Hi y'all!
 I hope you are having a GREAT Christmas Season this year, and are enjoying the many festivities that occur during this time of year. I am doing great, and have had a pretty crazy week! On Friday, President Petersen kept all the missionaries inside all day. So we studied for 4 additional hours. It was nice being able to study for that long but it was hard staying inside all day. This week we have also been on bike week so we have been walking on ice. They don't have snow plows here so that's been interesting...I am grateful for the snow though because I wasn't sure that I would see it for 18 months! 

 I can tell that some amazing things are going to start happening in this area. We are working a lot on re-activation, and our efforts are working. We had two really neat experiences with Less-Active / Part-Member families. We went and visited Sister Lowtharp this week, and as we shared a thought it was great hearing her bear her testimony. We then stopped by her house later in the week to help her clean her house. As we did this she mentioned to us that she knows that she needs to start coming back to church. She brought up her concern about how her husband who hasn't been attending church for about 3 to 5 years. Is finally attending with her at Living Waters. She is worried that he might not come as she tries to come back to our church. But we testified that things will work out as she heeds God's counsel. She is really opening up to us with her concerns, and it's been a great experience being able to help her. She also is a great member missionary, talking to her colleagues at work, and I know she will be a huge asset to the church. 

 Last night we watched the First Presidency Devotional with the Browns. Afterwards, I asked Brother Brown what his favorite part about the devotional was. He mentioned that he really enjoyed Sister Wixom's talk, and the music that was sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He then shared with us how at Thanksgiving. He had a great missionary experience with sharing our true beliefs with his mother-in-law. He shared that she had some misinformation and he felt good being able to clear some of that information up. 

 We found a really neat couple this week; Park and Lynda Leathers. Everything Park has a belief of is found in our church even though he doesn't fully know it yet. He hasn't attended yet, but is really interested in coming. He reads from the Book of Mormon but his main hang up is that we call ourselves Mormons instead of just Christians. He also has a hard time about Joseph Smith being a prophet. So we are inviting him to pray, and continue reading The Book of Mormon. We feel that once he comes to church everything will come together for him. 

 Sister Ives and I are doing great. We are getting better at working in Unity although, we do still have a bit to go. Sister Ives is slowly starting to talk more and more, and I can tell that she is growing as a missionary because of it. Her testimony is so strong, and I can tell it touches the people that she shares it with. 

 The interesting thing about walking around in this bad weather has been that many people feel "bad" for us. They wonder what we are doing out in this weather. So we are able to get in a lot of doors and state our purpose clearly. Many haven't gone anywhere but it's been great being able to talk to a lot of people. 

 This week during studies I have been focusing on reading from the General Conference Ensign issue. It's been a great learning experience going back through all the talks. I especially like Elder Dube's talk about Looking up and pressing forward in Faith. It helped me realize that I just need to keep my faith up. Knowing that the future always contains something better and more for us. 

 I hope y'all were able to enjoy the First Presidency's Devotional last night. I was reminded through it that Christmas should be a REMINDER to keep our lives focused on Christ. It should be the season that we re-commit ourselves to be disciples of Christ. May we give Christ the ultimate gift this season. By giving him OUR WILL and complete devotion. I know that as each and everyone of us do this. We will be blessed tremendously. 

Love, 

 Sister Whitney Jo Williams