Christmas Email

Hey ya'llllll

Wow! Christmas is just in 2 days. I cant believe it! I am stoked to talk to ya'll! It has been yet another wonderful week here in Virginia! We had our Christmas Mission Conference last Tuesday and it was amazing! I just cant even describe to ya'll how happy i am to be a missionary. Idk where or who i would be without my mission... without these experiences and friendships and the spirit i cant even imagine anything in life being any better! We all sang as a mission the EFY Medley "As sisters in Zion/Army of Helaman" can you imagine the many tears flowing in that room.? President Wilson stood up afterward and said the spirit was as strong as the celestial room. I was sitting on the front row and singing that song with an army of 300 missionaries behind me was the most powerful thing i have ever experienced. We are truly all apart of Gods army. All 80000 missionaries. What a powerful army! No one stands against us. No one can tear us down. Just as the 2000 stripling warriors fought and were exactly obedient they didnt lose a single soul in that fight! I know that same promise applies to us that as we teach the gospel and share it with others and as we are exactly obedient no soul will be lost! We will be able to save as many souls as we possibly can on our missions! But not just that... we are a powerful army not just as missionaries but also as the 15000000 members of the church! I can promise yall that if you do your part in keeping your baptismal covenants by sharing the gospel and living worthily and being exactly obedient that your powerful example will save souls. This is Gods army and we are so blessed to be a part of it and just as the stripling warriors fought, we will fight and just as they were exactly obedient they didnt lose any part of their army! We can strive to do the same every day in our lives so that God can receive his whole army again one day! Never surrender. Never give up your armor that stands for truth and righteousness. Fight til the very end. I am so grateful to be a part of this powerful and strong army! I would never give anything up to not be apart of this and to not turn to the opposing side. 

Thankfully with everyone being gone we were able to see some of our investigators this week. We are teaching a girl named avery who unfortunately is moving soon :( but she is so chill! Everything we teach her she just says "makes sense" she is really fun to teach. One of our lessons this week though she finally had a question that was concerning her and she was just concerned about the book of mormon and christ coming to the americas so we read in 3 nephi 11 where christ actually appears to the people in america and then we knelt down with her and asked her to pray to know if it was true and then to listen. She said such a beautiful prayer and after she finished it was silent. The Holy Ghost filled the room and she said that she felt good and knew that it was true. My testimony grew so much about the power of prayer. God wants to hear from us so badly. He stands at the door knocking, waiting for us to let him in! Waiting to hear from us and what is on our minds! We can tell him anything on our mind and anything that is in our hearts. It is so powerful. We can ask him anything and he will give us an answer! I know that to be true. He is my most loyal friend and i turn to him for everything. But the most important thing is to listen. I like to think of it as if you called up someone and rambled on about something or told a way funny story and then just hurried and hung up before your friend even had a chance to respond.... it's similar to that. We must let God respond. We pray to him and go on and on but sometimes we cut the phone call short and we dont allow the holy ghost to come and bear witness to us and help us receive answers to our prayers or to receive the comfort that we need. Our loving heavenly father is always on the other line he is there listening and i know he is there to respond as well! It was a neat experience cuz you could experience first hand what had just happened and that she was progressing in her conversion and we were able to witness it and feel what she felt as well. 

Our investigator named katherine is the most adorable person in the world. She was being taught before i got here and just wasnt really getting it and not progressing very well. We are just starting from the beginning with her and the past couple times we have met with her this week she is finally starting to get it. We talked to her about faith and trusting that God is really there and that he loves us! We did a "trust fall" with her. I represented Jesus Christ and she had to fall and trust that i would catch her. She was freaking out. Haha it was so funny. But she finally fell and I (thankfully) caught her. She was so scared to fall. She was scared i wouldnt catch her. Sometimes i think that is what happens to all of us is that we are scared to rely or "fall" on christ. Trials and hardships enter our lives and we arent sure if Christ is really there waiting to catch us. We arent sure if things will get better. We sometimes have that constant pit in our stomach of falling and not knowing anyone is there to catch us. But what is so incredible about faith is that when we finally decide to trust our savior jesus christ and rely on him we will feel the relief that comes after we rely on him enough to feel him there to catch us. I have learned sooo much about our savior jesus christ this christmas season. He truly is the son of god. He truly died for each and everyone of us. It is so hard to comprehend that he was able to suffer for every sin and weakness of every single person on this earth. It blows my mind. But i know that he lives! No doubt in my mind. I know that it is through him that we can receive eternal life and live with him and our loving Heavenly Father again. I am so grateful to be a representative of him. What a sacred calling! I invite you all to think about what you can give to Christ this Christmas season. What is something you can give up to become more like him? Remember him and his sacrifice this christmas season and especially that he lives! He loves yall so much. Sometimes with the people here in virginia i feel like i get to see just a tiny sliver of how much Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love the people i come in contact with and teach. And most definitely i can feel a tiny bit of that sliver when i reflect on and think about my wonderful friends and family and how blessed i am to be a part of ya'lls life. Thank you for EVERYTHING. I LOVE YOU!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Roosendaal

ps once again im sorry my emails are all over the place and make no sense.

pic my generation

pic ho ho ho?

pic me and avery!