Merry Christmas to all!

                                                                                     

Family-- It was so good to skype with you today! I already want to do it again... But alas, we shall not speak face to face again until I come home. Oh well. (:

I love you all so much and I really am so glad we got to talk. Sorry I didn't speak more Chinese to you. It's okay though because my Chinese is really bad.

Oh did you write a family Christmas letter? I want to read it!!!

Thank you for all of my gifts. I especially loved the pictures! Sister Bang and I got a good laugh out of them. LOVE IT!!!

There isn't much to say about the last week and a half. It's been raining. And very very very cold. But we're still alive and that's all that matters sometimes.

This past Sunday in relief society we had a lesson about hastening the Lord's game plan. They talked about how members ought to know all the missionaries names and pray for the missionaries in their ward by name and for their investigators as well. I was really touched by that. I know that if everyone here did that for my investigators, there would be a lot more miracles and the members would learn to love our investigators. That being said-- I will tell you this. On Sunday-- go to the missionaries in their ward. Ask them the names of which investigators you could help pray for. Then pray for them. People need prayers. And I know that prayers make a big difference.

While we were skyping today, Liz asked what I was going to change about next year. I don't think I had much time to answer that. By way of missionary work-- I want to be obedient and end strong. It is very typical of missionaries to end their missions on a slump, just wanting to be home. I don't want to be that missionary. I hope that my last three transfers in Taiwan are my most successful by way of how hard I work. I finally feel like I have a good enough grasp on they way missionary work goes that I should be able to just always do better and better. I also want to be more charitable and love people more and better.

Okay lastly I want to talk about tender mercies. My personal opinion is that a tender mercy is one of those moments when you know that God loves you and is watching out for you. I was thinking recently about eternity. It is a long time. Honestly some of the mysteries of God really overwhelm me sometimes and it stresses me out. But it's tender mercies of God that keep me going. I want to share about an experience I had just recently. I've been feeling recently that I haven't had any amazingly spiritual experiences. I can feel the Holy Ghost working in my life. I can feel His direction, and I can feel God's hand in the work, but I haven't really had any big memorable experiences. I understand that God usually doesn't work through big experiences to tell us He loves us, but sometimes those experiences are nice to have. Most days, honestly, are just normal days. We do the right thing and we live according to the principles of the gospel, but we don't feel any different. God doesn't need to send a choir of angels to applaud us every time we do something good. We do good things because we know they are good and we know they are right and that we should do them. However, because God loves us, He will give us experiences that remind us of His love, and those experiences have the ability to change us and recharge us with an energy and hope that only comes from a Father in Heaven who loves us. Yesterday in particular, I had reached a point where I felt like I hadn't felt God's love for me in a while. I wondered why I desired a reassurance that He cares. We had a talent show at the missionary special Christmas activity in which three missionaries got up to sing "A Child's Prayer." They invited everyone to join in on singing for the third verse. When that time came, a choir of angels (in the form of missionaries) began to sing the words to the song. From all corners of the room, I could hear the words "Heavenly Father are you really there?" and "Pray. He is there. Speak. He is listening." The warmth of the spirit started from deep inside my heart and spread outwards filling all the holes in my soul created by doubt and fear. I couldn't keep myself from crying. It's as if Heavenly Father himself whispered in my ear, "Micaela. Just Breath. I love you and everything will be fine." That was His tender mercy that He sent to me. I know with out any doubt that God loves me. Despite my imperfections, He loves me. And as long as I do my best and follow His son, things really will be okay.

Well, family. That's it. I love you all more that I can express. I love the Savior. I love Heavenly Father. I love the Holy Ghost. I love Taiwan. I love everyone that I have been able to teach the gospel too. I love my companions. I love my mission. I love Christmas. I love being an eternal family. May we all strive to do a little better and be a little better and follow all promptings of the spirit.