Last Email of 2013!!!

Hello Family and Friends! Can you believe it? We have almost made it through 2013! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had a great Christmas here in Chicago.

Me at the Navy Pier

Hermana Toney and I with
the Chicago Christmas Tree
at the German Christmas Fair

Me with the CHICAGO
sign in Downtown Chicago

Recreated picture on Navy Pier,
just a little different and a lot colder
this time then it was this past summer
when I was at this spot with my family.

Last Monday after emailing, for the rest of our P-day we headed into the city. We took the trains which become the subways once you get downtown and it was so fun. The city was incredible! I fell in love instantly! It was soooooo cold but was just filled with the feeling of Christmas! We went to the German Christmas Fair. It was super neat. There were tons of little booths with people selling things from all over the world. A lot of knick-knacks and ornaments. I found one shop from Nepal that had some amazing stuff. I ended up buying a neat backpack, a yak bone bracelet and some prayer flags, all from Nepal! We also went to a shop that had Nativity Ornaments made from Olive Trees from the Holy Land and got some of those. We had crepes, Nutella and banana of course, from France. We also met some people who were LDS and they were like "Missionaries!" and said hi and wished us Merry Christmas, it was neat. We then walked to Navy Pier. As were were walking down the streets of Downtown Chicago, some people driving past rolled down their windows and yelled, "Missionaries! We are LDS too! Merry Christmas!". It was so fun! We were walking down another street and all of the sudden, someone yelled out, "Hermana Toney, Hi!". We were so confused because who in downtown Chicago knew her? It was her MTC teacher who was in Chicago for Christmas where her family lives! It was such a fun tender mercy from the Lord to see so many people down there that recognized us and wished us Merry Christmas! The Navy Pier was fun. We just walked along it, inside, and enjoyed looking at everything. At the end of the pier we ran outside just long enough, it was so cold especially on the lake with the wind, and then hurried back inside. We then got back on the trains and went home. We had a Noche de Hogar that night and two investigators came and some other non-members that a member invited, so that was great!

My neat backpack from Nepal

My neat turtle bracelet
made from yak bones in Nepal

Tuesday was a very busy Christmas Eve! We had District Meeting where we watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration movie. It is such a powerful movie. Afterwards Elder Johnson, our District Leader, asked a few missionaries to share their feelings and thoughts and bear testimony. The Spirit was so strong, it was wonderful! We then had a District lunch and all went to a Hibachi Grill. It was a lot of fun to be with everyone and we ate a lot of food. Us Hermanas then went to our Church building and did Facebook contacting and worked on getting our Area Books updated on the iPads. We then went to the a member's home. They invited us over for Christmas Eve Dinner. Everyone here celebrates everything Christmas on the 24th. Not much happens on the 25th. It was great, a Mexican  Christmas dinner! We then went to our investigator's house who had also invited us over for Christmas Eve dinner. We shared a Bible Video about the Savior's birth and then ate Pasole. By the end of the day, I never wanted to see food again!

Chicago Squirrels beat us to a package
of Rolo Christmas Treats from home
before we got back to our apartment!

Wednesday was a very Merry Christmas! We got up and did our studies. Then we opened our gifts. Boy were we both spoiled! It was such an incredible feeling to be encircled about by all of that love and support. After opening our gifts, we walked to a member's home to use their WiFi internet. Calling home was such a wonderful experience. I got to talk to and see my amazing family and hear their voices! After being online with my family for forty minutes it was really hard to hang up.  But I was able to do it because I know that we receive blessings for being obedient. The family that let us use their internet, had some food they made for us. They were such a tender mercy from the Lord. After I hung up I was, of course, pretty sad, so was Hermana Toney. But, the mom hugged me and cried with me. After that, the entire rest of the day, I felt joyful and peaceful inside. It was such a blessing from our loving Heavenly Father! We went home and had lunch and then went out caroling with the other missionaries in our ward. It was the perfect end to a Missionary Christmas!

Our Christmas morning
after an Elf came in the night!

Me and my Christmas blessings

Me in my Christmas Pajamas
that Hna Toney's Grandma
made for me!

Thursday was right back to work. It was a weekly planning day. Weekly planning pretty much takes all day. But it is good because now we have good plans for next week.

Friday was a very busy day and we had the car and were able to get a lot done. We saw some less-actives and also found an investigator that we hadn't been able to contact for several weeks. We talked with her and she mentioned she needed help setting up Skype on her

Our district on Christmas Eve

computer so she could talk with family in Mexico. So we helped her with that and it was quite and undertaking because everything was in Spanish! 

Saturday we had MCM, Missionary Correlation Meeting, with our ward mission leader. We also were finally able to catch our investigators who were supposed to have been baptized that day at home. They hadn't answered our calls or been home when we tried to stop by. We were able to go in and teach them el Evangelio, The Gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked with them about their baptisms. Their daughter turns 8 on January 21 so now we are going to wait until then so the mother, son, and daughter can all be baptized together. It will be for the better so that we can make sure they are prepared. We also had a lesson with some other investigators. It went really well. We really talked with them and helped them feel comfortable. We taught the Restoration again and they asked questions and seemed to understand better.

Us with some investigators and members
(not a great picture)

Sunday was great. Church was good. Two of our investigators showed up so that always makes us happy. The others who we met with the night before, and they had said they were coming, didn't come which made us sad. We tried to stop by them again but they weren't home. So we will just have to continue trying with them.

At our Christmas activity last week with President Woodbury, he gave us each a new copy of the Book of Mormon, a highlighter, and a challenge. He asked us to read the entire Book of Mormon, highlighting each mention of Jesus Christ and the Atonement (in different colors) before April General Conference. He promised us that we would become better people and better missionaries, also that we would receive revelation in conference. I want to extend this same challenge to all of you. Already as I have been doing this, I have noticed my reading is more focused as I am searching for these things. Also, I am thinking so much more about the Savior and the Atonement in my life. I invite all of you to join me in this. I know we will receive blessings and come closer to our Savior.

In one of my new Christmas outfits!

It was another busy, crazy week! I love being a missionary and it such an amazing time to be out here! Thank you all so much for your love and support of me and my family! My Spanish is getting better all the time and I am loving the people and the area. Yo se que esta Iglesia es verdadera. Somos hijos de nuestro Padre Celestial y El nos ama mucho! El Evangelio nos da mucho gozo y paz en nuestras vidas. Cuando seguimos el ejemplo de Jesucristo y aplicamos su Expiacion, podemos supercar todas cosas. I love you all so much! Happy New Year! 

Prospero Ano Nuevo!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea