Week 69. Feliz Navidad

 I've delayed writing this for too long. The reason being we had 3 Snow Days and 1 Ice day so most of our plans got canceled. That being said there was still some awesome days, here are the highlights:

1 snow day - it snowed Monday night and that meant no driving for Tuesday. Our dinner got canceled so the senior couple missionaries in our apartment had us over for dinner. They are super nice. On our walk back we got invited to go caroling with a random group of people. I was very sad to say no, but a member had offered to pick us up and we got 2 dinners that night. It was pretty fun. 

3 snow day - we did some shoveling today, even though the weather would warm up and melt it by Sunday. The ward was supposed to come help us shovel the church, but either they all missed the text or nobody had snow shovels so we did all the sidewalks and entrances by ourselves. Then some guys showed up for basketball night and that was a fun stress reliever. 

SlushDay - it rained the night before and then was sprinkling all day but from what I could tell, there was no ice, just slush. Today Harkness and I had a mission. We had told this guy, Mesh, that on Sunday church was at 10:30, but it was actually at 10. So we trekked 3 miles in the slush to tell him. He was super nice and it even cleaned my shoes. Sadly we didn't see him at church on Sunday. 

Christmas eve - we woke up to no snow or ice. For the first time I've been in Washington I think I've finally seen what the weather is supposed to be like normally. A rainy winter. Dinner with the Greens was pretty funny. Had some good conversations and laughs. Found out only dead lobsters are red and my whole childhood was a lie. But then I got to watch little toddlers perform the nativity scene and that was pretty funny. 

Christmas - our ward combined with another so we had those Elders at our apartment. Made breakfast for everyone and we opened presents before heading to Sunday service. It was super nice and we had a couple of friends show up. It was good. Had a great dinner that night and forgot to take any pictures. Sorry mom. 

Day after Christmas - I feel like there should be a term for the day after Christmas. If there is, let me know. But it was P day so we met up with our district and did a secret Santa and a white elephant gift exchange. The secret Santa was fun. I got candy and a small football, and the gift exchange was just a meme. Half the gifts were just funny items, clearance, or a happy meal from McDonald's. So we had a good time stealing from each other. Then we went on a short hike, played volleyball, and then basketball. It was pretty hype. 

Spiritual thought - the new year is popping up quick and so I wanted to share a message we've been giving out to some people. We shared Luke 2 a lot this month focusing on different verses. Today's verse is Luke 2:17

"And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child."

With this scripture in mind I would like to ask you all to think about how you can be like the shepherds of old, who not only went to Christ, but made known abroad to everyone the truth they knew. 

I hope you all have a great New Year and don't forget I love ya, God loves ya, and Satan hates your face 

Pics - none...... sorry 

Week 68. Cookie Fiasco

 I promise I wrote last week, it just didn't get sent. So now you'll just have to wonder what crazy shenanigans I got up to last week. In the meantime here's what I did this week:

Zone Conference - it started at 9am and we decorated a tree, opened presents, and had a few musical performances. Then we broke off into smaller groups and my group talked about who Christ was to us. It was super good. We had lunch in the middle and then finished cleaning up and got home around 5. 

Let me know if anyone else has had a work meeting go from 9-5 

Maguires - literally the best part of this week. We went over for dinner, shared a lesson, and then right before we left Ashley asked us a question. 

For background, Brady is a recent convert of 4 months and Ashley is his wife. They have 2 kids, one of which is old enough and wants to be baptized too. Ashley loves the church and we've answered all her questions but something was still holding her back. She told us that day. 

Brady's baptism shocked her a bit because she didn't know what was going on, so she just wanted to be involved in planning it and making the decisions. It was so awesome, that she was finally able to get past this one understanding and is now ready to be baptized. We don't have a date yet, but a desire is the first step and she's got it. 

Thursday - we had dinner at the Oates house, they are cool and the food was good. But the thing that stood out the most was their fish pitcher. 

Four Seasons - it's the buffet in Burlington and it is so amazing. It's an Asian/American mix of food and it's super good. 10/10

Christmas cookies - this was a whole weekend ordeal. It started Friday night when I made my first experimental batch. I made some mistakes and wasted half of it, but that was the whole point. Then Saturday, when I knew what I was doing, made another batch and then realized I was not ready to decorate 80 sugar cookies. Harkness stopped after 20. And I barely got through the rest. We passed them all out, with a note that said You got jingled. So we will see if they'll pass it on. 

Interfaith Devo - so we had a community event with another church's bell choir, our stk choir, and the high school choir. It was pretty good and a lot of people came. 

Spiritual thought - someone shared this with me the other day:

Another name for Santa Claus is Father Christmas, who brings presents. On the 25th we celebrate the time when Heavenly Father gave His son as a gift to us, so that he could grow up and become our Savior. 

I'll write again next week, but until then remember to be grateful for all the gifts you receive and the one our Father gave to us. 

Love y'all, Here are pics

Week 67. It's the Holiday Season

 Time flew by this week, so sorry. But here are the highlights 

District Council - it was pretty unique. We did a scavenger hunt, I epically failed at connecting the clues, but it was fun. 

Robbie - She's super ready and is thinking about being baptized in January. We talked about the priesthood and she's doing great. 

Mesh - while knocking random doors we met this dude and he was pretty awesome. He showed us his hobby of craftsmanship. He makes metal swords, rock + bone knives (they look sick but he says he doesn't sell them) and this really cool looking ring. He's got talent. And he also was really thinking about coming to church on Christmas. It was cool. Although we accidentally told him it was 10:30 instead of 10. 

Basketball - showed up and found like 20 people who were all good. It was super fun tho, we talked to this guy named Dean and he knew some missionaries and was vibing with us. He's cool. Hopefully we see him again next week. 

Omar - sad story. We finally got it contact with him and he's said he was coming to church. So we checked again on Sunday and he was getting ready. Then just no shows. So hopefully we can see him sometime this week. 

Spiritual thought - I just wanted to share a little Christmas story and encourage you all to try and uplift someone you see this week. Look for it in the pics or look up  A Brother Like That 

Love ya all

Execute week 66.

 So this is definitely a bit later than planned, so I'll make it quick. Here are the highlights:

Hospital - we live pretty close to the hospital so we were called and asked if we could go and give a blessing. We happened to be chauffeuring some other Elders, and one blessing turned into 3. It was super cool and miracles happened for those other Elders to be there because it was people from their ward. So cool. 

Exchanges - I was with Elder Cobb, a Spanish elder, in my area. Got to go on a quick run with him in the morning and then we had lunch with a couple of old members who thought they had accidentally taken the Spanish Elders out for lunch instead of the Elders in their ward. It was pretty funny and the food was good. Afterwards we helped relocate some chopped wood and swapped back. 

Christmas Party - on Saturday we had our Christmas party, we invited so many people, and the 2 we thought would come didn't. But it was super awesome, lots of fun. Me and my comp won a small guac bowl squish mallow. Then they had a couple of small musical performances and it was so good. 

Sunday School - we were asked to teach the older youth on Sunday and true to my nature I forgot to work on it til the night before. That being said, I think we did a great job and it was pretty fun. 

P day! - so we got up an hour early to get ready and drove an hour to go fishing. We had been told a good spot and were even given some equipment by this awesome member. The only problem was that we went too late in the season. Most of the fish could be seen dead which was crazy and the rest were dying and didn't give a crap. But we still had a great time. It looked awesome. And then we drove all the way up the road until we stopped at Ross Lake in the Cascade national park. We did a short hike and it was one of the coolest places ever. Get ready for the photo dump

Spiritual thought -  a little something we taught on Sunday was how sometimes we don't feel the spirit strongly, but that doesn't mean God isn't with us. It means He is trusting us to make our own decisions. And as we choose to follow Him we will be blessed even more.

Love y'all!