That's What We Do.

I feel good, nananananana. That song was on in the grocery store this morning, and I feel like that part accurately describes my life right now. It's a good life down here. The bumps in the road just help us catch air. ;) I think my sense of humor went down the drain when I came on my mission, what can ya do?
Last p-day was actually a lot of fun. We went to this place called Telstra Tower. You go all the way to the tip top and you can see all of Canberra. It was a pretty sweet view. We went with the Elders in our district and no one seemed to understand why I was so excited to see so many pine trees from up there! None have them have served up in Sydney or been to Idaho, so they don't know how much I was missing out on. After p-day we went and had two family home evenings with different families in the ward. I had a 6 year old teaching me Indonesian, so that was a fun  dinner conversation. Haha.
Tuesday was Sister Clark's birthday! The Clarks are the senior couple here and they take such good care of us, so we wanted to make her happy. So we went and decorated her door bright and early with the other #wodenwarriors. Haha. The members and the Elders in our ward all have a fun sense of humor, so we missionaries have our own hashtag. Then we went and saw our investigator T! he just got out of the hospital, and he was really excited to see us! Hopefully now that he's back, he'll continue progressing where he left off. Then we went and saw Nana J! She's a recent convert and is so good to us. We went and saw a few more people that like our visits, but they aren't necessarily progressing. It's a hard line some times. We want to visit people and help them progress, but we don't want them to forget our purpose.
Wednesday was a honey of a day! We went tracting, and I was able to use the Indonesian I learned Monday night! Woo! Then we went and saw some less active members that the sisters have been trying to visit for months and we finally got in and shared a message. It was a Christmas miracle if I ever saw one! Then we went and did service for one of our investigators and it was pretty great. I love doing service! Then we went and saw our family from Botswana, but they're going back for two months so we won't be teaching them again anytime soon. :/
Thursday was great. Even though weekly planning takes up a good chunk of Thursday, we are pretty productive the rest of the day! We met a less active member and she's so great! her New Year's resolution is to be active again, so we told her we're going to basically move in and get her motivated. The spirit was so strong in our lesson and I can really see her coming back. Then we went and met K! She's a freaking character alright. She was raised by Athiests but every time we read with her from the Book of Mormon she has a better day the next day, so she knows there's something to it. She'll come along. :) Then we had a meeting with Bishop. It was fantastic! We had FHE with the kids, then we had a sit down with Bishop and made a game plan for the ward. It was really nice to get on the same page as him. I love when missionary work turns into member missionary work!
Friday was great. It was Zone Training Meeting and that pretty much took up most of the day. But it was really nice and I got a lot out of it. I love learning. And a few of the Elders and I were able to do the musical number which was really fun. Then we went and saw Sister S. She's less active and has been really rude to the missionaries in the past. But we just talked to her a little bit and she really softened up and even gave us hugs before we left. It was great! I love when people feel the Spirit of CHRISTmas. We also met Elsie! She's beautiful, wonderful, and wants to be baptized at the end of January! So we're working hard getting her feeling ready.
Saturday was fantastic! We went and mowed Elsie's lawn and then the Tongans across the street brought us KFC because they saw our badges. Haha. Missionary life! Then we went and followed up on some former investigators and invited heaps of people to the Ward Christmas Party! Then we went to the Ward Christmas Party and it was so much fun! I love this ward. They're so wonderful and I couldn't ask for a better place to spend my Australian Christmas.
Sunday was great. Church was wonderful and we were able to get to talk with leaders of the ward and express what we needed and what our plans were to help. After church we took Ash out with us and did some finding! It was a lot of fun and we were able to set up quite a few return appointments for next week. Then we had the Christmas devotional and a Stake sing-a-long. I love Christmas!

Thanks for powering through my super long email, but life is good so I figured I'd rant on about it. :)
All my love and a very Merry Christmas,
Sister Danielle Laree Stott

Christmas lights in the summer, that's what we do. :)