Letter #61 - Week 63: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, And I'm Basically Trilingual

December 2, 2019

Hola Everyone!

This week was a week of firsts for Hermana Connolly.

New York welcomed in the Christmas season yesterday with the first real snow of the year. It was Hermana Connolly's first time and she has been anticipating it for weeks now. She had been telling Bishop's wife about it, and right after church, she ran up to Hermana Connolly saying "It's snowing, it's snowing!" and dragged her outside to take pictures. It's starting to get real cold, but Christmas time is officially here.

Don't forget to sign up for daily reminders about the Light the World initiative at comeuntochrist.org. The tag line this year is "One by One". The new video "The Christ Child" is beautiful and the family home evening resources that go along with it are excellent. It is exciting to know that there are many more locations for the giving machines this year.

We celebrated Hermana Connolly's first Thanksgiving with the Bishop's family. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Brazil either, so it was lots of fun to share it with them. We had a mix of traditional Thanksgiving food along with a variety of Brazilian yums. I am very grateful that I get to be with their family at this time. They make me feel so loved and not so far away from home. Ever since I arrived in New Rochelle, I've been trying to win over the love of their dachshund Millie. On Thanksgiving I was able to hold her and pet her, and the Bishop's wife told me that I was the first American to be able to do that, so I felt pretty accomplished and satisfied about that.

I got to go on exchanges with Sister Randall, an American Sign Language Sister. She is a ball of pure energy and goodness. She came into the mission three weeks into the transfer cycle last time around, so this was the first time I really got to know her and be with her. She taught me how to pray, bear my testimony, introduce myself, and a few other things in sign. So President can send me to open an English/Spanish/ASL teaching area, I'm ready to go.

With the all the stormy weather, we took to filming lessons in the church and sending it to the people we are teaching right now. There was a white board in front of the chalk board in the rrom we were in, and we were using the white board as a backdrop. At one point I was getting a little frustrated about having to refilming lessons and I went behind the white board to draw on the chalk board. I found what I figured was a child drawn Simba and the words 'remember who you are' written beside it. It made me laugh and feel a lot better.

This morning I had a good experience with Alma 11. I'd been eyeing it for a couple of days now before I read it, but then after some prayers, promptings, and studies, I find it a lot more meaningful #likenthescriptures

Alma 11: 4-19

4 Now these are the names of the different pieces of their gold, and of their silver, according to their value. And the names are given by the Nephites, for they did not reckon after the manner of the Jews who were at Jerusalem; neither did they measure after the manner of the Jews; but they altered their reckoning and their measure, according to the minds and the circumstances of the people, in every generation, until the reign of the judges, they having been established by king Mosiah.

5 Now the reckoning is thus—a senine of gold, a seon of gold, a shum of gold, and a limnah of gold.

6 A senum of silver, an amnor of silver, an ezrom of silver, and an onti of silver.

7 A senum of silver was equal to a senine of gold, and either for a measure of barley, and also for a measure of every kind of grain.

8 Now the amount of a seon of gold was twice the value of a senine.

9 And a shum of gold was twice the value of a seon.

10 And a limnah of gold was the value of them all.

11 And an amnor of silver was as great as two senums.

12 And an ezrom of silver was as great as four senums.

13 And an onti was as great as them all.

14 Now this is the value of the lesser numbers of their reckoning—

15 A shiblon is half of a senum; therefore, a shiblon for half a measure of barley.

16 And a shiblum is a half of a shiblon.

17 And a leah is the half of a shiblum.

18 Now this is their number, according to their reckoning.

19 Now an antion of gold is equal to three shiblons.


¡Os Amo!


-Hermana Prue