December 20, 2010.

Merry Christmas Everybody!!!!!

What a glorious time of year! I love Christmas and most of all I love my Savior. It has been a great week here in Kitchener. I have a new companion, Sister Rigby, and I love her! We laugh all day and have so much fun together. Sister Stanbrough is here as well. It is a college city so it is easier to talk to young single adults than in Brampton where there are a lot of older people too. The only challenges right now are exams and holidays...nobody is here! The majority of the population here is Chinese so we also have Chinese speaking Elders in our ward. It has been amazing to testify to many people about the power of prayer and the Book of Mormon. However, not many people are willing to listen with their busy lives. The scripture 3 Nephi 13:33 comes to mind: "But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you!" As we put God first in our lives, we will receive strength and a greater capacity to accomplish the tasks of life. I love the Book of Mormon.

Church was great yesterday. It was the first time in my life I have ever been to a branch instead of a ward! It was pretty small but amazing. Sacrament meeting was so great and the Spirit was strong. There were talks about service and peace. I wish the spirit of Christmas could be present all year long. I am looking forward to getting to know the members here. We don't really have any investigators right now so we spend much of our time finding. We walk around the same loop everyday all day because it passes by two of the colleges. It is pretty cold, but I bundle up a lot (which might be why people don't talk to us - we look ridiculous! haha).

I went to a birthday party for a girl that we apparently were teaching but decided not to any more because she isn't progressing. She is from Burma but much of her family grew up in Thailand as well. There were loads of people there, all sitting on the ground all around the house and they did a sort of service that had songs and scriptures. It was all in another language and I had no clue what was going on haha. All I can say is I am so glad I am an english speaking missionary! Anyway, we ate food and left. There wasn't really a point to us being there, but oh well. I guess it was a cultural experience.

I love the prophet! I read his talk about gratitude in the general conference Ensign this morning. With this new year approaching, let us show our gratitude more, so it fills us. Showing gratitude to our Heavenly Father can change our hearts. I love you all. Have a very merry Christmas this week and remember to serve others. Show love to others. Remember what matters most!

Love,
Sister Barton :)

P.S. The library is closed next Monday, so I will be e-mailing on Tuesday :)