Day #1: EMMANZAA

Well today I was trying to figure out what to do for my first gift to celebrate EMMANZAA...and the first thing that I thought about was my mission. For those who don't know, last June I returned home to the U.S. after serving for my church (click on the "I'm a Mormon" widget to your right....look to your right...yep, that one...and you can find out more of what I taught for 18 months). Yep, 18 months of voluntary service to the great people in the Caribbean. I served in the eastern half of Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and Barbados (gorgeous islands...I miss them!) So I decided for my service to send a package to my missionary companion, Hermana Lismary Castillo!

Hermana Castillo started her mission in March 2010 and I had the great opportunity to be her companion when she first came into the mission field in San Lorenzo & Gurabo, Puerto Rico. Hermanita Castillo taught me a lot about faith, charity, enthusiasm and the great opportunity that we had to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ for 24/7. There are a lot of reasons why I am grateful that we are friends and we had the opportunity to serve together, but the list is too long. So yesterday, I thought that I would send her a little package full of a CD that I recorded for her of some hymns and commentary, etc., also I got her a little pkg. of Nutella (SO good!)

Hna. Castillo LOVED this stuff, she would eat it plain and buy a bottle a week. It was quite the addiction, but whenever I see it, I think of her and the fun time that we had together.

Yesterday I was listening to the LDS General Conference talks and I listened to a talk by President Henry B. Eyring entitled, "Opportunities to Do Good". I love President Eyring because when he speaks the Spirit just testifies so strongly that his words are true. I really loved this talk because it reminded me that truly it is the small actions that we do every day that make the most impact on other people and in our own lives. It's a great talk, if you haven't checked it out, I recommend it.

I love the quote by President David O. McKay that says, "True Christianity is love in action." How true is that!

Anyway, so there's the update for today. I look forward to tomorrow to continue the Emmanzaa journey!! :)

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM