I Love You a Million Days Starting at 5:30 am! -- Dec 31

Hayyyyy Mam
Your party sounded like it was once again a great hit! 25 people is a lot more than the usual, who else was there? I'm glad you keep on having that party (and you even did it on Saturday instead, that’s so cute and AWESOME!)

It does feel like I just emailed you, but a decent amount has still happened! Mostly with Joseph. My thoughts and life basically revolve around getting him ready for his baptism and just gaining that testimony that is changing him. I love it! We still do put in time for finding new people and teaching other investigators, but I've found we need to dedicate the most amount of time for those willing to hear the voice of the Lord and follow. Joseph is definitely doing that!

So, we had an eating appt with their family on Thursday. MAN, THAT WAS AWESOME! I love the whole family, and Marcia (his new wife) is just the mother of everyone and everything. She asked us what we wanted to eat, and we were like AFRICAN FOOD YES and she just laughs. But she made it! We had Chapati, which I called African tortillas. Then she put out a bowl of what looked like lentil soup, and this is what went down: you take a chapati, you take a scoop of soup, you rip off pieces of the chapati and scoop the thick soup stuff up with it. It was AWESOME! I got to get my hands dirty and just have this awesome cultural experience. We begged her to show us how to make it, so we are going back in a couple of weeks to learn :))))) She loves us, and we love her!

Oh, but as we were eating, Joseph said that he wanted to move his baptismal date to 3. Feb. At first, I was like nooooo we prayed about this, we've been working so hard for you to be ready! But he explained that his family was visiting Kenya for a few weeks, and that they wouldn't be able to come to the baptism. He said his brother means everything to him, and he wants him to be able to be there for his baptism and use it as a chance to share the gospel with his family! Isn't he awesome?! 

The AP's found out about it and asked us to consider this weekend, as in like today or tomorrow. I was a bit confused that we had really prayed and fasted and felt so good that he can be baptized on the 6th of Jan, so why isn’t it happening? It just made me think of a quote from Elder Holland that says "This work is urgent. If we need to call down miracles and angels, then call them down." It can be as simple as that! I am called to preach the gospel, invite people to accept it through making commitments and promises, and God will work the rest of the miracles. So, we called him and talked about possibly doing it earlier (it was cool, I just felt this power that was not mine behind my voice) and to really pray and ponder these things.

Well, he did not get baptized this weekend, but that doesn't mean that miracles did not occur. In fact, a HUGE miracle occurred. We had a lesson with him on Saturday and followed up with him about praying. He said he did but didn’t get an answer. We changed the lesson and explained how we receive personal revelation instead and after, he said he really thinks God will give him answers! The only thing that was really missing for him was a testimony of the restoration. We had decided to watch the restoration film, and that alone was really powerful for him! On top of that, we had an AWESOME joint teach (Br. Müller!) who just kept asking all of the right questions leading Joseph to answer his own questions. At the end he (Joseph) said that Joseph Smith had to be a prophet and the Book of Mormon is the word of God! I said, "Joseph, do you see now? You are developing your testimony! How do you feel right now?!" He knew he was feeling the spirit, and that God was giving him answers through the spirit! Oh, it was such a good lesson.

Other than that, pretty normal week. New Year’s eve was good! We had raclette at a member’s house again (and this time I made sure to get pictures, so those are on the google drive). We had to be home by 6 because Germans are really crazy with New Year's! The only day of the year that fireworks are allowed is this day, so we didn’t go to bed until 2am this morning because all of our neighbors were just screaming and partying and lighting fireworks right next to the apartments! Haha it was a good time though, but I'm really tired!

As for all of my friends, I really only talk to Rachel..! She's doing really well, her and that guy in her Instagram pic are dating! They've been seeing each other for a couple months, so she’s really happy and doing good. I so love that she still emails me! She's the one that gives me all of the updates. Ali and Jordan are doing great and still together, that’s all I know. Uhhh I emailed Becca and sent her a letter a while ago but never heard back. It was really sad because she was like "I’ve changed a lot and I don’t know if you will want to be friends with me anymore." Kinda broke my heart, but I just really thought through writing that letter and hope I just conveyed that I love her. I do miss her a lot. Other than that, I just email mission friends oh including Grayson! He's also doing really well, and we've had a good time comparing the complete differences of our missions. It’s really true that for every person we talk to, they baptize someone hahah! Hannah is doing well, she changed islands and is just loving being a Poly haha. I actually have talked to Paul, and he says they still write often. I would not be surprised at all if they ended up together, he is so crazy for her (I don’t blame him) but we'll see what Hannah thinks. Maddie is doing SO well in Georgia, she's really just lost in the work. I'm really proud of her :)
Love you Mommy! Have a wonderful week! I'm excited to finally get a full week in the work of the Lord. We have good plans and are just going to see SO many miracles!!

I love you a million days starting at 5:30am! (it really is a beautiful time of day, especially to study! Ask Dad, I’m not crazy!)

Love, Your Sister Macey Ingalls

P.S. Sorry this is a bit shorter, I have a really bad headache I kinda forgot to eat today but oh I hope you like the little photoshoot I sent! I LOVE ALLLLL of the clothes you sent! Plus, that skirt you sent me a bathroom pic of, that is adorable!! Oh and in that package you send eventually, can you include a pair or two of those wool socks I love to wear? I know I have a bunch of pairs, but I brought 3 of them out here with me- one gray, one maroon and one bright blue striped. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look at my feet in pictures because I usually wear them with my black boots and they stick out a bit over the top! Thanks, love you!