Most girls only get one Christmas in the mission field, I was lucky enough to get two.  The first December in Nebraska was a bone chilling cold like I had never before experienced.I arrived in November to a land completely foreign to this California  girl.   my fist zone conference was a few weeks before Christmas and the mission president asked me to share my testimony. I ended it with how grateful I was for my companion, Sister Hill and how she was the best Christmas gift I had been given. I had never known what having a true friend felt like until her. She was a huge blessing in my life as a missionary. I had the privilege of being her junior companion for the first seven months of my mission. The assistants to the president drove me in the black suburban the many hours from the mission home and dropped me off in Kearney with sister Hill. I just couldn’t wait to go knock on some doors!I had so much energy and desire to share the gospel, so I didn’t  care that it was below zero! We went out walking the streets and knocking on doors asking if we could share a brief message about Jesus Christ. To my great surprise and disappointment no one let us in!  After days of this I was beginning to wonder what I had signed up for! The days dragged on and the cold became more bitter, “how was I going to do this for 18 months?!” I thought. As the evening approached I turned to Sister Hill and said “let’s say a prayer.” I told Heavenly Father that we had been working really hard and that we had faith ,”please bless us with the opportunity to teach someone!”I asked. we walked down a new street and the 2^nd door we knocked on was that of a 92 year old woman named Esther. She let us in! I was able to teach for the first time! She was a Lutheran and shared her beliefs, which was fun for me to learn about. She said she had never married or had children and that was her biggest regret.She mourned over it daily.. I gave her a book of Mormon and asked if she would read the introduction, “I’m going to read the whole thing!” she replied! Then she said something I’ll never forget, “God sent two angels to me today. I know he did.” Before we left sister Hill and I sang “As I have loved you”.  Esther looked at us with tears streaming down her face as we sang. I hugged her and told her I loved her and she said “I love you too.” After we left we thanked Heavenly Father for hearing our prayer. When we went back to teach her again she would call us “her angels”, and then a few weeks later she passed away.

The second Christmas was still freezing, even worse than the first! One night in December, when we came home after walking to appointments all day, I peeled of the layers and found my toes were blue. one of the families we had been working with  had more trials than I had ever heard of. Some of which included an abusive husband. He had a few wives (and no they were not Mormon!) and would rotate between his other wives and kids. Eleanor, Ruby, and Phyllis were a few of the kids that lived there. They were always happy and so full of love! We would teach their mother as she lay depressed in her bed. Once I shared with her the story in 3nephi chapter 11. it tells of  how the savior healed the Nephites one by one. I testified that he could heal her and that he loved her! She wept and said “I didn’t  know that. I didn’t   know He loved me and I can feel it right now. He is real isn’t  He?”  The children always seemed to look forward to our visits and I loved them more each time. I remember wishing I could take them home with me!  When we would be there in their home you could see cockroaches on the floor. Most of the kids slept on the floor with only a blanket. There was no kitchen table to eat at and the cupboards were mostly bare. So I decided to use what food allotment I had been given for December and buy this family groceries. I actually snuck into their house with my companion one night and placed the food in the cupboards so they wouldn’t  know who it was from. When my grandpa heard about them through a letter he wanted to help and sent me money for them. I bought more food and left it anonymously again. My companion and I left a Christmas gift for each one on their bed. Money and the material things of Christmas lost its entire savor. I discovered what matters and that I had somehow been blessed with the thing of greatest worth my whole life.

My Mission was hard, to say the least. Probably one of the hardest things I have done. And yet the price I paid to really know My Savior continues to bless my life. Because of those 18 months I came to love Him in a way that could come in no other. I learned more of Him by walking in his footsteps and ministering to the poor and the poor in spirit than I could if I had physically walked in Galilee. I  was far from a perfect missionary, and needed to repent daily (I still do!) But I can say with confidence that I loved those people with my whole heart and I came to love the Savior in an intimate way. I can say with confidence that Joseph Smith really is a prophet because I defended Him and his vision of God the father and Jesus the Christ, over and over again. I can say with surety that the book of Mormon is true because I saw it actually change lives and bring Hope to so many. So, I guess this Christmas miracle is me. I was not a bad a person before I left on a mission, but I came back better. I came to know that the only gift I have to give My Savior is my heart and a life of service to Gods children. It is the only thing we can give,it is the only thing that matters.