We got your Christmas package!!!

Hey Mom!

So the internet isn’t working right now…I was able to read your messages but not respond, so I won’t be able to answer your questions in full right now since I don’t really remember what they are. I did get the packages though!! They came today; it was so exciting!! J We were doing our laundry and one of the elders (Elder Leman from Belgium…he’s so fun, I just love him) called me to tell me that I had two HUGE packages waiting for me. It was so exciting. And there were several other elders there who all made a huge deal about having enormous packages and I just laughed and said that my family loves me J Thank you so much! I’m so excited to go home and decorate! Sister Williams and I were looking through them a bit and found the little tree and the decorations…such a cute idea. Thanks again, so much!

Life here is pretty standard…nothing too exciting from this week. It has gotten pretty cold…today it’s about 2 C according to the weather in the metro (don’t ask me how cold that is in F) and tomorrow it’s supposed to be 0 C, getting to a low for the week of –2 C on Thursday. So crazy. And I still haven’t bought boots yet. We were going to go last week but then it was Sister Cerdhe’s birthday so all of the sisters on the island (all 8 of us) and Robyn went out to eat and it ended up taking all afternoon so we didn’t get a chance to buy them. So we were going to do it this morning, but laundry and groceries and everything ended up taking forever and we don’t have tons of time, so I have no idea when we’re going to be able to go get them. I need to soon though; the first snowfall of the year was today! I guess it’s a lot later than it usually is so some of the Canadians were a little nervous…one of our investigators prayed for snow the other day. Her name is Stephanie and she’s way cute, but I wasn’t too happy about that part of the prayer…oh well. It is pretty at least J

Ooh, and happy (late) Thanksgiving! I forgot about it last Monday or I would have said something in that email. It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun! And I completely forgot about black Friday…I’m bummed I missed out! That’s great that you were able to finish most of the Christmas shopping…I love this time of year! Our Thanksgiving was really fun. Elder and Sister Anderson, a senior couple here that teach Institute and are just the sweetest people, invited all the missionaries in our zone over for a Thanksgiving dinner. It was SO much fun…they set it up as a buffet and people were coming and going from 1 until about 5 pm, so we went there around 3 with 6 or so other elders and it was just so much fun. It made the day a lot better. Unfortunately, they tend to take after Grandma and Grandpa Lindsey in their celebration of Thanksgiving and only had one kind of pie…I think next year I’m just going to make about 10 the day before Thanksgiving so I can finally have a real celebration ;)

OH, there were some crazy things from this week though that I almost forgot to mention! We were in the metro on Tuesday, talking to one of the members that Sister Williams knows from another ward, and one of the drivers on the green line got out of his car and went and talked to the police officers. I guess he really doesn’t like missionaries and always makes an announcement when he sees them telling them not to proselyte on the metro because it’s “illegal”. Sister Williams recognized him because he had to talk to her one time since she didn’t understand the announcement and he was pretty rude to her. So anyways, he talked to the police officers and then they came over and told us we weren’t allowed to talk to anyone in the metro. I said that we weren’t selling anything and we weren’t handing anything out unless they were interested in which case we gave them a pass-along card, but we didn’t do anything more than that (which is within the bounds of the rules…we weren’t doing anything wrong) and they said that we weren’t allowed to do that there. I asked if we would be allowed to continue just talking to people without handing out the cards and they said that was bending the rules and we weren’t allowed to do that at all and we would have to leave the metro station if we tried. So we left the metro station and ran into one of the APs on the way out and told him what happened and he told us we should go back in there and keep talking anyways. Then if we got arrested we’d be legends J We still didn’t go back, but just rode the metro for awhile talking to people instead. Oh, and while we were riding the metro, there was one time when there were no YSA people on our car, so the train stopped and I got off to get onto a different car and try to talk to some people. Right as Sister Williams went to follow me off, the doors shut, leaving me on the platform and her in the car, and there was nothing we could do. So she rode to the next station. I waited for the next train and wasn’t sure if I should get on it or not, so I decided I might as well get on. She wasn’t sure what to do either, so at the next station she got on the train heading back to the station we had split off at. Luckily, my train arrived right as hers was about to leave and she looked over and saw me through the window (pretty miraculous how it happened with both of us being on cars across from each other) and so she quickly got off and we were back together again. And I definitely freaked out about not having a companion with me. 5 weeks into the mission and I can't be without one, haha. Also, tell Michelle that I already have the missionary voice too...it came about the first week here and I know I'm doing it and I can't stop it. I'll try to get rid of it before I come back though, don't worry :)

OH, and another crazy story...so remember that one I mentioned last week about that guy Sonny who asked for my number in the metro but we never called him, then he randomly showed up while we were waiting for someone else and so we had the elders teach him and he dropped off the face of the earth? (side note: make sure you always call the missionaries back. It's so frustrating to just wait for days and have no idea whether you should keep calling or not.) Well, SIster WIlliams and I ran into him and his friend, Michael, at the metro on Saturday and invited them both to church on Sunday. His friend is Catholic, but said they would come anyways as long as he was welcome. So they both showed up for Sacrament meeting yesterday and I invited them to FHE tonight, so we'll see if they come. Michael, after church, asked me if he was doing something wrong and I didn't quite know what he meant, so I said not at all, and he said "Are you sure? I just think I'm doing something wrong." But then I had to run because I was teaching the Sunday School class so I didn't have time to ge to the heart of his question. Hopefully he comes tonight and we can work it out. It was just kind of crazy. oh, and I did speak yesterday in church and it actually turned out pretty well! It was definitely an inspired idea...I had no idea what I was going to talk on and then I remembered the primary song "I belong to the CHurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" and so I took that song and went principle by principle through it: we know who we are (God's children...I quoted that first part of the YW theme), we know God's plan and will follow Him in faith, we beleive in the Savior, Jesus Christ, and honor His name, and finally His truth we will proclaim. I was pretty pleased after writing it. Then I was freaking out a bit Sunday morning since I really hadn't spent hardly any time planning it and wasn't sure what I was going to say and hadn't spent much time on my lesson or anything, and so I asked Bro. Banfield how long I was speaking for and he said "Oh, did I not tell you? You're not speaking today. It's the CES production so Brother Limoges is talking." So I calmed down a bit. Then 5 minutes before it started, Elder Cowley came up to me and said that there''d been a change of plans, Brother Limoges's wife couldn't come, so I was speaking after all. It was so crazy. But it went really well and I had one person come up after and say that it was just what he needed...he had been a bit iffy about church attendance recently and my talk was just what he needed to solidify his testimony. It was really neat :)

AND best news of all!!! ROB IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!! :) This Sunday!! I'm so excited for him. It's going to be so wonderful. He's the first person I ever taught, and he's going to be baptized! I really can't wait at all. OH, and the girl that you talked to on Facebook, Mom, is Robyn and she is probably my favorite person in the branch. I just love her...she said she had talked to you on there and gave me a hug for you last Monday (she came out to eat iwth us) and it was so exciting. She is so cute and we talk to her just about every day. I LOVE her. But anyways, I need to wrap this up, my hour is about over. I love you all tons, and thanks again for the package! You are amazing!! :)

Love, Nicole