Dear Hermana Wells,: Toothpaste-less

I didn't buy toothpaste today.

Wanna know why?

'Cause I was too busy going to the TEMPLE. :)

That's why.

And so my teeth may rot between now and Monday, but if judgement day somehow arrives before then, I'm set.

It was also an incredible and necessary experience today.

Long story short, I am happy.

Other reasons I am happy:

We had a miracle-ridden fast last Thursday. (And I'm still a little twitterpated about it) I've always wondered why the white handbook says you're not allowed to fast for more than 24 hours in a row as a missionary ("'Cause who'd ever wanna do that???"--said my gluttonous, food-obsessed self). But now I know: with these kind of results, it's a legitimate temptation. We're talkin' results like unto: An old investigator CALLED US BACK. People followed through on their COMMITMENTS. We had a powerful experience w/ the PRIESTHOOD. We cooked and ate blessedly delicious DOMINICAN FOOD with some of our investigators. And we were just SO DANG HAPPY about life. Entonces...fasting is a good thing. I highly recommend it. Especially if you wear a black name tag and therefore get like 4x the blessings from whatever extra sacrifice you make. It's like getting paid overtime for a job that already overypays you and gives you ridiculous amounts of bonuses for every holiday or special occassion. Sigh. Heavenly Father is just so overwhelmingly nice sometimes. That's all I gotta say.

I got a letter from my dear roomie, Audrey Heaton, who is serving her mission in Hong Kong. It was so happy and smile-warming and so her. I can't even imagine learning a language like Cantonese, but I can so easily imagine HER learning a language like Cantonese...and then using it to convert all of everyone in her path. She's phenomenal.

It's CHRISTMAS TIME!!! I just love it SO MUCH!!! GAH!

And because it's Christmas time...we got to go our ward party. Which was also lovely. Great food. Super fun. AMAZING PEOPLE. I love our ward. They're so kind and generous and just COOL. So happy I am where I am and that I get to stay here (hopefully--unless president throws us a curve ball) for at least another 6 weeks. Esp since I love all of the people we're teaching right now.

Anywho, still love my mission. That's the moral of the story. And that probably won't change. So if that's the kind of special interest you're looking for from these letters, you might as well unsubscribe now.

Love you!

Sinceramente,

Sister Wells

p.s. I don't have access to a Thesaurus, but if anyone cares to help me out, I'm really in need of some synonyms for the following words: LOVE, AMAZING, WONDERFUL, DEEPLY, GLORIOUS, HAPPY...

p.p.s A lot of you are in my prayers on a regular basis. And some of you are in my prayers on a semi-regular basis. But ALL of you are "in my prayers" if you know what I mean...I felt like I needed to clarify. B/c I say that you're "in my prayers" a lot, but I don't actually pray for all of you in each of the 20 prayers I pray everyday as a missionary...

p.p.p.s. I really feel like I need to give you a challenge or an invitation. Which is probably a good sign, right? 'Cause I'm a missionary and we do these things. But legitimately...I want to invite you to think and pray TODAY and TOMORROW about who in your life needs you the most in that very second, and then the second that inspiration is clear, please make like Nephi and GO and DO. (1 Nephi 3:7. You got that reference, right?).

Don't wait. Don't delay. President Monson has taught us all about the danger of waiting to act on a prompting. And I can testify to you that this is important for you to do--at least for one of you reading this right now. I say that because I honestly felt really strongly that I needed to include this in the e-mail. So, do it. And then share with me some of those warm fuzzies when the tender mercies and miracles ensue, will ya?

I love you all so much. That's actually the real moral of all of these stories. Thanks for reading through all of the P.S.'s to get there :)