at the mall and in Gingerbread! maybe next week I will remember to take pictures of gingerbread to send you. I keep forgetting!

I love you all so much! Can't wait for Tuesday! It will come much sooner than you think. For now, let's all just get on mormon.org/Christmas and watch the Christmas video so we can think about how excited we are to celebrate our Savior's birth!

I love being a missionary. I love the opportunity it give me to testify of my Heavenly Father and my Savior daily. I love the perspective it gives me on what's really important. I love working hard in the service of God!

Thank you for everyone who reads these letters- I am so grateful to have all of you in my life! I love you!

I'm having a good time :)

Sister Farnsworth

Hello!

Well, shockingly, another week has come and gone. Can we slow it down already?! I feel like I wish December could be forever long because it is so much fun to be a missionary in NOM (Nebraska Omaha Mission) at Christmas time. Today we went on something called a "Watson Wagon" with a bunch of the sisters. Elder Watson is the director of the Trail Center, and he is like our dad here. Today we all went to the Kanesville Tabernacle to see their Gingerbread display and then went Christmas shopping. It was a great day! 

SO. The big news is that Brother Mike Hall set his baptism day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is the 29th of December, so that will be pretty much the best week of my life. My best friend is getting married on Friday, Suzy's baptism is on the 22nd, then Christmas, then Mike's baptism on the 29th. Could I ask for a better Christmas???! I don't think so. I realize more and more every day that I have made the right decision being here- that I am doing the most important work that I could possibly be doing at this time in my life, and that being a mom and wife is the only thing that I will ever do in this life that is more important. I am so blessed! I gave Mike a copy of the incredible Advent calendar mom sent, and he said he does that every morning (with my mini hymn book that I let him borrow) and that he reads the Book of Mormon every night. If that isn't the best thing to hear as a missionary, I don't know what is. Oh wait, how about the other day when he listed off all of the reasons that he wants to be baptized. AH. I love him so much. I am so excited for both baptisms. All I want is a "White Christmas" haha. 

Speaking of a White Christmas....we still don't have any snow, but yesterday it was 6 degrees according to our car. I think it warmed up to a toasty 13 degrees by the afternoon. This Arizona girl will definitely be bundling up!! I got my big coat out finally and have been wearing it like my life depended on it! 

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the wonderful letters this week. I was so grateful to hear from Sister Wade, the Merrills, Emily Bowen, Papa, and to get that awesome package from Jen. I was so grateful for another Christmas CD, and for the chocolate covered cinnamon bears. YUM. Lindsay- your Christmas card was ADORABLE and Cole's little concerned face is so cute. I love that little guy, and can't believe how big he is already! Mom takes the cake though with an advent calendar to beat all advent calendars. I can't believe how crazy that thing is- you should go into business and sell it. I have bragged about it (I know that is un-Christlike, but seriously, it is AMAZING) to everyone that is here. I love love love it. 

So I wanted to tell you about the craziest experience that I had this week. Some people may have seen it in on the NOM Facebook page, but I will give you the background information. We were asked to switch someone shifts at the TC which means we were there all day- it makes for a long day when that happens, but we were fine to do it! So, around 2 hours into our second shift, I went downstairs to the Gingerbread display and saw another bus pull up. I kind of laughed when I saw it, because we had already had about 4 or 5 buses that day already, so it was just a "here we go again" kind of moment. I'm watching the bus pull up, and then this guy gets off that looks SO familiar. And then I watch the BYU women's volleyball team get off the bus. Anyone who knows me very well knows that the BYU athletes are like my CHILDREN, so it was the craziest surprise. I was able to take some of my girls- Ciara and Sammy, as well as Kim on a short tour through the gallery here, which was so amazing to be able to do. I will be excited to talk to Ciara on the phone in the next few weeks and months! Such a blast. It made me realize how aware Heavenly Father is of each of us- and that even though He shouldn't have to, He will always give us reminders of just how much he loves us and how aware He is of us. He always answers our prayers- most of the time in far grander ways than we could ever imagine. How lucky are we!? 

I'm so glad to hear that you have been studying Preach My Gospel for Family Home Evening. I think that book has changed my life in more ways than I could count, and that it- combined with my study of the Book of Mormon- has helped me understand what it is that my Heavenly Father sees in me, and what He has for me to do here. 

OH! Before I go- another "small world" situation (am I my mother's daughter or WHAT?) happened to me this week when I was at a member's house in our ward. Brother Wendel is the music chairperson so he was helping me practice because we sang in church this week (yes, the ward is going to get sick of me singing). I knew he was a doctor, but didn't know he was a radiologist. I knew it was a longshot, but I asked if he knew Carl and Nan Black, and of course, he does. He went when David Archuleta sang at their house! Small world. 


I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK. Thank you for all of your love and support. I'm having a great time!

Love, 
Sister Farnsworth

Allison and Sister Coats having lunch with a couple serving in their mission!  We received this in an email!  What a fun surprise!  Thanks Elder Nordhoff!!

Happy December!

Guess what...even after the snow last week, we are back up to a high of 59 degrees today! Let me tell you, this Arizona girl is really happy. Thank you so much for the emails today- it was such a nice surprise to get an email from the Deys and Emily! I am especially excited to see Emily when she gets here!!! So crazy to think about. I will tell the sisters in the Plattsmouth ward to look out for her when she comes. I don't think I will be able to eat with them, but if they come to the TC when I am working I will definitely be able to see them. Too bad the Bowens aren't in my area!

 

This will probably end up being a much shorter letter than I planned on because we just spent about 15 minutes talking to this man about the gospel! He is so cool!! I guess while I am talking about teaching, I will just share now about our investigators. I know it probably seems like Brother Mike Hall is the only person I talk about, but that is because we love him SO MUCH. Last week we watched the Restoration with him, and he just kept telling us how much he has changed since we have started teaching him and the change that he has recognized in himself as he has prayed and read the Book of Mormon diligently. Then, last night, he went with us to the Staheli's house (members in our ward that I ADORE) and watched the Christmas Devotional! It was honestly one of the highlights of my LIFE. To watch him, watching President Monson speak, and really feel the Spirit testify that he is the prophet of God on the earth today made me happier than I can even begin to express. He told us that his goal this week is to decide on a baptismal date. We are thinking either the 22nd or the 29th of this month! I also need to tell you about Suzie- I haven't told you about her beacuse I was just waiting until it was closer to her baptism day. Her mom and sister (who is 15) were baptized in August, and she wanted to wait until her 11th birthday in December, so she will be baptized on the 22nd! It is so fun to watch her grown and learn, and to know that even kids can gain such strong testimonies of the gospel. It makes me think of all of my amazing cousins who are just older than her- I love you!!

 

I got Matilyne and Riley's wedding announcement this past week! I have the most beautiful best friend EVER and I can't wait to see pictures of her the day she becomes a Fitzgerald! There is a man in my ward who did something really hilarious yesterday, and I was thinking about it this morning, and he really reminds me of Riley. How he dresses, acts, everything. Bro Duchenne served his mission in AZ and he and his wife have lived there for ahwile, but he is in law school in Omaha now. He always talks to me about stuff from AZ, and we see him quite a bit because he is a ward missionary. So, yesterday he came up to me after Sacrament meeting and told me that he is going to do me a selfish favor. I must have looked really confused, so he explained that he really wants citrus from AZ, and he wants to order if from some place (I think he said it was on McKellips) but he said it costs 50 dollars for one kind of fruit, and he wants lemons and oranges. He said there is no way his wife would go for that, but that if he could say it is a present for the sister missionary from AZ, she would go for it. So he came to talk to me to make sure I like citrus. Little did he know that I could eat lemons plain like my wonderful great-grandmother!

 

I am really excited for a few different things this week- we have exchanges on Wednesday so Sister Bown will come over to Lakeview for the day, which I am really excited about. And then, on Saturday we have the ward Christmas party, and in the afternoon we are singing at a concert in the mall. SO fun. In Dad's email he said that he wished he could hear me sing a Christmas song, but that he hopes I'm using my talents here in Omaha. I am so grateful that I have been blessed enough to be called to a mission where we are constantly asked to sing at something.

 

I am hoping that today I will actually get to write letters to people. I am so sorry that I have not been able to write a lot of people back. I still don't know what I want for Christmas. Maybe instead of getting me something, it would be really nice to get Mike Hall something for Christmas from the family- church and Christmas related? I don't know. Sorry...I will try to think of something that I want.

 

OH. I forgot to tell you. There was a bit of excitement last week because we told the office that our housing situation would be ending at the end of the month. Then, we were at a wedding for a woman in our ward on Saturday, and Bishop Thompson came up to us and told us that he promised they would find someone's house for us to live in within the ward boundaries because he didn't want to lose us. We thought that was really nice, but in our minds we were thinking that even if we didn't live with a member, its not like we would be unable to serve the Lakeview ward. Apparently they had already assembled a list of people to call to ask to house us. Later, Bishop came up to us and told us that President Weston had told him that if they didn't find somewhere for us to live in the ward, that they wouldn't have sisters anymore, and apparently, people really want Sisters, so that is good leverage. We were so excited because we love living with members. Then, when we got home, Sister Hill told us that she and Brother Hill have decided that they want us for another 6 months, which I will hopefully be spending in Lakeview! It was great news.

 

What is Papa and Grandma's email addresses? Will you give the Deys my address? They asked for it.

 

Well, time to go grocery shopping now. I love you all so much. I know that my Heavenly Father lives and that He loves me. I know that Christ is my Savior and I am so grateful to remember Him at this time of year. I know that this is His church on the earth today, and that even though the other wonderful religions of the world will bring people closer to Him, this is the only way back to Him.

 

I love you to the moon and back!

 

Sister Farnsworth