I cry the day that Itake the tree down...

Just kidding. Our tree is totally still up :)

Things are going just grand-ly! We had a good Christmas, and although I have been so excited about presents, I would have rather had zero presents and been with my family, then have a million presents and be alone. Its okay though! Just didn't feel like Christmas. But Sister Durfee and I enjoyed the day together :)

I truly do love the Christmas season. For the past 2 weeks we have been sharing a "Christmas Thought" with people. Aka, I read them the classic, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss, and Sister Durfee reads parts of the Christmas devotional talk by President Uchtdorf. We talk about how even though Christmas is so commercialized, we can still enjoy the season, by remember the true reason. Awww! Everyone loved it. Except some of the old people were probably thinking, "Huh? Kid story? I'm not a kid!?" Hahah.

On Christmas Eve, Sister Durfee and I went out to eat at this cutie little bistro downtown called "The Market Bistro." Yummy food!! I got sweet potato soup that was to die for!! And later that evening, we ate at a members house. They made this delicious kind of roast beef with sage au jus. Oh my! Spoiled with food this week.

We were able to volunteer at the Parish house, which is a place that people who are poor can go to get free groceries. It was really nice to be able to do that kind of service for those in need at this time of year. One lady said in gratitude, "Thank you so much! If it wasn't for this, we would have nothing this year" as we loaded about 10 bags of groceries into her trunk. It just makes you feel good to give (even though we didn't necessarily buy the food for her).

We have been visiting Cindy (an investigator) and her 2 kids a lot this past week. When we first met Cindy, she had pink hair. And Sister Durfee, being the amazing hairstylist she is, dyed and cut it this week. It looks SO cute and so much better. Baby steps :)

Judy is doing well. The last time we had a lesson, we read the story of Naaman in the Bible. Elisha tells Naaman to go and wash in the river Jordan 7 times to be cleansed of his leprosy. Such a simple thing to do, the Lord just wanted Naaman to be obedient. Well, Judy is one quick witted lady and exclaims near the end of the story, "I know where you're going with this! Is this about coffee?!?!" Can I just say, HILARIOUS. I love Judy so much!! She told us that she has not been drinking as much as usual, and plans to quit when she runs out. She even bought some hibiscus tea to drink instead. Yay!! We tried to set a definite goal, and told her how great it would be to start the new year out coffee-free! So she's going to try to do that. Wahoo!!! Such a blessing! I crocheted her a pretty green scarf for Christmas and she loved it! She proceeded to tell us how we've made her life miserable! How since she met us "girls" that we've been telling her thing after thing she needs to change. Oh Judy! Of course she said it in a joking way and she really isn't miserable. We are just leading her on the path to find that eternal happiness! Her date is still set for Jan. 22.

We visited John this week. It's been a while because of the roads, but he has been reading every night since we saw him last! Hooray! We hope that things will clear up so we can see him more. But the roads have been awful! It snowed at least a foot last night and with the wind chill, its supposed to get to 4 degrees today. Hooray for scarfs and mittens!!

Spiritual insight: This morning I was reading in 3 Nephi 9 and found a paraphrased quote by Neal A. Maxwell that said, "We need to sacrifice our WILL to the Lord." Relate that to verse 20 when it talks about sacrificing a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have given us EVERYTHING that we have. There is in no way that we can repay them. But, by using our agency, we are able to CHOOSE them and do what is right, sacrificing our will and making them happy by those choices we make. By doing this, we can find that true happiness.

The Church is True!!! I love you!!!!

Love, Sister Kayla Gunnell


Merry Christmas!

How did Christmas sneak up so fast this year?! I am excited for the big day,

A) I love presents. Sister Durfee makes fun of me for anxiously awaiting for the mailman everyday (he's been late because of the snow!)

B) I love food. We've been invited to every meal! But Sis. Durfee and I are going to make a delicious breakfast for ourselves :)

C) I love people. We are practically spending the entire day with non-members who have invited us for food and games. Of course we're teaching and sharing messages too.

D) I love my Savior. We have been reading Jesus the Christ together, and my testimony of Him has grown immensely over this Christmas season.

Wahoo!!! We have been SO blessed!! This week we have been working so hard to try and find people to teach, but have had little success. We have been somewhat discouraged, until the day of the Sabbath arrived!!!! Sunday = Miracles!!! Seriously, these things that happened at church are no lies:

-A member and his non-member girlfriend came up to us after Sacrament meeting and we were introduced. She is interested in learning more. Phone number exchange. BAM!

-A non-member and his non-member daughter who used to come to church more regularly, are starting to come again and would like to have us come over and teach them. BAM!

-A member and her non-member boyfriend come almost every week. He is interested in learning more and just got hurt so is on bedrest for a month. Will we come over and teach him? BAM!

-Went to the parking lot, and a member with all of her little kids (non-members) were there and said we could come and visit with them. BAM!

-Had a meeting with Jeff and he wanted to schedule is baptism for DECEMBER 31st! DOUBLE BAM!!!

Best day ever!!! After talking to Jeff, Sister Durfee and I both ran into the library of the church and fell on our knees all teary eyed and said a prayer of thanks to our Father in Heaven for all the blessings we had received that day. Is that not a miracle? We are SOO blessed. I am excited for this week and all of the things to come! Then later we went to Judy's, and her daughter and son-in-law were there. Fellowshiped! I think she will want to come and "study" with us. YES!!!

Two scriptures that I found this morning are great, and relate!

Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ."

3 Nephi 5:13 "Behold I am a disciple of Jesus Christ the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people that they might have everlasting life."

I cannot express the honor I feel to wear His name over my heart. This gospel brings so much happiness to me! I cannot describe the joy I feel, knowing that I can bring that happiness to others. I love my Savior and am humbled at the thought of him suffering for me. He knows us better than we know ourselves. If we turn to Him, we can find more peace and joy than anywhere else. The church is true! I love you! Love, Sister Kayla Gunnell

PS Thank you so much to all those who have been sending Christmas cards and letters. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! Sister Durfee thinks I am a mail addict :) JK.

Snow is falling all around, on the housetops on the ground.

SNOWING!!! Everywhere!! Love it!! This week we got totally stuck at the bottom of a driveway, and I had to slowly maneuver the car around and go up it, backwards. Scary, and hilarious and fun. (Fellowshiped with an investigator's sister as they helped pushed our car up the hill.) Wahahaha! We were scared after that, so the next day we parked at the bottom of a huge hill and walked up it. Totally slippery and scary at night, but we laughed the whole way up. Sister Durfee is the best. We continue to get along really well and have so much fun together! I truly feel blessed to have her, even though while doing an old ladies laundry for her, she swung a dirty pair of underwear at my face-when my mouth was open. How rude! I have not laughed so hard in a LONG time!! She is teaching me so much about missionary work, and I aspire to be as good of a missionary as she is :)

We had a Zone Confrence/Christmas party and played human fooseball. Our team won. And Sister Thornock (the mission president's wife) totally slipped on her nylons and fell on her back in front of everyone. It was pretty funny (no, she didn't get hurt-or I wouldn't have mentioned it :) At the end we got to read all of our Christmas Letters!! Seriously, I have the best support!! Thank you Thank you Thank you to everyone who sent something!! I am so grateful, and will slowly be sending reply letters :)

The work is going well! We had a goal to find 15 new investigators in 10 days. We didn't meet our goal, but we did find 10! So that is pretty exciting! Hopefully they will continue to be interested with our follow-up visits :) We did learn a lesson, that setting such high goals can be very discouraging and stressful. Reasonable goals are better :) Its difficult with the bad weather, because we can't go out as much/as far as we'd like to. Plus people use it as an excuse to not come to church...

Judy is doing well! I grow to love her more and more each time we go over there! We extended her baptismal date to Jan. 22nd, and I think that will work better for her. She continues to slowly progress :)

We are working on setting up a more consistent schedule so we can see all of our investigators 1 or 2 times a week, more regularly.

I can't think of anything else exciting that has happened-besides these massive icicles linger high above our front door. Its a bit freaky. A 30 lb.(I'm guessing, it was huge) one hit our welcome mat and I totally heard it from inside. Don't worry, we've been smacking them off with a broom handle :)

I'll leave you with a poem that was sent to me in a Christmas letter that I truly loved so much!!

Only Begotten,

The Christ Child, The Lamb.

Beloved Shepherd, Eternal, I Am.

Born of the Father,

Celestial Being.

Firstborn in Spirit,

Anointed. The King.

Made in His Image.

Ordained Before Birth.

Holy, Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Jesus, The Chosen,

The Way, and The Life.

Christ, The Almighty,

The Truth, and The Light.

Alpha, Omega,

The First and The Last.

God of Our Fathers,

The Lord of The Fast.

Prophet, Apostle,

The Father, The Son.

Rabbi, Rabboni,

Omnipotent One.

Savior, Redeemer,

Jehovah, The Lord.

Blessed, Messiah,

The Master. The Word.

Crucified, Advocate,

Honored of Men.

Beloved Savior,

The Risen,

Amen.

Bruce H. Jensen

The composition utilizes only names, titles, and concepts of Jesus Christ.

I am so grateful for my Savior and all that He did for each of us. He truly is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. The Church is True!!! I love you!!! Love, Sister Gunnell

It's Winter!!!!!

It snowed about 8 inches last night, and anyone who has been in humid weather during the winter knows, that it is very, very cold. Almost painfully cold. And it will probably get colder. Yay! The roads are pretty bad, but alas, I am from Utah and I know how to drive in the snow.

It was so much fun to be able to be in Charleston when all the new missionaries came in! I was able to greet them in the airport, and give them some "advice" I guess (because I'm such an experienced missionary :) It was a great testimony meeting that night, and so exciting to hear where everyone was heading off to!

I met Sister Durfee in the parking lot of the church in Charleston. Have you ever had instant mashed potatoes? Well, how about instant best friends?!? So crazy!!! We get along SO well and have so much fun together. And somehow we are so similar in EVERYTHING. Its so weird! Like we agree on everything, and our personalities/views/opinions are almost the same! (Except she is way funnier and outgoing than I am). But we are going to make a list of all the things we are the same about. I have never met someone that I instantly clicked liked this before. Its SUCH a blessings!! And we are working SO hard! We set some pretty lofty goals of getting 15 new investigators by next Sunday. We have 4 so far, and we are doing everything we can to find. I've been able to go tracting a ton this week! And my fears are gone, not even scary. It can actually be fun!!

Sister Durfee is from Eugene, OR and has been on her mission for 14 months (so Buckhannon will most likely be her last area.) She served for 9 months in Richlands, VA and 4 1/2 in Paintsville, KY. So this is her first time in WV. Wooo hooo! She is a very good teacher and an awesome people-person. And is really fun and hilarious. I cannot emphasize enough how much I love her and am so grateful that she is in Buckhannon with me!! Her mission blog is www.sisterhaileydurfee.blogspot.com .

I've been sick the past few days. First I just had a sore throat, and then it went away and took my voice too! It's the worst not having a voice and being a missionary! I sounded like a squeaky kitty=awful. Plus I got rebuked by the new Zone Leader-he told me I should not be making phone calls when I sounded like that and to have my companion do it. Wahahahaha. I thought that was ridiculous and funny.

Last night we went to Clarksburg for a Christmas devotional/fireside. There were a lot of musical numbers and it was so beautiful. There is something so special about the Christmas season. People really do open their hearts to Christ. We hope and pray that we will be able to find those who are truly seeking him. I heard a great quote the other day. I don't know who said it, or the exact wordage, but it goes something like this, "Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if we have room for Jesus." Profound. Truly, the greatest gift we can give someone is the gospel. I challenge you each to talk to someone who is lacking in spirit, and share your testimony with them about how Jesus Christ is our Savior and what that means to you. Your testimony is more powerful than you think. I am so grateful to be a missionary at this time of year. I love each of you, and hope all is well.

Love, Sister Gunnell