Birthday + Christmas + everything else

Hola mi familia!

This past week was so AWESOME! It was definitely an eventful one though.  I will describe what happened chronologically:

Wednesday, Dec. 25

CHRISTMAS!  Christmas truly was fantastic.  It was completely different than any other Christmas I have ever had, that is true.  But I loved it.  The best part was getting to talk to my family over Skype! I thought an hour would have been just the right amount of time, but woah.  It went by waaayyy too fast.  I needed like at least 12 hours to really say everything.  It's a good thing we have an eternity.  I am sorry you will probably have to hear me talk about stuff for that whole eternity though...

Saturday, Dec. 28

Today was the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.  Rutgers and Notre Dame were playing.  We had been planning a Finding activity there for at least 2 months now, and we definitely were anxious to go to this game.  We gathered our whole zone and brought TONS of posters with phrases like "Looking to KICK your addiction?" "Come meet the Mormons!" "Wanting to Strengthen your team?" and "He is the captain of our team- come check out his playbook!" (We spent 7 hours on these posters on Friday... I almost died.)  The idea was to just hand out pamphlets and cards and talk to people!  Little did we realize that Notre Dame, the biggest Catholic school in the nation, would be playing!  I will be honest, we were heckled like none other!  Some of the things we heard were pretty funny, but the majority of them were so terrible! I had a huge smile plastered on my face for the first hour and a half, but it turned more to a fake-smile-grimace by the end. The good news is that we were just able to laugh about all of this and have fun.  And we did find a few gems! And we did plant a TON of missionary seeds! Here are some funny phrases that I heard people say:

"Mormons?! Hey this guys is Mormon! (pointing to friend)" "No, you idiot, I'm Muslim."

"Kick my addiction?  Why would I want to kick it!  I want to make it stronger!" (Pretty sure this guy was super drunk...)

"Oh yeah, I'll be Mormon! That means I can have multiple wives, right?"

"Oh, Mormons! BYU got crushed yesterday!!"

Overall, people were not very open.  But there were a few gems amongst the rough, and I just had to focus on them.  For example, I talked to a guy who spoke Spanish who really wanted pamphlets for both him and his girlfriend.  I pray that they read them and are calling some missionaries right now!  There was also an old man who came and asked if I would take his picture with his son.  I said of course, and as he was leading me to the picture spot, he said, "I decided to get you to take our picture, because I know Mormons are very nice about helping out."  I then explained to them that we love to follow the example of our Savior and serve.  We had another man stop by, tell us he wasn't interested, but say thank you for all the work we did down in Far Rockaway last year.  I am so grateful that I can remember those good experiences that came from it.

I am 99% sure The Lord held back my tongue this day... Hahahaha.  Let's be honest, I am a little bit sassy ;) But when people yelled crazy stuff at us, I replied politely and nicely, and then like 10 seconds after they left I thought of a sassy phrase I could have said... Haha.

Wrapping presents as a finding activity...from last week.

Monday, Dec. 30

MY BIRTHDAY! It was one of the best birthdays I have ever had.  Definitely different, but I loved it.  There was a different feeling.  Like everything seemed just a little bit brighter.  It was basically a normal day, though.  My awesome companion made me breakfast, we went to district meeting, etc.

Here is a hilarious birthday story:

After zone lunch we went to go visit one of our active members, Carmen.  Carmen is a super awesome lady who struggles with health issues.  But she has such a strong testimony, and does everything she physically can to keep her sacred covenants.  Carmen decided to make us lunch, and after our arrival, she promptly brought out bowls of soup and rice.  When I glanced down at the soup, my stomach just dropped.  I started giggling--the contents of the soup looked just a little too familiar for my taste!  I turned to Carmen and said, "Eso es sopa de mondongo?" She replies back, "Si!" I almost died right then and there--of course, for my birthday lunch, I would be eating a nice giant bowl of Mondongo (cow intestine).  Hahahaha!  Just like at Sara's house, the soup tasted great, but the texture was not so great...Different from Sara's soup, these mondongo pieces were HUGE. They barely fit on my spoon! And somehow they managed to have pieces of bone... I took anatomy, and I don't think there are any bones mingled in with intestine... 

Luckily for me, we held our Zone meeting lunch at my favorite Hamburger place here--Checkers. (It's basically Carl's JR, except better) and my AMAZING district leader, Elder Gamble, had bought me lunch.  I was still pretty full from that, so I couldn't eat a ton of soup.  Carmen sassed me about not finishing my bowl, but after a few times of swallowing the slimy golf ball sized pieces of intestine, I couldn't get any more to stay down...Hahaha.

Mondongo soup!

Also here is a birthday miracle: 

While at Carmen's, a man came around soliciting for a charity organization.  He spoke english, and Carmen spoke spanish, so she called us to the door to figure out what he was talking about.  Upon my arrival at the door, the man looked at my tag-his eyes got huge and he started freaking out. "Missionaries!!?! You guys are missionaries??! I have always wanted to meet missionaries!!!!" I basically had to pick up my jaw off the ground. "My girlfriend told me about missionaries, but I have never seen or met any before! Tell me what you do as missionaries!" I then explained to him our purpose, which is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the Restored Gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  He was so interested.  He then asked us all about the church, where there was a chapel, what we believed, etc.  He told us everybody and their dog asks him if he is Mormon.  That made me laugh pretty hard.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and our number, testified, and invited him to read it and call us.  It truly was a birthday miracle.  Never have I met a nonmember that excited about the Church, missionaries, or the Book of Mormon.  He is from New Jersey, but I pray we get a call from him quick and he can be taught!

Later that night we went to Susy's house where we had a fabulous dinner, tons of laughs, and a really awkward rendition of Happy Birthday sung to me by her husband who then tried to give me hug after finishing (this caused even more laughs).

It has been an amazing week.  I have really seen so many miracles as a servant of The Lord, especially at this time of year.  I know He lives, He loves, and I feel so grateful and excited to serve Him.  I am so excited for the new year!  We are one more year closer to the coming of Jesus Christ.  

Love you all,

Sister Dodson