Turkey day... CHRISTMAS!‏

Happy December! I am so excited for Christmas!!!

There are so many things that happened this week I don't even know where to begin. I think I say that every week though. But this week I really mean it! ha ha. I think I have had Turkey every day since Thanksgiving. Try deep frying turkey in butter. Best turkey I have ever had.

We had a lot of appointments on Tuesday, which never happens. We went to visit some of my favorite people on earth. The mom's name is Evelyn (best name ever!) and boy, is she entertaining. She kept talking about her gospel raps and finally she performed them to us. They were legit! Haha. I didn't realize how legit they were until she showed us this rap video that her and her friends made in the 80's. It's called "Can You Feel It" and it was so funny. Very talented lady that's for sure ;)  

On Wednesday we visited a less active family's house for dinner. They live in a gated community called Penn Estates so we had to get a special badge to get in. We had a referral from church headquarters in Penn Estates that we tried to contact afterwords. We found his house and knocked a few times. We thought we heard him inside but sometimes people just don't answer the door. We headed back to the car and started going over our plans when we saw a security gaurd pull into his drive way. Apparently you're only allowed to knock on someones door if that person is expecting you otherwise it's illegal. So we sped away and were laughing so hard. 

Thanksgiving was something else!  No turkey bowl this year :/ Our first stop was our favorite less active, Lorraine's house. She invited us over weeks before. She is so awesome! We ate at about 2 and the food was scrumptious (but not as good as my mothers!) She made 12 pies for the 4 of us. I only had 6 pieces of pie because they were all different and Sister Bennett and I wanted to try all of them. SO good! We had to pace ourselves because we had two more dinner appointments.

Next we headed to the Beebe's house. Another one of my favorite families. We were so stuffed we only had a piece of pie; good thing it was banana cream cause it's my favorite (still not as good as my mom's)! We had such a good time hanging out and hearing stories. Sister Bennett and I sang our mission hymn and they were all recording us with their phones. It was pretty funny. 

Lastly we went to the Viallalta house. Somehow we fit more into our stomachs. We sat down at our plate and looked at each other. It was a great moment but we both did pretty good. The whole ride home I was in a food coma.

We visited a guy named Alaine and every time we say a prayer he always chimes in at the end and says "P.S." and then says what he wants to pray for. It's hilarious.

The highlight of my week was a guy named Digger. Has anyone ever heard of the show "Sons of Anarchy"? Yeah he was in a gang like that. He grew up in an Amish village and somehow became a "Hell's Angel". He's a big guy, covered in tattoos, and pretty intimidating. He also claimed that his son saw him on the show "Gang Land". Crazy stuff. He also told us a bunch of stories that are a little too graphic to repeat. Before I got to Stroudsburg, Sister Bennett and Sister Taylor came in contact with him. He told them about his past and they said they would stop by soon. Sister Gottredson and I went back there and got a return appointment with his wife. In essence he told us his kids had seen too much and he had turned a new leaf. We recently went to visit with him and he has done a complete 360. He quit the gang and has become completely focused on family. He wants to lead a class about gang prevention and everything. We are teaching his family this week and we are so excited to help him understand the gospel. I already love him so much! The Lord is truly preparing people for us to teach and we just need to trust him.

One of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths". We are blessed and highly favored of the Lord.

Thank you everyone for all of your love and support. I can feel your prayers every day. Remember to observe then serve this Christmas season. The Lord has given us so much and it's our obligation to give back. But in reality we receive so much more when we serve!

Much love,

Sister Martha Zeller