Happy Thanksgiving from Moscow, Idaho!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Our district got to do a service project on Thanksgiving morning to help clean the entry ways to an apartment complex. That evening we got to have Thanksgiving dinner at the Stake President's house. We also visited some members (one of whom gave us an entire pumpkin pie all to ourselves!) and were able to share a message of gratitude with them based on President Monson's recent conference address The Divine Gift of Gratitude. One thing I learned from discussing it with my companions several times throughout the day was that the greatest way we show our gratitude to the Savior is also the biggest blessing. And so it is with everything the Lord asks us to do. When we show our gratitude to Him by following Him, He richly blesses us in return. There is nothing selfish in what He asks us to do--it's all for our benefit. I truly am grateful for all the Savior has done for me and for the opportunity to serve Him. Our mission is working on a Christmas give for our Mission President in which each of us recorded a short testimony with the theme of "I Am a Disciple of Christ" (our theme scripture is 3Nephi 5:13). This is what I said:

I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. He has comforted me, guided me, loved me, strengthened me, and given me every blessing I have. Most of all He's healed me and forgiven me. Because He sacrificed His life for me, I'm giving my life to Him. And that is why I AM A DICIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST.

Sorry I don't have much time to write today, but here's a few little tidbits that I wanted to add. First of all, it's been snowing like CRAZY but luckily I haven't been freezing. I've been praying that I'd stay warm, and I've been receiving that blessing. So I think I should be fine without my winter clothes from home---unless it gets much colder :) ... I'll let you know. The On-guard oil saved me from another cold, so thanks for sending me with that! And one last thing: we get to move apartments next week! We get to move to a nicer apartment (not that the one we're in is bad or anything) that even has our own washer and dryer. It's definitely an upgrade--they're so good to us here :) So a lot of this week will be mega cleaning and packing our apartment, but we've had lots of members offer to help, so it should go smoothly.

One cool thing my parents found out this week on Facebook is that Sister DeVictoria's mother and my father served in the same Taiwan mission (Taipei) at the same time (27 years ago)! Imagine that...MTC companions whose parents also served at the same time in Taiwan. I think that's awesome :)!!! The work is moving forward and miracles are happening, including the most amazing experience we had with one of our investigators this week. She totaled her car recently and was in desperate need of a new one but kept getting turned down because of financing. Finally out of desparation she said, "God, if you're there I need help," and then continued to search. She still went home empty handed after doing everything she could. The next day she got a phone call from one of the dealers that said they had a car for her--and it turned out to be even better than any of the other ones she had been asking for, and had no problems with the financing! She knew at that point that God existed and loved her. The rest of the lesson was a miracle as she expressed her desire to change. We invited her to be baptized, after which she took a long pause to think about it. She told us later that during that pause she was having a mini conversation with God that went a little like this: "Should I?" "Yes, you should." "Are you sure?" "Who are you talking to?! Of course I'm sure!" We all had a good laugh, and a special experience as she accepted the invitation. The Spirit was strong and we left there as happy as can be. I love you! More than I can say. Thanks for your letters :) I want to keep hearing how you're doing :) Love, Amie