This dear quote comes from our friend David. Don't even get him started on Santa.
"Christmas trees are a Pagan Anti-Christian Symbol used to Commercialize and Distract from the Real Reason for the Season"
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! We went to check our mail the other day and the mail lady was putting letters in, so we casually just said Oh is there anything for #12208? She was like Oh I just did that row let me check!! Then she opens it, says "Nothing!" And then laughs at us. So I will be including our address at the bottom because I will be here for at least 7 more weeks and if anyone has Christmas cards or letters (or wants to participate to our drawings wall -- children doubly encouraged in that) feel free so we can laugh back at the mail lady. ...that's a joke we are very Christlike and laughed with her and then cried in our car. ....that was also a joke.
We had dinner at a members house this week (actually every night this week... our meal coordinator in the Woodlake Ward is an angel) but they treated us like normal people? I don't know it was very refreshing. Typically we either get treated like a kid or highly respected missionary. This first one is not fun at all like yes I'm 19 thank you but look at my tag!! It's the polar opposite of people that take our calling very seriously. Don't get me wrong that's nice because it makes me realize that my calling really is sacred and I have one of the most important duties in the Church! Elder Holland in a video in the MTC called us lower case a apostles, and he's an upper case A Apostle. Being a missionary is a great calling, and the members that recognize and go the extra mile to show respect at dinner is amazing, but at the same time I can tell their humility isn't always casual, its like they're nervous around us or don't want to mess up the dinner in any way. So for those people I just want to be like hey I'm 19 i don't have a house yet and I have 23 dollars on my debit card for the next 15 days. Any meal at all is amazing. Buuuuuuut the people that treat you like you're 19 with 23 dollars on your debit card so they can skip by are also not fun. Its a double edged sword. So going over to the Stokes house and being treated like any normal friend was so refreshing! People being super casual is really nice. Strange thought for this week. But it definitely taught me the importance of my calling and to hold myself at a higher standard which is spooky but cool!
Random things:
We got the cops called on us :)
Our friend Ray continues to be a rollercoaster, so keep him in your prayers please!!
We are still cleaning out Sister Zoet's house and helping her pack aaaaaaand we found mice poop all over the garage floor so now I'm terrified.
Missionaries all over the world are so cool! We have a man we're teaching who's temporarily in Hawaii, and left his Book of Mormon here but wanted one in Hawaii to read while he's there, so we reached out to the elders in his area and got his Book of Mormon!! We also had a member worried about a relative in Minnesota, so we got in contact with HER missionaries and they're going to help her! It's so cool to have friends all over the world!!!
Sister Roberts Dinner with an old friend <3 We like this Elders sign. It's not funny but we think we are. Sister's garage after tetris-ing boxes in her bookshelves to make more room