"There are no ordinary people." -C.S. Lewis

Hello All!

Well, it seems far too soon, but transfer calls were today (crazy how an emergency transfer can throw off your timeline!).  Anyways, don't worry, I will be "dying" (finishing my mission) here in Debrecen with Sister Behunin.  However (wait for surprise twist)..... we will be getting a third companion!  Sister Roney, who is one of my kicsi from the MTC, will be joining us!  We figure we will be just about the oldest sister companionship ever (between the three of us, we will have 27 transfers), but I think it will be a lot of fun!  Anyways, so Sister Behunin and Roney will be running the area after I leave.

Anyways, enough of that craziness.  Let's see what happened this past week!

We had a busy week!  We travelled a lot, visited a lot of members.  We had a very sweet program with the Cummings and the mother of the Hungarian elder serving in Hungary.  She fed us dinner and we talked about life.  It was so neat to see, throughout all of our lives, how much God has helped and comforted us.  I especially appreciated it because this woman has had some difficult trials, but has remained so true to her faith.  It is cool to learn from their experiences.  Don't get me wrong, I have a strong testimony of God's love and help and have lots of experiences from my own life.  However, lots of people we talk to ask how we can know anything for sure since we are so young.  However, here at the dinner were people who have raised families and have had hard times, but still cite the gospel as the number one reason for their happiness and success.  How cool is that!  (It reminds me of this little elder who once stood in our zone conference to bear his testimony about the work and excitedly said, "It really works guys!"  I feel that way about the gospel :D)

Saturday, we were able to see the change and growth in someone's life, as there was a baptism of one of the elders' investigators- Tibór.  It was quite nice :)

There was a kind of sad moment this week, too, though-- in Young Women's yesterday, we watched a video about the new YW theme ("Stand in Holy Places").  One of the girls afterwards mentioned how they just showed "pretty" girls in the video.  We told her that she was beautiful, too, but she didn't believe us!  It was so sad.  Really, she is gorgeous.  However, here in Europe especially, people are just bombarded with false ideas of what makes a person worth something.  Sister Cummings bore her testimony about how beauty comes from the inside- it is the light shining within.  She also talked about our divine worth and how we are all special children of our Father in Heaven.  That worth doesn't changed based on how you look, how much money you make, or anything like that.  This is a topic that I feel so strongly about.  We are ALL precious.  It reminds me of a quote from The Little Princess: "I am a princess.  All girls are.  Even if they live in tiny, old attics; even if they dress in rags; even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young.  They're still princesses.  All of us.  Didn't your father ever tell you that?  Didn't he?"  I want you all reading to know that YOU are precious and special and loved.  You matter to a lot of people.  You matter to God.  I love this talk by President Uchtdorf, (which I am sure I have shared before), but it talks about how even though there are billions of us on the planet, we are each special and important to our Father in Heaven.  And it is so true!  When we understand that, it changes all of our interactions with others.  That reminds me of another quote by C.S. Lewis:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which,if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilites, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - These are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

I love that!  Seriously, we are all so special in God's eyes and we all have so much influence on each other.  Let's use that influence for GOOD!

Anyways, sorry that this email is so soapbox-y, but one last pitch-- I got to watch the Christmas Devotional today.  SO GOOD.  Check it out!  It is so important to remember the Christ in CHRISTmas!!!  Sister Behunin and I are starting a tradition of writing miracles and services that happen daily and putting them in a Christmas box under our Christmas tree.  (We also want to start reading nightly Christmas stories with hot chocolate.  What can we say?  We love the Christmas season!)  But, anyways, it is to remind us of all of the blessings in our lives and the small gifts we give to Christ by serving others.

I love all of you!  Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Kramer Nővér aka McKenna