Week 58!!!

Holy cow this has been an awesome week! First of all we got transferred because well, S.Muhlestein went home. Totally cried. It just kind of came out suddenly I'm not really sure when my body decided to do that because my spirit was so strong, but my body was weak sauce so......  But no worries she's still killin' it.  Sister Young is here now and we have been having SO MUCH FUN!

Tuesday we were able to start the transfer off by stopping by and teaching N. N. is a Muslim woman from Bangladesh and she was so cool. She let us right in and taught us a little about her religion and what they do and why the do it, it was very fascinating! Then we taught her a little more about our religion and she noticed that there was a lot of similarities with her beliefs and ours so she said, "Can I invite my friends over and you teach all of us?" I about died and fell over!!! So we are going back on the 9th to teach her and all of her friends!!! Muslims are kinda scary though because because deciding to switch religions or even showing interest can be fatal... it was cool to learn all about her culture though, that’s probably one of my most favoritist things about Chicago. Wow! I love it!

Wednesday we went and did service at the Dupage Children’s Muesum in downtown Naperville, and I got to show S.Young around and we had a blast... it really is the coolest place... they have a bubble machine that literally puts you inside a bubble. Like your whole bod. They also have this thing in the light section that has you stand or jump against a wall and it flashes super bright and freezes your shadow! I'll try to take pics next week.  That night we tracked and knocked on this door when a lady aggressively separated her blinds and screamed through the glass "ARE YOU JESUS PEOPLE?!" I PROUDLY said YES, (WITH THE same attitude I had when I started singing the ants go marching 2 by 2 to that passive aggressive lady on the 4th of July) and she came UNGLUED. "I WILL CALL THE POLICE ON YOU! DO NOT DARE TO BOTHER THE PEOPLE IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD, I SWEAR!!!" .....I think she wants us to stop by again... maybe tomorrow... :)

Friday was a super cool and busy day. We went and did service at the YMCA on Thursday to set up for this breakfast the mayor was putting on for Friday and then they invited us to come to it! Setting up was a lot of fun, we decorated the tables and got everything ready to go... there was this lady that acted EXACTLY like Ellen and danced like her too... we were having tons of fun. I was wishing I could dance with her to the Christmas music buutttt betta not... So this breakfast was like a big Chicago style meeting and everyone was in suits and dresses and they had all these sophisticated speakers talk about things they are going to be doing for the community. I felt very high class and classy. Well… really I just felt out of place and very much so country...  haha… and then afterwards the Mayor of Naperville came and talked with us and thanked us for helping out! I got to shake the Mayor of Naperville’s hand :) super cool! Anyways, after that we had MLC and that’s always interesting, things can get pretty heated and I really don't like that but we were able to figure out something that we could train the mission on to help them to improve so that was a plus! Right after that, we tried to give this homeless lady that chills by the church one of s.Young's scarves for ‘light the world’ but she wouldn’t take it.... We were at least able to talk to her and lift her spirits though! We went to Chick-fil-a and talked to a mom and daughter and gave it to them instead!!

Saturday, we went to downtown Naperville by the huge bell tower and had a FREE hot chocolate stand for light the world day 2! That was probably one of the funnest things I have done on my mission! We talked to SOOOOO many poeple and showed the Light the world video to a lot of families and gave out tons of calendars! It was so much fun! This Chinese family came up and we talked to them for a bit and they told us about how they went to Salt lake and as they were walking away they stopped down the road and took a picture together holding up their hot chocolate and calendars... (see pics) so many people got so excited about it and they were all so different. That was another I Heart Chicago moment.

Sunday was a super cool day too! We thought we had ward council and so we were at the church early and this lady in sweats was there talking with the other sisters so we were just minding our own business (freaking out on the inside thinking they brought an investigator to church) and they called us over to talk with her! Lisa came into the church to sit in the chapel to pray thinking it was the Presbyterian church, and wanted to be a part of a "healing ceremony" that they do and so we explained that we could have someone give her a blessing and she said, "k great I need it" so our ward mission leader went and gave her a blessing and when they were done he had sister Young and I come in and talk with her and so all 3 of us taught her about the Godhead and the Book of Mormon and she said, "why did they leave this out of the Bible? I MEAN SERIOUSLY!!" She was a pretty intense lady! We have a lesson set up for Wednesday to teach her more! We then taught gospel principles and young women’s haha! It was a really busy day, but it was really good! :)

The Christmas Devotional was sooo good! we got to watch it with some members, something I really loved was how much they talked about giving love for Christmas. I think we really overlook how much being loved and feeling loved can make such an impact on our lives. We need to be willling to give/show our love to others this Christmas season. I truly believe that it will make all the difference in our lives. Our Heavenly Father loves us so much so does Christ. He is the one who makes the season so good. I loved what Kevin R. Duncan said, "Christmas is everything good. That is because CHRIST Is everything good." I love you all so much!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!☃️

LOVE, S.Bair