Merry Christmas To All‏ (from the pres)

Dear Parents and Families,
This week has been a ordinary week of nice, hard work. President Gee was showing me the key indicator report today. There were over 5000 contacts made this week by our wonderful missionaries. This means they need to introduce themselves and invite the people to listen to the message. Of course most of them say they aren't interested but when that many people have the opportunity you know the missionaries are out doing what they were sent to do. President Gee often reminds them that if at the end of the day they can say they have given about twenty people the chance to hear the gospel they can say they have had a good day, even if the people didn't take advantage of the blessing. We are working on remembering to testify as they invite. We are sure the results will be even greater as we become better and better at bearing strong testimonies. The miracles start to happen when the missionaries are willing to pay the price. There were a lot of lessons taught as well.
On Sunday the temperature reached 70 degrees in some parts of the mission. We reminded the missionaries to be grateful for an early Christmas gift from mother nature. Some were delighted to be working in shirt sleeves again. However, Oklahoma is a roller-coaster. Today was shivering cold again.
President Gee and I had a chance to deliver some Christmas packages to a few of our missionaries this weekend. It is fun to see their Christmas Trees all decorated and lit up. Some of them are about 12 inches tall. Some of the trees are closer to six feet tall. It just depends on what they find in the apartments. They surely do appreciate anything that comes in the mail. One Elder said, "I invited my family to send a physical letter in the mail. Mail means more than money." I'm sure most of the missionaries feel that same delight when something comes in the mail.
This will be our official Christmas greeting to all of you. Next Monday we will be receiving 14 new missionaries. The days of transfers are some of our busiest and I am sure I won't have time to send a message. I guess I will take a little holiday break. We do want to wish you all a Merry Christmas. We hope you love talking with your missionary on the phone on Christmas day. President Gee and I appreciate your interest and responses, and especially your prayers. We continue to pray for you. Our testimonies continue to strengthen as we see the Lord's hand in this work. We testify that your sons or daughters are literally God's messengers. What a way to celebrate Christmas! They will never forget being part of such a great cause. On to the victory!
Love, Sister Gee (and President Gee)