A whole lot happened this week that I have to say!
SO, on Monday we went caroling as a zone which was pretty fun. It's a little bit awkward to carol. But most people enjoy it. We finished by caroling for some members and they were prepared for us with some hot chocolate and apple cider. Which was really nice of them. I like apple cider.
On Tuesday we had a crazy day. It was the day of our Mission Christmas party... it's a "Wa-Tac" tradition.... and WOW the missionaries let loose at that Christmas party. It was crazy. (Phew! 60 more minutes! Prayer works!)
We got to Tacoma at 8:30 and socialized with all of our friends from the mission and then we got together as zones and had a white elephant gift exchange. My gift was a wooden walking cane with a honking horn and a rearview mirror attached. I found it at goodwill. The perfect gift. A few elders fought over it and eventually an elder from my last zone got it. I was lucky and ended up with a jar of nutella, some socks, and a framed embroidery of a girl and it says "God loveth a cheerful giver."
After the gift exchange we sang songs in the gym. The gym was decked out with tables that were all nice and fancy. plates and cups were already set up, and there were plants and things on them. There were about 200 of us missionaries in there. Turns out missionaries love Christmas songs. We sang the 12 days of Christmas Wa-Tac style and oh my goodness. That was when the crazy came out. Each zone was supposed to stand up and yell out their part and each time the zones stood up they got crazier. We had ever missionary standing on chairs stomping their feet, we had missionaries sitting on chairs that were held up in the air by other missionaries, we had plates, cups, hats, plants, and everything else thrown in the air. There was screaming and yelling, and singing, and all sorts of craziness. At one point someone threw a FULL cup of water in the air and it landed right in front of me. And water went EVERYWHERE. I had to quickly save a few cameras that were sitting on the table... but nothing was damaged. Apparently last year they broke 4 tables... This year we were told that we could not stand on the tables. (probably for the best...)
After that we had skits. Each zone introduced themselves and presented an ornament to hang on a Christmas tree and then they did a skit that was SUPPOSED to only be 10 minutes long. Some people didn't follow that. The skits ended up taking 2 hours longer than they were supposed to. The skits were supposed to be done by 2 and the party done by 4... But the skits didn't end until 4:30.... and the party ended at 6:30.
It's probably good that this only happens once a year.
We finished up with a spiritual meeting about what it means to have a Savior. We also had some really pretty musical numbers and then we read Moroni 10 as a mission. (I finished the Book of Mormon for the 9th time this week! :))
Then we took a panoramic picture as a mission, and then we went home.
On Wednesday, we were all a little wound up still from the party and excited about Christmas eve the next day, so we had a bit of trouble focusing during our District meeting... but we were able to learn about Why our purpose as missionaries is so important and why we are helping people come unto Christ. It was pretty good...
The other sisters had brought a whole Costco pumpkin pie that some members gave them and it was going to expire that day. Something that you may not know about missionaries is that around the holiday season we get TONS of treats. We have no counter space right now because we have so many treats. So none of us really wanted any pie.... Someone came up with the brilliant idea to pie our zone leader in the face... so that's what ended up happening. It was really fun and really messy and some good District bonding time... The way one elder put it was "it was a great idea, it just wan't executed very well." We had to clean up the kitchen for a little while longer than we thought we would.
Thursday was our Christmas eve. We weekly planned and then we visited some members and followed up on their challenge to pass out a Book of Mormon. Then we went caroling as a zone.
After that we went to the Barneys and ate dinner. They had a yummy dinner all put together for us. They have the missionaries over for Christmas eve every year, so it was fun to go there. They gave us really cool Hoodies and a scarf with our name embroidered in it.
We each got to share a Christmas spiritual thought, and that was fun too.
After the Barneys we went to the Church building on Bainbridge island. The ward there had put together a fancy dinner for all the missionaries and gave us each stockings full of goodies. We were able to enjoy that time and then played games in the gym. It didn't really feel like a normal Christmas Eve but it was fun.
On Christmas we got to sleep in til 8 am. That was a gift our Mission President gave us. Then we opened presents and studied. We spent sometime at the Military Relations missionaries home and played some games. Then we went to the Barneys and I got to skype my family. :) That was probably the best part of the week. It's nice to email each week, but it's way more fun to tell stories in person with my hands and my face and my voice and to see my family's reactions.
After that we had dinner at a young families home on the Navy Base. They fed us German food. (He served his mission in Germany.) Then we went home and watched Mr. Krueger's Christmas.
It was a great Christmas week. We really enjoyed our time with members and our families.
The rest of the weekend was a bit hard. We had to get back in the swing of things. But we got one little tender mercy on Sunday that we weren't expecting.
During our studies I looked out the window and noticed that it was raining pretty hard. Then I noticed what looked like a few flakes of snow. So, I obviously had to run to the window to look closer. But it just looked like rain... so I sadly went and studied some more. BUT then! I looked up and there WAS snow mixed with the rain. Then half an hour later it was JUST snow flakes. Washington snow is really wet so it wasn't sticking to the ground. But I prayed that it would stick and within 10 minutes it WAS! The world started to turn white and it was really pretty and I was just really grateful for all the beautiful things we have because God loves us.
We went to church and we weren't sure if people would show up but they did and we had a great sacrament meeting. But then the rest of church was cancelled. Which was weird. But nice for all the families, so they could have more time to spend with each other.
So, that was our week. The snow is gone now. It just lasted for one day. It was very slushy, and made knocking a little bit difficult. This area is very hilly so we were slipping and sliding all over the place.
So there you go. Now you have the longest email ever from a missionary that has almost no missionary work in it. Next week we will hit the pavement and find lots of people to teach and share the gospel with everything in us. :)
For my spiritual thought I will share a quote from Thomas S. Monson:
"Courage is the word we need to hear and hold dear to our hearts-- courage to turn our backs on temptation, courage to lift up our voice in testimony to all whom we meet, remembering that everyone must have an opportunity to hear the message."
This is a good reminder that it is SO important that we open our mouths and share our testimonies. This message must get to everyone and it's hard to do that if ONLY the full time missionaries are the ones opening their mouths. It's not just our responsibility, but everyone who has been blessed by this gospel message. So go out there and share your testimony this week! Make that your New Year Resolution! :) There is work to be done!
I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
My white elephant present. |
A cool water bottle that each of the missionaries got for Christmas |
Elder Anderson about to pie Elder Werk. (Sister Taylor actually ended up doing it.) |
Elder Werk after the pie. |
An ornament that we got at the Christmas party. |
Elder Anderson posing with Sister Wilsons purse. |
The candy from Elder Werk. |
My new hoodie. |
Me in the 'hood. |
My new punching bag. |
Using my punching bag. |
My pajamas. |
Me being diligent. |
More diligence. |
The remains of some kind of bird on someone's porch... |
More remains... |
Me being really excited when the snow started. |
Pictures with Santa at the Christmas party. |
If you go to the website you can see a few pictures of what the Christmas party was like.