Trios and literally no degrees

Christmas

The Trio (we were cold)

I'll try to keep this one shorter- I could talk for hours about this week! The main points:

We are in a trio until next week with hmna Albrechtsen! Her previous companion (my amazing trainer) Hmna Buehner finished her mission last week so we get to cover both Bloomingdale central and Arlington Heights! It has already been insane and we picked her up Thursday. :) it's been so fun though! Before Hmna Buehner left, I got to go on exchanges with her. That was super special- we were together to start my mission and we got to be together to end hers! It was a super fun day and I am going to miss her so much.

Hmna Buehner and I

We found a giant icicle!

Last week and most of this week I've been pretty sick, so that is lame, but it's mostly due to the fact that it is literally in the negative degrees here! We hit a low of -6 last night, and with wind chill it felt like it was near -20! Every day I'm thankful for our car and our coats and our overly warm heater in our apartment. One time we
went outside for something after I had taken a shower, and my hair froze solid. (See picture)

My hair froze

The branch Christmas party was a huge success! We had 3 investigators there: Gabriela and Miguel our English students, and Rosi (The investigator that gave us cornrows)!! We also ate dinner at Presedente Montesino's home with Clarita (investigator) and Omar (her less active husband), it went really really well. Hopefully they will be coming to church for Christmas!

Ción and the girls and Ivan: we had 2 great lessons with this awesome family! We have been reading 3 nephi 11, the chapter in the Book of Mormon where Christ visits the americas. They love it and have tons of questions. We brought with us a return missionary named Victor who really helped answer a few questions and bring the spirit. They are doing well, but still not coming to church or activities. Step by step!

-6 degrees!!!!!

Diomara: we got in with Diomara! And it was a miracle lesson. Her friend Cristina came over at the exact same time, and sat in on the lesson! We talked about the Christmas initiative and our relationship with Christ. Her friend was super interested to learn more. They both committed to coming to church this week but didn't make it. :( but Diomara is a little missionary herself and really wants us to start teaching Cristina!

Janice: An awesome English investigator from Arlington Heights. She grew up Jewish but over the course of the past few months with the missionaries, has developed a testimony in Christ and will even be celebrating christmas with us! We are going over to her house to Skype our families and eat Christmas dinner. The gospel does amazing, crazy, beautiful things. She came to church on Sunday and seemed to like it. We were split between 3 wards- Arlington Heights English, Arlington Heights Spanish, and Bloomingdale Spanish! So We had to go on splits with a member for a little bit, and hmna Albrechtsen was without a real companion for a few hours.

Carlos: an awesome Spanish investigator from Arlington Heights that is getting baptized soon! He is the brother of a member and practically a self referral, when he met with the bishop and asked "when can I get
baptized?" We love people that do that. :)

If I have learned anything this week, it's that God loves us and is very aware of every little thing in our lives. Everything He does is for our benefit and happiness. Turn to Him and you will know what to do, where to go, and who you need to be. I hope you all have a merry Christmas and remember the reason for the season- our wonderful and all knowing Savior, Jesus Christ!

Love,
Hermana Hokanson

Also we went to Red Robin for district lunch