Hello everyone! So much fun this week!!

We started the week with my favorite person’s birthdayyyyyy!! Sister Swinson turned 20 on the 7th!! We celebrated with a surprise birthday party on pday and ended the day with a slumber party with all the Sisters! We also walked along main street in Roanoke and enjoyed all the Christmas lights! That was such a fun day! We all ended up talking for hours! The next day I actually went on an exchange with Swinson it was just like old times. So grateful for her.

We had Zone conference this week and it was super fun, as always! It was Christmas themed and each zone did a musical number and we sang silent night as a zone. It was so fun and of course very nice to see so many old friends!

Probably the funnest and most exciting thing that happened this week was filming the song Elder Delgado and I are doing! I talked a bit about it last week, but we did a real, professional recording of it this week with a member who has the whole setup with microphones and stuff, and it was totally amazing! It was Elder Delgado’s first time ever recording anything and he crushed it! Definitely a fun experience and we look forward to when we get to share it!

I think my thought this week is focused on being joyful. Because this is the happiest season of the year, right? Truth is, there are a lot of things that I could be sad about right now. There are things in my life that really really scare me. And if you know me, you know I love to worry, so worrying about these things is second nature. But it is exhausting. I’m tired of being so scared and anxious all the time.

I’ve thought a lot about how it’s my choice on how I feel about things. And I think I want to choose to be happy. I choose joy! I like being happy! It’s kinda nice, not gonna lie. We are all going through hard things, and you and I are no different! And some things, I just can’t control. But there is one thing I can control, and that is how I choose to respond to things and what attitude I decide to have.

I think of the Savior and the hard things He went through. And what did He do? He focused on others and didn’t waste time worrying about things. He KNEW He was going to die. He KNEW He was going to suffer the pains of the world. But He didn’t waste one minute of His time worrying about it. That brings to my attention the fact that I have NO EXCUSE to not want to do missionary work at any point during my mission.

Here is the interesting part though. Nothing makes me happier than doing missionary work and serving people. Nothing. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s always easy. But it definitely brings the most joy into my life. No doubt about it. So that’s the key! I want to choose joy all the time, and the best way to do that is forget about myself and get to work! Crazy how that works.

Choose joy, my friends. Crap happens, that is just life. But whatever!! Stand up straight and let it roll off of you because there is work to do, growing to experience and joy to feel! And remember to rely on the strength of the Savior when things get especially heavy. They can and they will, I know. And I’m still learning how to hand it all to Him, but He already suffered so we don’t have to. And boy, I’m eternally grateful for that. That gives me strength to keep pushing forward.

Have a fantastic week everyone. I love you all so so much, you have no idea.

Scripture of the week: 2 Nephi 2:27

Get Busy, Get Lost!
-Sister Oldham