Christmas as a missionary > Christmas as anyone else

Hi All :)

Oh my goodness, I've had the best week ever. Aaaaand today is my 15 week mark. So I mean that's cool too! It was so good to see you guys yesterday. I'm so proud of myself for not crying - for some reason I figured I would. It didn't feel like it'd been that long since I'd seen you, and I'll get to call you again when I am at the airport headed to Spain.

Anyhow, my week. So last Tuesday we made bread with Brother Finlayson.

He brought us a loaf a couple weekends ago and we had devoured it in like two days so he said we could come over one morning and he'd teach us how to do it. This stuff is heaven. Pure heaven. If anyone wants the recipe I'll send it. It's the best.

Wednesday was the Sister's Activity.

We ate lunch at Pizza Pie Cafe and then went to the mission home where we made bracelets, and cookies and gingerbread houses, and then had a gift exchange.

I'm really grateful for Sister McCune and her efforts to create a good time for us. She's seriously like a mom away from home and I really love that lady. At night we met with Anneliese. She was a referral from a Ward Mission Leader and she's really sweet. She has two kids (6 and 8) and the three of them are pretty shy. Oh oh! Wednesday night after we met with Anneliese we started walking home. It was FREEZING - the coldest it's been since I've been here, or at least it felt like it. We walked by Subway and thought it'd be a good idea to go in there for a few minutes just to get warm before we walked the rest of the way home. This guy Chad who was working there started talking to us. It was almost closing time, but he was like, "I'll make you a deal. Once a week you come in and if you teach me a lesson, I'll buy you dinner." Done. So we talked to him about Christ and gave him Joshua 1:9 to read. I already love him. We didn't recognize it at the time, but it was probably the Holy Ghost telling us to go into Subway and talk to Chad, not our little frozen selves wanting to get warm.

THURSDAY WAS THE BIG DAY - Sister Cha's 24th birthday and my 100th day in the mission!

We woke up at 5:30 to be at the temple at 7 and it was fantastic. We went to Timpanogos and it was so beauuuuutiful. It was really fun. We didn't have a ride back to Provo so this lady leaving offered us a ride home. For the 136817th time, people in Utah are so nice to missionaries. We went to Katia's for birthday cake and that was really fun. After dinner we had a lesson with Daisy. Her whole family joined the church a year or two ago, but at the last second she backed out. Her attitude has changed a lot though and she's willing to meet with us again. She's only 14, but so mature and really cute. I lovelovelove her. And they made Cha birthday cupcakes and a cinnamon streusel cake (but we gave the cake away so we don't get fat).

Friday was our Christmas Zone Conference. Ahhhh I love Zone Conferences!

Greg K. Olsen who is a famous painter for the church came and spoke to us. He had his pictures of Christ on a projector and he talked about the Savior. It was really really neat. Then we heard the final testimonies of the Elders leaving - Chavez, Ramires and Bishop (who is from Overland Park). I really enjoyed Bishop's. He said, "This isn't my final testimony - I'll be sharing it all my life." I love that. President spoke to us after that. He had us pretend like we were all in the living room at the mission home, having scripture study together. We read 2 Nephi 32:2-3, Moroni 7:29-31, D&C 31:5, and Matthew 11:28-30. We talked about us speaking with the tongue of angels by the power of the Holy Ghost. We talked about angels ministering to us and that as missionaries we are not alone. Angels are fighting for us and helping us with this great work that we're a part of. We read that the Savior is helping us too. We can come unto Him and He will give us rest, light, and truth. I love President McCune. He's truly inspired of God and loves us. We had a talent show after lunch and at the end six Elders sang this song called "Homeless." Soooo good. We watched Brave and then got all our presents and went home.

Sister Cha and I didn't wait until Christmas, even on the packages that said to wait (sorry Grandma).

Lately I've had this weird interest in family history and genealogy. Last week our zone had a class on family history work and how to do it, and since then I've wanted to spend all my time finding my ancestors and requesting that their ordinances be done. It's really cool! Saturday we went and saw Sister Baird (the lady who takes us to lunch every Monday) and she told us all these stories about her pioneer ancestors. Turns out her brother-in-law is President Hinckley! Pretty neat.

Christmas Eve was really fun. We went to Sister Baird's house and had dinner with her family.

Then all the grandkids did the nativity scene, which was precious. Little Eliza played Mary and it was pretty adorable.

We headed over to Katia's after that for more dinner (I'm so sick of eating). We had posole and tamales and all sorts of yummy Latin things.

Then came Christmas morning! Hoooray!

 

After I talked to you guys we went to Bishop Jakin's house for breakfast. Sister Jakins called all the Relief Society ladies and they bought us some Christmas presents! Yay for more nice people. We had fruit and french toast and muffins and then we put together a 500 piece puzzle. We came home and then we got picked up and went over to this Hawaiian families house (Mom they're from Kihei so you have to talk to them!). We played games and had dessert and it was really fun. It was the best Christmas ever. I loved being with families who felt like home.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! I'll talk to you in 2013 :)

Love,

Hermana Munden