Sister T. Takes Fiji: Put the CHRIST in Christmas

Well, one year older…again. I tried to hide from my birthday this year by running away to Fiji, but somehow it found me, darn it! But needless to say, it was a sweet day to have with my 'family' here in Fiji. My awesome companion planned a surprise breakfast pie with two girls in our ward, which is my most favorite treat here in Fiji. So yeah, we ate almost a whole half of it in one sitting. Happy bday, Sis Tram, you get 5 more pounds!

We also had some pretty sweet things happen this week. We have been earnestly praying to find those who have been prepared to receive this gospel, and this week we were lead to find some of them. This one family who lives on the tip top of the hill in Qauia, which is one of the main villages we proselyte in, we shared with them a little bit of the message of the Restoration, and they were really interested. They asked us to come back after Christmas, so hopefully on Friday we can go sit down with them.

We also found another family. The daughter we have been teaching for the past few weeks, but she's always been in her neighbor's house. Well this week, she took us to her own house, and introduced us to her dad, and her older sister. There are 7 kids, but only she and her sister were home with the dad. Turns out the dad is a pastor at the village Methodist church, but he is such a sweet man. When we first sat down, we introduced ourselves and shared some gems about the gospel. He was so interested, and he shared an experience that had happened a few hours before we came. A group of members of a church called 'Souls to Jesus' came by their house and asked if they could all pray together. In their prayer, they asked that someone from overseas would come to this house and bless them with the truth...#spiritofprophecy. Little did those Souls to Jesus members know, they were asking for the sister missionaries to come to this home and share with this family! But the Spirit was very strong throughout our whole time in their home.

The dad also shared a dream that he had with us, where in it, he looked up above his head and saw eagles crossing over the sky...and then a voice came out of the sky and said "My son.’ Now, I'm not a professional dream interpreter, so I can't venture a guess as to say what the eagles mean, but when he was sharing this dream, you could tell that he knew the voice was from God, and that he knew that he was a son of God, a child of God! He shared this dream with us, and told us that he knows God loves him. What a cool experience! I wish I had cool dreams like that! That's one gift that many of the Fijians have is dreams where they are told certain things from family members that have passed, or something cool like that. Actually, the neighbor to a family in our ward had a dream about her grandma, who told her that she was 'waiting for her to do work', and to go visit her neighbors! AH! There are angels on both sides of the veil!!!

We also had the opportunity to participate in a Missionary Christmas Fireside on Sunday night. It was pretty amazing! The missionaries were able to sing some Christmas songs, and then some members of the stake were asked to come read scriptures, and bear their testimonies. It was such a great fireside, and the Spirit was everywhere. You could just feel it in the air! And it was especially great because it focused on the true meaning of Christmas, which is Christ.

Sister Faasalafa and I were asked to give the Relief Society lesson this Sunday in church. Good thing my brilliant mother sent me a Christmas activity that we used for the lesson! It's a story called 'Teach the Children" and it is all-inclusive with a tiny Christmas tree and a few ornaments. Each piece has a meaning that ties in with Christmas. The story goes that Santa shows up at a house, and explains to the person reading the story what each significance is. First, the star, which represents the promise made long ago that God would send a Savior to the world. In Helaman 14: 5, Samuel the Lamanite prophecies about the new star in the sky. And in Luke 2, we read that the star lead the wisemen to where the Christ child lay in the manger. Then the red ornament which symbolizes the blood of Christ, his infinite Atonement. He was born into this earth to atone for our sins, so that we would be able to return to our Father in Heaven someday. We are ALL in need of the Atonement, otherwise we would not be here on earth. Red is to remind us of His sacrifice. The tree is to symbolize the hope of mankind. The green represents hope and youthful life. And the needles on the pine tree all point heavenward, to help us remember to keep our thoughts uplifted to our Heavenly Father! The bell is to represent our Savior's voice that He calls his sheep back to the fold. As long as we follow His voice, we can't go astray! The candy cane represents the Shepherd's crook. Our shepherd uses it to bring us back into the fold, but we can also be shepherds to others around us who are in need of love and care, especially during this holiday season. We need to be aware of those who are in need of our help! I think there are a few more symbols, except I can’t remember them all. But the lesson was really great, the Spirit was there, and I think the Relief Society all loved it! They asked for a copy of the lesson so they could have it as a Family home evening activity, so that's cool they're sharing it with their families.

I'm so grateful for this Christmas season! We are so lucky to remember the birth of our Savior, who came into this earth to die for us, so that we could one day return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father again! I'm so eternally grateful for His infinite love and sacrifice that He gave for us. I wish it was Christmas all the time because then we would always be reminded of the best gift that any of us have ever been given.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas with their families, and I love each and every one of you!

CAN’T WAIT TO TALK TO THE TRAMFAM IN 3 DAYS!!!

Love you all!!

Loloma levu,

Sister Trammell