Hello! Happy Transfer week and Happy Thanksgiving week! This week has seemed like a complete whirlwind and I hope that I can remember everything that I need to tell you all! Before I get started….MOM. Thank you so much for the incredible “advent calendar” and thank you so much to everyone who wrote notes and put such thought into what they wrote. So far I have opened one from Papa, Amanda, and Kevin, and I am so excited to read everything else that I will read. I have the BEST family and friends in the world! I also got my cute stocking from Kate and Sid. Best siblings EVER.
Well, my last week in Loess Hills was an eventful one. We were so busy that it was a struggle to try and see everyone that we needed to, especially because I figured that I would be getting transferred and wanted to say goodbye…even if they didn’t know I was leaving. Sister Harris called last night and told me that Jacob passed his baptismal interview and that he is excited for Saturday! Can’t wait for him, and hopefully I will be able to get to go to the baptism. In other YSA ward news, Chris blessed the Sacrament on Sunday, which I am SO bummed I missed. It would have been the best thing ever, but I have had so many incredible moments with him that I can’t complain!
Thanksgiving was awesome, as every holiday I’ve had on my mission has been. We did our deep cleaning in the morning (we have to do that before every transfer) and at around 10, I got the phone call that I would be getting transferred to Old Mill to be companions with Sister Jensen (a different one than I was companions with before) and Sister Mahlstede!!! I guess the Lord likes having me in trios! I FREAKED out because I was so excited. Then I called Sister Shimokawa to tell her I was coming to her ward. Then she texted you haha. We headed to the Trail Center not long after that because we had been asked to take the 31 new missionaries on tour of the TC before our Thanksgiving dinner. The new missionaries are INCREDIBLE and I am always so grateful to get to take them on tour and feel of their enthusiasm and of their spirit. We had a great dinner, put on an impromptu concert (what else is new when Sister Brough and I are in charge of the program ha) and got to watch Ephraim’s Rescue!!! If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure to see it ASAP. And if you haven’t seen 17 Miracles, make sure to watch that first! Best. Movies. Ever.
Sister Jensen is from Virginia and has been out for a year this week! She and Sister Harris were in the MTC together. It is so fun to be companions because we have served around each other for a long time and now we finally get to actually be companions. Sister Mahlstede has been out 5 months today, and we have been really good friends ever since, so it is a DREAM to get to serve all together. I am already completely in LOVE with the Old Mill ward. The people I have met already are incredible and I just keep learning that I will love more and more people!
Transfers were Friday morning and then we have hit the ground running ever since. It is so great to come into a ward where missionaries have done such great work already!! We live down at Willit which is the apartment complex right down from the TC, so that is awesome! Means we have a place to work out every morning, so you KNOW I'm happy. We have had some of the funniest moments in my 4 day in OM. I have been in tears every single day since I've been here from laughing. Old Mill goes from downtown Omaha all the way up to West O (about 5 miles from Lakeview!!) so it has a crazy range of people. I have already found "family" connections....the name Farnsworth seems to scream "ask how we're related" so I've collected family my whole mission. I love it.
Well, as sad as I was to leave Jacob right before his baptism, the Lord blessed us to be able to have a huge miracle in Old Mill! The sisters had been teaching a guy named William for just over a week before I got here, and had invited him to be baptized on January 7th. On Sunday, his second time at church, he bore his testimony that the church was true and that he wanted to be a part of this church and this faith and this family, so he wanted to get baptized! He is so prepared, so we moved his baptism up to December 14th. Not this upcoming Saturday, but the one after that. I know that the Lord has prepared so many people in this area, and I am excited to go and meet them and to help those we are already teaching progress and find the joy that the gospel brings! I'm sure that we will see a ton of miracles, especially because we can go on splits really easily and double our time in the area! Love it.
Gingerbread is going really well! I don't really understand how people have the creativity or patience to put them together, and I look at gingerbread the same way I shop....5 minutes in and out, but I know that this is a tool to get people to come and feel of the Spirit of Christ and of the pioneers. We had 748 visitors Friday, 919 on Saturday, and over 500 on Sunday. So amazing!
Well, I love you all so much! I am so grateful for all of you and your Christlike examples to me. I hope that this December, as we all get ready for Christmas, that we are doing something each day to bring ourselves closer to our Savior, and especially to bring others closer to Him. I know that as we do that, we will be able to feel the real joy of the season!
Love you the moon and back!
Sister Farnsworth
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