Sister Eleanor Neeley: Light the World this Christmas Season, and in all Seasons...

November 28th, 2016

Hey! Hope everyone's thanksgiving was great.

Thanksgiving was a great day for us. We were able to have a wonderful thanksgiving dinner with one of the families in the ward, and then after go to several different homes to share messages about Jesus Christ and gratitude. It was a special way for me to spend my thanksgiving, I was truly able to focus on others and feel the spirit super strong as I heard so many inspiring stories from those we talked to of being thankful and having gratitude in hard circumstances all because of Jesus Christ.

This week we had a zone breakfast at the stake president's home as well and it was really awesome. I got to see all the missionaries which is always exciting, but also we all got a lot of council on how to work with our wards better so it was a great part of my week. I have served in this zone my whole mission thus far so I know the stake presidency pretty well by now, working with them closely is always a great part of serving here.

We are still teaching Lesley, and things continue to get better and better with her. She is really opening up to us, and starting to make changes that allow her to be closer to Jesus Christ. It is exciting to be apart of. Other than her, our lessons are much less solid right now and pretty infrequent. We talk to people everyday though and have many meaningful conversations that invite the spirit. We always wish we could be teaching more, but we are grateful for the opportunities that are blessed with, and have faith there are more to come as we keep working hard. It has been colder and colder here and rainy. Winter season has officially come. It can get pretty cold at night as we bike, especially when the delta breeze comes in from the bay area so we had to break out the gloves this week and tights!

Something I am so excited and passionate about this Christmas season I want everyone to know about is the church's new Christmas initiative called LIGHT the World. Every year the church comes out with a Christmas video, but this year it is something extra special. So if you go onto https://www.mormon.org/ you will find the main video at the top (https://www.mormon.org/christmas/light-the-world?play=hero) to introduce the special event a little. And under it there are the days of December in boxes. On each day of December leading up to Christmas, a different teaching of Jesus Christ is highlighted. And with that teaching there are suggested ways on how to implement that in your own life in simple ways. It is a wonderful way for anyone, of any religion, with faith in Jesus Christ to really get back to the purest of His teachings- or just anyone who wants to make the world a little brighter. Some of the days are like this, "Jesus honored His parents and so can you" or "Jesus fed the hungry and so can you" and "Jesus showed compassion and so can you". The website is so beautiful and powerful, I really would encourage everyone to visit it and also participate- and invite everyone else to do so as well! I know that as we follow along and implement the pure teachings of our Savior Jesus Christ this Christmas season, we can feel His love in our live more fully and shine His light to others much farther than before. I love how the scriptures talk about Jesus as being a light to the world, and one that can never be darkened. He is the light and hope of my world. When things start to seem dark due to my own mistakes or weaknesses or just life getting hard, I can look to Him and His light and have hope that if I keep walking to the light, things will get better. There really is no darkness to deep that Jesus Christ's light can not reach. I love that with this video and website, others can start to feel that way in their own life.

I love you and hope you have a great week.

all my love,

sister eleanor neeley

My favorite district ever!