What a wonderful world!

Well, this week has been the craziest, most eventful week of my mission! It was so wonderful to witness 2 baptisms, 1 confirmation, and 5 recent converts attend the temple! Add on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and whoa. The work is on fire. Plus we have achieved our mission goal of getting 100 recent converts to the temple this month with their own family names! 

So Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the greatest! We had a baptism on both days and we went out to a specialty pizza place with the Williams (a senior couple serving in our ward) on Christmas Eve. I loved it. PIZZA. Afterwards they drove us around town to drop off gifts in the pouring rain to our investigators. Bless their hearts. On Christmas Day we had dinner with the Benjamins and their friends. I got to play Christmas Carols on their super nice grand piano and everyone sang along. It reminded me a lot of home. :) Later we visited a lady in our ward who lives in a nursing home, and I'm glad we did because she was pretty lonely. So yeah, all in all, it was the best Christmas of my life :) Skyping home was so great and I love you all. Missionary Christmases are the best Christmases. 

To prepare for the temple trip on the 27th we helped multiple people get on FamilySearch and build their family tree. On Friday we went over to the DeLaRosa's house and helped Sister DeLaRosa find names to bring to the temple the next day. We started from scratch (her and her husband were the ONLY names when we started) and we started inputting her parents' names and so forth. When we inputted one of her grandfather's names we found a link! And all of a sudden her tree BLEW UP. There were names all the way back to the 1800s all ready to be taken to the temple! And even more amazingly, we found that some of the ordinances were already done. Someone in her family is doing the work in the Dominican Republic. She was so excited and started yelling at her mom (who speaks NO English) "Mama! We have family Mormona!" Haha. It was such a great experience and the Spirit of Elijah was VERY alive and well. I hope to invite the grandma to take the discussions in Spanish next time we are over there. 

The next day at the temple was absolutely wonderful. I got to see Hermana Heileson (my last companion) along with Rodrigo and some other peeps from Bridgeport. I just love them so much. Our recent converts had such a great experience and many of them were in tears throughout the day. Since the Boston Temple doesn't usually get 300 poeple in the baptistry in 5 hours the laundry was SUPER backed up, so we got to serve in the Laundry Room for like 4 hours. It was the BEST. :) Haha, I'm serious. Plus, I learned the celestial way to fold towels ;) 

Anyways, gear up for more miracles in the upcoming months because the MBM is gonna baptize THOUSANDS! Our goal is to baptize 500 people as a mission in the first 6 months of 2015. Then if they all take multiple family names to the temple we will baptized thousands :) Sister Batschi and I are so stoked and we would love your support and prayers. Have a great week and know that we are working HARD. 

I love you all! If you haven't thought about a New Years Resolution, now would be a good time to think of your "weapons of rebellion" that you need to bury like the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. Have a great week! Happy New Year!

Con Amor,

Hermana Frei

Pic 1: Glamour Shots on our walk from the bus stop to the temple. Working that public transportation like you wouldn't believe

Pic 2: The DeLaRosa's family tree. Loco.

Pic 3: Baptizing thousands. It's a lifestyle.

Holar!

Some of my fondest memories of Christmas back home have been chilling with the fam. And the greatest part is it never has to stop! I'm so excited to skype home on Thursday! Also, thank you EVERYONE who has sent my Christmas cards and packages! Holy smokes! So my last 2 transfers I got like a total of 2 packages and 3 letters maybe. And this transfer I get something in the mail EVERY DAY. Keep up the good work everybody! :) Haha, jk. 

But really though, I have felt so much support and love from all of you. I hope to one day be as loving and giving. Sister Batschi and I made Christmas cards and we will send them out soon... Sorry if they come a little after Christmas. I am my mothers' daughter. :) 

(sorry, that was a low blow, mom)

Anyways, the missionary work is rolling forward! I love this area and these people! They are the best and I have learned so much! Update: we had a baptism yesterday for Miranda, a 14 year old girl who has been investigating for like 6 months. It was such a beautiful service! She had so much support from her part-member family (don't worry, we'll get 'em) and the ward! In addition, yesterday we got a mini missionary! Her name is Sarai and she is 16 and from Rhode Island. Plus she speaks fluent Spanish so it's way fun to contact Hispanics with her. I have so much to learn from her as well. I'm so excited :) 

We are currently working on getting a bunch of our recent converts to the temple on Saturday the 27th to do baptisms. Please pray in our behalf so that the mission can get 100 people there with their OWN family names. Por favor. 

So basically this week is going to be one big party because there are so many birthdays for missionaries in our zone, plus Christmas, plus the temple trip! And of course, shout out to my little sister, Jamie, for turning 13 on the 26th! What a solid age. 

Merry Christmas! God loves you and all of His children! There are eternal truths and God will let you know if you ask him.

Have a fantastic week and I will LITERALLY talk to you later :) 

Con amor,

Hermana Frei

Christmas explosion

I honestly have zero ideas of what happened in the beginning of this week, so from what I remember of the weekend... (Wow, I sound like a drug addict or something. Just high off the gospel of Jesus Christ I guess.) Between Friday and Saturday we received 3 Christmas packages in our apartment! I got one from Ashley and D and the Chongs (thanks guys!) and then Sister Lowenthal (one of the Portuguese sisters that I live with) got one from her family, and Sister Batschi got one from her family. So in like a 24 hour period we had Christmas explosions going off about every 8 hours. It was so great :) We now have a tree all decked out with presents underneath and everything! We have stockings and a cardboard fireplace! It's pretty sweet. 'Tis the season :) 

Also, last night the Boston 1st Ward had its Christmas Party! And man, was it a party! We had several investigators there and we didn't even have to worry. Once they stepped in the room, our ward did the rest. We have some pretty awesome members. There was a musical portion of the party and it was way cool. There was a couple that played a jazz version of "Mary Did You Know?" on the saxophone and piano/vocals. I was in awe. But yeah, it was a great party. Lots of food, tons of cool people, very successful. 

I feel like I still don't know this area very well at all. But it's cool. I'm still meeting investigators that I didn't know we even had. It's kinda fun. Haha. Boston is great. The library is way sweet. Someday when I get a camera I'll have some cooler pictures. But until then, I'm at the mercy of my companion and roommates. But we've gotten some pretty sweet shots lately so esta bien. Btw, I miss Spanish. 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas Season! I love this time of year! There are tons of lights and wreaths all over the city. It's absolutely beautiful. We are having such a great time passing out the #HeistheGift cards. They are so easy to share and nearly everyone is ok with a Christmas message. Until you start talking to a Jewish family on the T. And you don't realize they are Jewish and don't believe in Jesus Christ/celebrate Christmas at all until after you hand them the card... Haha good times. Sometimes you just assume that everyone is Christian. Whoopsies. Haha, I love awkward moments. 

Anyways, I love you all! If you haven't had the chance to watch the He is the Gift video you totally should! Especially if you are feeling stressed and overwhelmed by all the things that "need" to get done. Just remember the reason for the season! 

Have a great week!

Con amor,

Hermana Frei

Becca actually in Boston

Hello hello! 

You know what's weird? English. 

Anyways, I made it to the big city and it's crazy. Everywhere we go we just talk to EVERYONE. The T is the subway system here in Boston and it's a lot like the Metro system in DC. So sweet. I've only been riding the T and buses for a few days and I've already seen my share of crazy, wacked out things. People are so great. And we just try to hand out as many #HeIsTheGift cards as physically possible. It's so fun! I was never the kind of person to talk to random people on the bus, but it's actually a lot of fun. Plus we get to walk/run everywhere. We run at least 3 times a day to try and catch a bus. Haha. 

So basically this is my dream area. My companion, Sister Batschi is so great. I just love her to death. She is from Renton, niece of THE Batschis, and we were in the Dance Festival together way back when! We have a lot of fun together. Plus we serve with 2 other companionships of elders in our ward. Our church building also has a Haitian-Creole ward, a Spanish branch, and a Portuguese group. So there are about 20 missionaries roving around our chapel ALL THE TIME. This building has the highest number of missionaries in the world probably. It's insane. So fun. I just love being a missionary. 

The work here is very fast-paced and we pick up new investigators and baptismal dates like candy. We will probably have at least 2 baptisms this month. I've learned a lot about opening my mouth and sharing the gospel with EVERYBODY. There is so much going on all the time, it's a little overwhelming, but so good. 

At church on Sunday during 3rd hour the fire alarm went off. So that was fun. Basically some little kid pulled it as a "get-out-of-church-free-card" and it worked pretty well. The fire trucks came and church ended 30 minutes early. Can't complain. Haha, jk. But really though, it was really funny. 

The members here are awesome! There is a really good mix of young married couples in graduate school and a bunch of elderly/middle age African American families. It's an interesting demographic. Teaching in English is so easy, it's not even funny. You don't even have to put any effort into it. I feel like I'm serving a completely different mission. I love being able to freely express my feelings about my Savior Jesus Christ to the people here. 

I love being here, I love these people, and I love my Savior. 

Have a great week, and Merry Christmas! 

Love, 

Sister Frei

Sister Batschi with the fire trucks on Sunday

Obligatory Companionship Pic

It's Been Wet

Hola Querida Familia! 

Or should I say, Hi dear family. Because I'm being TRANSFERRED. To the Boston 1st ward as a Sister Training Leader speaking ENGLISH. That is not the language I learned in the MTC... Haha, but hey, I think I'll be fluent soon enough. No worries. But really though, all joking aside, I've never been so taken by surprise in my life. Hermana Heileson and I have been telling our members and investigators the past couple of weeks that we'll be staying in town for a while. Note to self, NEVER DO THAT AGAIN. I'm just gonna shut my big fat mouth from now on. After we went to the Boston Temple on Saturday (we did a session in espanol! CRAZY) we checked our phone and we had a missed call from President Packard. We freaked out, and lo and behold, Hna Heileson is training, and I'm heading off to Boston. And just like that, my life was changed. There were many a tear shed, and I'll probably cry several times a day until Wednesday night. So yeah, it's been wet. 

MORE WETNESS: Thanksgiving was great! and it was supposed to snow a million inches, but instead it just rained. Good times. Thanksgiving with the Borjases was great! It was very American, not what I was used to, but great nonetheless. It was probably the least amount of food I've eaten for Thanksgiving since the womb. 

THE BEST WETNESS OF ALL: On Friday Rodrigo Tello was BAPTIZED! #B4Bautismo Everything went really well. If I never have another baptism for the rest of mission then it will be totally chill because it was so perfect. We had a bunch of our members come and support Rodrigo and his family, we had some good food afterwards, and the whole family participated in the service. Yesterday Rodrigo was confirmed in Sacrament meeting and he is preparing to be ordained a deacon very soon as well as attend the temple next month. Leaving the Tello family will be hard, but I know that they are in good hands. Plus, their cat loves me now, so no worries. 

All in all, it has been a great week full of so many great memories. It has been so hard saying goodbye to people and this city that I know and love so well. But on to bigger and better things! Boston has been my dream area since I opened my mission call. Plus it's a walking area so I will get to do a LOT of street-contacting and riding the T. I'm SO STOKED. Also, my new companion is Sister Batschi! She is some sort of relation to THE Batschis. I'll let you know what relation exactly next week. So stay tuned. I am so humbled to be called as a Sister Training Leader and help lead this mission to greatness. WHOA SPEAKING OF GREATNESS. Last night the final baptism count rang in at not 70, not 80, not 90, but 100 BAPTISMS. We didn't just meet our goal, we EXCEEDED IT TO THE MAX. So yeah, pretty exciting times! It's been raining miracles!

I love you all so much. I love the Lord. Who can say too much of his goodness? Miracles are happening and the work is moving forward. 

Con amor,

Hermana (para siempre) Frei

Pic 1: T-day selfie in the slushy snow/rain.

Pic 2: #B4Bautismo with Rodrigo and Jose De La Cruz

Pic 3: Hna Heileson and I at the Boston Temple. And there was snow :D

Pic 4: The Tello's cat being my buddy obvi

(sorry it's sideways!)