Mission Christmas Party!!

December 16, 2013

Merry Almost Christmas!  (Though by the time you get this , Christmas will have come and gone…)

Oh what a day!  We had a crazy morning.  So I was still sleeping off the Benadryl that I got last night for my birch outbreak, I was out, cold.  We get a call from the ZL’s asking us to beep them in.  I was so confused.  They had told us they were coming to work out but it was already 7.  So they should already have done that.  Side note---yes I did sleep through the alarm.

I buzzed them in and then called our elders.  I just didn’t get what was going on.  So I’m talking to them, trying to figure it out when Elder Bridge says, “Sister George, it sounds like you just woke up.”  They were with us last night and they knew what had happened with the birch and that I had taken Benadryl.  But, psh!  I wasn’t about to admit that we had slept in.  So I said “No, we just haven’t been talking!...OK, fine!  We just woke up!”  Of course, all four of them go “Oooooh!”  Punks.  They will never let me forget it, I’m sure.

We got ready then headed over to e-mail.  Momma, again, I’m so sorry the package got slit open.  What I’m most sad about are all the letters.  I just don’t know who would do that but it breaks my heart.

While we were e-mailing, we got a call from Elder Residori, our vehicle coordinator.  He told us to come early to Lilburn before the party to get our car fixed.  He then said that we were trading our car for a brand new 2014 Ford Fusion.  Whoot!  Haha.  We get it on Thursday.  Sweet!   The elders then talked to Elder Residori.  They want to do a car share with the Sharon Springs elders.  I hope they get it.  That would be nice for them.

We then went and got groceries and what not.  Then went to dinner at the Dobecks.  I had never met them.  Sister Dobeck is in the primary.  Brother Dobeck was not home for dinner.  So it was just Sister Dobeck and us.  Then we went to Sister Fullwood’s to talk about face-timing and skype.  She thinks they are being way too strict about the elders and the sisters. 

So the weather we are having is just weird.  It feels like September.  I don’t feel like it is even December.  So I think it is making me not homesick, which is good.

 December 17, 2013

Today was a blast.  I do like my district.  We had fun.  It was weird today though cause the Buford elders got moved and they weren’t there, it felt empty without them.  The Sharon Springs sisters were there but they aren’t that much a part of our group. 

We went on exchanges today.  Sister Knight went to Coal Mountain with our new training leader Sister Pabst and Sister Hamilton came here with me.  Sister Hamilton said that she did that on purpose so that she could be with me☺  I just love her.  Hey mom, could you possibly write her a quick note sometime?

Sister George and her little ray of sunshine Sister Hamilton

We went to Marni’s first.  We shared a Christmas thought with her.  It went really well.  She even had the kids listen.  We helped her clean and then went home to change.

We had a little time before dinner so we went and got some stuff from the dollar store for Sister Knight’s birthday.  Dinner was at the Pruitt’s.  Daddy, they are the ones with the miracle fruit.  Have you gotten one yet?  We got to eat it again.  Sister Hamilton was just amazed.  She just thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Then we finished off our night with a lesson with Ben.  We taught the word of wisdom.  I think that we will have to revisit some things.  We got a little distracted during the lesson. 

December 18, 2013

Today Sister Hamilton and I worked on Christmas presents while we listened to a talk during our companionship study.  Momma, Daddy, if all goes according to plan then you should have this letter with your present.  It not, well, it will all get figured out.

We got ready and went contacting in the park.  People are a bit leery of us right now.  In Pilgrim Mill (an area in our zone, North from us) there was a lady posing that she was selling bibles.  When people would open their doors, two guys would jump out, beat them up, and rob them.  It is affecting us too, so tracting is a bit rough right now.  Our numbers have stunk.  We had fun in the park.  We talked to a few people, enjoyed our walk, and got in some great pictures too.

In the park with ??????

Sister Hamilton preaching in the park.

Sister George trying her hand a park preaching!

We went to lunch at this place that just opened in Suwanee called Buffalo Café.  It was okay, we had a great time though.

Since we are getting a new car tomorrow we don’t need to worry about miles because they will start over with the new car.  It’s fabulous.  To save miles for them, we drove to Coal Mountain instead of meeting half the way.

When we switched back, Sister Hamilton told Sister Knight to just lay back and enjoy the day.  I had set up a few things and let members know that it was Sister Knight’s birthday.  She wasn’t allowed to look at the phone or look at my planner or ask what we were doing.

We got back home and had about an hour til dinner.  Sister Knight unpacked, we went and clean our car so that it would be clean when we turned it in tomorrow.

Dinner was at the Folkmans.  I have talked to Sister Folkman a little bit.  She had gotten Sister Knight a little present and had made a cake.  The kids were talking about some fox song.  I was the only one who had no idea what was going on.  So they showed me the video…  “What does a fox say”  So DUMB.  Can’t say that I think I am missing much.

After dinner we went to the McKennas.  They are awesome.  They had also made Sister Knight a cake.  They had also gotten us Christmas presents.  I got a perplexus.  Have you ever seen them?  It’s a ball with a maze inside!  Coolest thing ever.  I don’t know if I will get any missionary work done anymore.  The elders told us to come over so we stopped by before we went home.  They answered the door with a lit candle singing happy birthday.  They were nice.  I showed them my perplexus and almost didn’t get it back.

Happy Birthday Sister Knight!

Merry Christmas - early!

I LOVE PRESENTS!!!!

And YES I do LOVE my Perplexus!

December 19, 2013

Happy Christmas party!  So we spent the whole day in Lilburn.  Elder Residori told us to come at 10 and get our car fixed.  Since we car-pooled with the lovely Gainsville sisters we waited for them to get to us.  It took them a bit longer because they had to go pick up a package that had somehow ended up in Gainsville instead of the mission home.  We didn’t end up getting to Lilburn until around 11:30.

Sister Residori was so tickled that she got to talk to you momma.  She said that you reacted very well about the stolen gifts because most moms would have been so mad.  They said that the mailman was so embarrassed to bring it in.  Poor guy.  It wasn’t his fault.  So do they try to give you a “refund” for what was in the box?  How does the whole thing work?  I’m just so very sad about the whole thing.  I got the other package.  The pillow cases are SO cute.  I love them.  Thanks for the USU shirts.  I can never have enough of those things.  I will send you my memory card now that I  have a second one and I will use the jump drive to save the pictures on, just in case.

Letter that came with opened emptied Christmas Package

Christmas presents - - - GONE!

So you remember the heart we have been passing back and forth with the elders?  We sent it to them in a package and wrote that it was from the ward.  It was pretty funny watching them open it.  We got them good and they know it.

It was so much fun to see everyone.  I have some amazing elders and sisters from my MTC district.  Elder Angilav is training and a district leader, Elder Zimmerman is training, and president told Elder Harmon he will likely be training next transfer. It is awesome.

New but NOT improved Christmas package from
home!!

Sister George and Sister Jacobs USU roomies!!

Christmas Mission Party!!

Sister George and Sister Hooker always a personal favorite!

It was so fun to see Sister Carrigan.  I love her.  And I got to see Sister Jacobs too.  She is so cute.  It was really fun to see her.  We had lunch and talked and talked and just had a blast.  There was also a talent show.  Just in case you were wondering, our whole mission plays the piano.  It got a bit boring, not gonna lie.  But that’s okay cause I was with people I love and we were having a blast.

When the party was over, we went to see our car.  It wasn’t ready.  Five of us were getting new cars and only four were ready. Since we were the closest to Lilburn out of the five, we have to wait until tomorrow to get it.  So we have to drive all the way back to Lilburn tomorrow.  Bummer!  BUT, our Tiwi (the driving monitor in the cars) was out of our car so we didn’t have to worry about how we drove.  No worries though, I still drove the same way I would have if the Tiwi was still in the car.

We left at about 5:30 and hit all of the traffic leaving the city.  Dinner was with the Azizis and we were supposed to be there at 6:00.  We called her and said we would not be there by 6:00 and would not likely be there before 6:45.  We practically begged her to let us cancel.  She told us to just get there when we could.  So we hurried as fast as we could.  We dropped of Sister Hooker at their car and I gave her a pillowcase.  (She loved it).  We hurried to the Azizi’s and had dinner.  I like them.

December 20, 2013

Well, today was one of those days when you do a bunch of things but not too much missionary work.  Hard to explain. 

Marni asked us last week if we could help her wrap presents.  They are going to Michigan on Monday and with her foot and everything she just hasn’t had time.  So instead of starting our day off with weekly planning, we went over and wrapped presents.  We had a ton of fun with Marni.

We were waiting for Elder Residori to call and tell us our car was ready.  It was about 12 when we finally finished wrapping all the presents.  While we had been doing that we had gotten a call from the Gainsville elders.  Elder Harmon’s companion had a package at the office and Elder Freeman did as well.  They knew we were going to the office at some point and asked us to grab their packages.  We would meet them in Gainsville on our way back from Lilburn.

At 12 Marni told us that she was buying us lunch.  She handed us money, told us what she wanted, and we went and got it.  When we got back, her husband Michael was there too. We all had lunch and had a great discussion about the church and stuff.  It was great.  Slowly but surely they are being prepared.

At 2:30 Elder Residori finally called.  Yay.  So we got our stuff and headed to Lilburn.  When we got there, a beautiful, new, shiny 2014 Ford Fusion was sitting in the parking lot.  Ah!!!  Elder Residori switched me keys and showed me what some of the buttons were.  It smells glorious.  I love new car smell.  It has a Bluetooth.  We can just hit a button and talk to people on the phone without even touching the phone.  It’s a long car.  It will take some getting used to.

Then we got some terrible news.  President is trying out a car-share with us and the elders in Suwanee.  What????  The elders are pleased, we are not.  We share the car with them already.  I don’t know why they had to go and make it all official from President!  Grrr.  Ok, they are being pretty fair about it.  And they didn’t actually ask to share with us.  We will figure it out though.  The car is still in my name and I am still responsible for it. 

We got the packages and headed to Gainesville.  It was 4 by the time we started heading back.  Guess what we hit.  Yup! Traffic.  Luckily once we got past Suwanee it cleared up.  We got there at 5 and talked for a little bit. 

We headed home for dinner.  We were having dinner with the Brintons and the Ketchems.  Sister Ketchem made Filipino food.  Yummy.  It was super good.  We had a lesson with Ben at 8:00 so we kind of had to hurry.

The lesson with Ben went really well!  We filled out the form with him for his records and talked with him about who is doing what.  As of right now he is basically asking his cousin to do a talk and a prayer.  We will get some of the other members involved somehow.

December 21, 2013

Today was just long.  We got up, did our studies and what not.  Elder Bridge and Elder Hales were on exchanges together.  Elder Hales got his bike back today.  He was a very happy missionary.  His gear shaft on his bike broke in half.  So he has been using the bike of Marni’s husband Michael.  We took back Michael’s bike to him.  Michael invited us in and we had a great conversation about the church and about missions.  It was awesome!  He will be a good priesthood holder someday.

Then, we went tracting….Forever!!  We didn’t have any appointments so we just kept tracting.  I felt like a little kid.  I was bored and restless.  Poor Sister Knight had to put up with me.

We got a call from Sister Nilsson.  She is a member from our ward.  We had stopped by a few weeks ago and left a note.  She invited us to come over later.

I got asked to play “Good Christian Men Rejoice” while the Johnsons and Pruitts sang in sacrament meeting tomorrow.  It’s kinda fast and I mostly have it down but not as much as I would like.  So we headed over to the church, but first we swung home to check the mail.  Guess what???  I GOT MY PACKAGE!!!  This is a heavy little sucker.  Yay, I am excited to open my presents.  I’m busy stuffing bags with carmels and toffee for families in the ward.

We didn’t have an appointment for dinner so we went home after I practiced.  Then we went to the Nilsson’s house.  Sister Nilsson is part Swedish.  Brother Nilsson is a great guy and he really needs to get baptized.  He is SUPER nice and he knows a lot about the gospel.  They invited us over for a Swedish Christmas.  Brother Nilsson told us not to eat cause that is all we would be doing.  Oh boy, I am excited.  It will be tons of fun.

December 22, 2013

Only 3 more days until we get to talk.  I am so excited!  Today was fun.  I always love Sunday morning before church.  Our meetings were really good today.  I played okay but not my best.  That’s okay though.  Everyone kept coming up and saying, “I didn’t know you played the piano.”  I have only been asked a couple of times.

So in Relief Society they were asking what would
Make this a perfect Christmas and the only
thing I could think of was "snow."  Everything
else about my Georgia Christmas is PERFECT!  I
knew there was NO chance!  

But I was wrong!!!  They got me "SNOW."  Or at least
the closest approximation!!  I love these people more
than I can tell you.  There are no early words to express
how I feel about them.  They are the best!

After a number of visits we went home to turn in numbers.  Elder Bridge and I talked on the phone for a bit and that was nice. 

 

Well, family, I love you.  I’m so excited to talk to all of you and see your faces on Wednesday.

Love, Molly