SISTER ZACRISON: CHRISTMAS IS COMING

Hey y’all!!

Wow, it is the second week of December already! I can’t believe this time last year…I was a missionary! And now it is Christmas time again. Christmas brings about a lot of joy, and love for one another. I have to brag on my Mama for a minute…she is the best mama ever. I have been able to open up a letter each day of December, with a message from one of my friends or family. Many of you get my emails each week, and I just have to say THANK YOU! I have been so touched by the Savior’s love as I read them, and as I share the experiences with my companion. It is such a blessing, and I am so humbled. I love them all.  

I think Christmas is the best holiday as a missionary. Yesterday, we were able to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional at the branch president’s home. One of our investigators came too, which made the experience that much sweeter. As I listened to the stories of people giving, I was hit by the powerful love of our Savior. I can’t really describe how it feels, but it is a force that literally surrounds us. The best part of all the stories was love. The Savior’s love is the medicine that we as humans all desperately need. I know that this is the best time of the year, because everyone strives to be a little more like Him. I am so incredibly grateful to know the Savior, and to proclaim His message to all the world. All I can give this year is the gospel. And the love of the Savior. I have given myself to the Savior, and I want to give my whole heart too. Watching it with the branch was a lot of fun. We have a really good group of kids here.

This week we went on a blitz in Bessemer, and I was with Sister McKnight. She is really nervous to take over the area, and to train. Her companion is going home too.  I spent the time trying to build her up, and give her confidence in herself, and I hope it helped her. I bore her my testimony that the Lord is in charge. He can see our futures, and only He knows what is needed down the road. He knows that she would be able to train, and to do this, which is why she was called to this mission, and this area. That really helped me see that too in my own life. She will do amazing things, and we will be here to help her! Did I ever tell you that this zone is the filled with only the best missionaries? We are so lucky. Bessemer is a great place, and those sisters are working hard to do their best.

I grew a lot this week. I have lots of miracles I can tell y’all about, and ways I fell short, and ways that I saw the Lord’s hand, but I really discovered something. I am me. I am Sister Zackrison, and no one else. The Lord doesn’t expect me to be anyone else. I guess this week being with Sister Edwards as my last companion, I felt a lot of pressure to become who she is. I got worried and stressed that the branch wouldn’t like me as much without her being here, and that they may not think I am as good of a missionary as her. I got worried that the numbers would drop, and that the area would go downhill. But then one night, as we drove home from a blitz in Bessemer, I had this wonderful realization. The Lord knows who I am, and he called me to this mission. Under inspiration, President Hanks put me in Tuscaloosa, and put me with Sister Edwards. I am exactly where I need to be! I have confidence that this next transfer will be whatever I make it, and I am choosing right now to make it a transfer of miracles. I don’t have a second to lose. This time is too precious to waste any of it. I am working on loving who I am becoming, and working on what the Lord shows me are my weaknesses. This transfer my goal is to love the person I am.

I also had a few mini miracles. My companion was able to go to the temple with a member from a past area, and so I needed a companion for the night. One of my investigators from Hoover, who is like my little sister, came up to see me at the temple! It was amazing! Then, as we drove through Hoover, I was able to stop by my “Mama’s” home, and visit with Sister Thomas for a few minutes. It was such a blessing! I really miss that area a lot, and the family I acquired while there. I also got to talk to a lot of the members who mean a lot to me from the Hoover area, like Sister White! It was just a blessing this week. Oh, I also got to go to the temple as a mission, which was another amazing experience! This week was a great one!

This week, I would really like to focus on Christ being the gift of Christmas. A quote I found is this, “Christ Is not waiting for us to be perfect. Perfect people don’t need the Savior.” We all need the Savior, especially this Christmas holiday. If you haven’t already, I invite y’all to watch the “He Is The Gift” video the church produced. It is incredible. It is short, yet its message is profound. This is the link to the website, y’all need to go watch it!  http://www.mormon.org/christmas  to further this point, I would like to share these scriptures from Ether 12.

9. Wherefore, ye may also have hope, and be partakers of the gift, if ye will but have faith.

10. Behold it was by faith that they of old were called after the holy order of God.

11. Wherefore, by faith was the Law of Moses given. But in the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way; and it is by faith that it hath been fulfilled.

12. For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.

I know this email is super long today, but I hope y’all really take it to heart. He is the Gift. This Christmas season needs to be about Christ. Let us all do a better job at showing him our love. I love y’all. Have a fun week this week doing Christmas activities! Good luck!
Love,
Sister Zackrison