White New Year (1/5)

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's 2011 already! Where did 2010 go?!

This has been a super fun, and a super blessed week... and it was white! It snowed like crazy! Ok... in the mountains, but from a few reports there were actually a few areas in Mesa that saw a couple dozen snowflakes... it was definitely cold enough. Friday night (New Year's Eve) we went to the temple to work at the Christmas Lights display and even though we practically froze to death it was way fun! We met lots of interesting people, and I feel strongly that several of them were placed in our path.

That has kind of been a theme of this week. We have truly felt like instruments in the Lord's hands! It is so rewarding to recognize that you are an answer to someone's prayers and that the Lord is using us as His hands to do His work. We have seen so many answers to prayers - our own and those of others... from little tender mercies, to complete miracles, and somehow it amazes me every time.

Bernice (I've talked quite a bit about her) was baptized on New Year's Day - as we started a New Year, she also started a new life. We had asked her to share her testimony during the baptism program, which she agreed to do, and it was incredible. She shared how when she first met with us her only intention was to prove that her brother (who is a member) was in the wrong. She told how she accepted the Book of Mormon so she could read it to find something wrong with it... but she couldn't find any error! On the contrary, for the first four nights that she read she dreamed of the things she had been reading. She would wake up with a pounding heart and an overwhelming feeling that what she was reading was true. She would then read and pray in the middle of the night, which calmed her enough so that she could sleep. She didn't stop reading until she reached the end (in 2 weeks!), and hasn't stopped since then - she is so hungry for the truth, and so confident that she has found it. We love having lessons with her because she always seems to have more to teach us than we teach her, and she is so willing and excited to learn! Her testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel always strengthens ours, and we are so blessed to have had the privilege of sharing it with her.

The Lord has been pouring out blessings on us, and providing people for us to teach that are SO prepared. We are so grateful, and are trying to be continually obedient and diligent... like Nephi and Lehi who strove "with unwearied diligence that they may bring the remainder of their brethren to the knowledge of the truth" (Helaman 15:6). Verses 7-8 talk about how these people are made free as they study the scriptures, develop faith, repent, and come unto Christ. These are the changes we see in people's lives every single day, and it is AMAZING! I love being a missionary, and wish I could just have a 14 year mission like the Sons of Mosiah... but maybe that wouldn't be long enough!

I hope you have all started the year of with a bang! Happy 2011!

Love,

Hermana Richelle Ouellette

PICTURES:

TOP: I found snow in Arizona! One of the mission vehicles that came down from the mountains left this little piece of snow in a church parking lot... I was pretty excited - I think this might be the only exposure I get to snow this year. Then again, not really complaining about that!

CENTER: Our feet at the Temple Lights Display- FREEZING!! The Elders brought us gloves, but we put them on our feet because our toes were way colder than our fingers! Every few minutes we discovered we had an extra toe or two!

BOTTOM: Bernice's baptism! Yay!