Merry Christmas! 
I think this Christmas has been filled with some of the brightest joy I've felt as we've sought to share the reason Christ came into the world with all those we meet--His wonderful Gospel. We've also had some incredible opportunities to serve, and it has been so humbling.
I think I'm coming to understand joy more and more. I never thought I could have so much fun on a mission, and I feel a peace that I can't describe even amidst sorrows I didn't expect.
Isaiah was supposed to be baptized this week. But in a few short days everything changed and now we've lost him. That actually happened with a few people this week, and it hurts to lose investigators as much as true friends.
But I think that peace comes from doing everything I know how, and then giving the offering to the Lord.
I'm so grateful for my companion! We've had so much fun! And I've never met someone so dialed into the Spirit! There are so many times where we will feel prompted to go to a street, knock on the first door and meet someone who is so ready. Or be in a grocery store or walking, and see someone and instantly it seems my companion knows their need for the Plan of Salvation--later to find out he recently lost his father and feels responsible.
I feel my testimony has grown of the Lord consecrating things for our gain. One evening we found nothing was going as planned, but right before we turned back we felt the Lord wanted us right where we were. We picked one particular door on the street that caught both our eyes. We asked if we could sing a Christmas carol, and this family (the Jarnigan family) let us in immediately and said their best friends were in our church and always wondered what made us different. We talked for almost an hour about the Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was so strong. We forgot to even sing a carol haha! But, when we asked for a return appointment they didn't give us one, and said they were very strong as lifelong members of their own church. We were disappointed.
Later, I had to go to the pharmacy to get some medication because I hadn't been feeling well. I was pretty ticked that I had been feeling unwell in the first place, actually. But the mission doctor who prescribed me happened to be one of the members who the Jarnigans mentioned they were friends with. I told her off hand what good things the Jarnigans had said about them. She said what a coincidence it was that Mr. Jarnigan worked as the pharmacy's head manager. When I picked up my medicine, I asked by chance if Mr. Jarnigan worked there. The lady said yes, and insisted on getting him--I thought that was odd. But he came out and said he was so glad to see us, and he'd been thinking about us, and wanted to let us know he wanted us to come over and teach his family every week!
Everything happens for a reason. That reason is that He loves us.
"And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down ...And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God?
And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things. And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh. And it came to pass that...the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms. And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!"
Merry Christmas! And if you get the chance, listen to Michael McClean's "Forgotten Carols." I'm missing that this year!
Love ya, but Jesus loves ya best,
Sister Pugmire
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