dinner appointment when a small child walked up, took a loooong look
at the both of us, then stated while pointing at Sister Guest:
"You look 14"
His finger moved to me:
"You look 90"
My family. The end is near.
HA! I have been pondering "ever afters" but I'll get to that
momentarily... Don't worry, it's completely focused on my purpose!
Some other fun facts!
Sister Guest constantly runs warm. I'm always freezing. We're quite the duo.
My companion also has a gift. NOW. Allow me to explain. One can
usually tell they have previously visited a home or area by the way
things look. Familiarity. This is not the gift Sister Guest has.
INSTEAD! She knows that she has visited a particular geographical
location by the animals.
Yes. For whatever reason, I LOST it yesterday.. As we sat in an older
woman's home, a dog pranced in the room and I heard Sister Guest
Whisper "...We're in the wrong place... That is not a husky."
IT'S DECEMBER!
Time is flying. WAAAAAH! There is always SO much to do and so little time!
Because of this Christmas season SERVICE IS ABUNDANT!
We started #25ways25days with working at the veteran center! There we
met so many amazing men and women. Old gentlemen kept stopping us in
the halls to say we were the two most beautiful gals they ever did
see. Ha!
We then met Pete. Pete fought at Pearl Harbor and was getting more and
more bummed each passing year because of the fewer and fewer men that
are still alive. Ah! My heart.. As sister guest and I continued to
serve these incredible people around us, my eyes watered as I thought
of my Grandpa Ralph. AND THEN! Getting to carol was of course my
favorite! As we were about to leave, the Hermanas stopped us and asked
if we would sing with them to just one last resident. We agreed and
followed them all the way to the back of the center where we sang
Silent night to a much older veteran. His eyes produced humble tears
as we bore our testimonies of the savior through music.. It was quite
the experience. One I shall never forget. It truly helped me to get
into the mind set of Christmas and it's true meaning. Because of this
visit, many hearts were not only softened but opened to hear to gospel
message from Missionaries.
Now leading off of this and tying things back to "ever afters".
in Abraham, God says "I know the end from the beginning." I was
thinking about the end recently. I know... It sounds dark BUT IT'S
NOT! We always hear about happily ever afters in our favorite story
books as kids. It came to my attention this week that because of God
we DO know the end. It really is a happily ever after! God wants you
to have a happily ever after forever.
I bore my testimony of that this during sacrament meeting. AND OF
COURSE! Part of it was through music. Like President Eyring stated
during the Christmas Devotional "My heart burned as the spirit
confirmed that the words I sang were true"
The Light Divine
Today thine unseen purposes
By faith’s rare light we feel.
Dear Father, make us pure in heart;
To us thy will reveal.
Father, let thy light divine
Shine on us, we pray.
Touch our eyes that we may see;
Teach us to obey.
Ours the sacred mission is
To bear thy message far.
The light of faith is in our hearts,
Truth our guiding star.
As I sat down, another serge of thought entered my mind about my
Savior this Christmas season. I realized that Jesus Christ never felt
fear. He had perfect love. He had no reason to fear. But because of
the atonement, he perfectly knows what it's like to be afraid. To be
in the dark. But he is the LIGHT of the world. If we follow him, he
can cast out all of our fear.
I do not fear the end of my mission. I do not fear the end of my life.
All really is well.
I have been completely enveloped in God's love for me these last few
days. I felt it as I pondered about gifts then saw I had an unread
email from Sarah Jane. I felt it as we were blessed to go see the
lights at the temple. I felt it as those from Mt Woodson and La Jolla
nearly tackled me as we walked around the house of the Lord. I felt it
as we helped Sister Schmitt at the mission home with all the sisters
out here on the mission.
If only all of you could feel just a fraction of that same love I feel
for all of you.
"Fear not what man can do, for perfect love casteth out all fear."
Keep serving! Be the hands for our Heavenly Father this Christmas season :)
-Sister Carlson
President's wife, Sister Schmidt
