It was the first Christmas in the mission, and it was a blast!
On Christmas Eve, we had the opportunity to have our mission Christmas Conference!
Playing games, singing Christmas songs, and eating out!
It was sure awesome!
Then for Christmas, we first were told to give service until lunch. So we went with a family of the ward and helped them out to mow their lawn.. And it was a big lawn too.. We then eat out with them too. Then we left to go with another family who let us use their computer so that we could make the call home! So of course that was fun. :)
Anyway, hope everyone was able to enjoy Christmas this year.. I know I did, being able to serve the Lord here in Puebla (although I am technically in Tlaxcala right now.. jeje)
Love you all!
When we Skyped with Landon on Christmas Day, the family he was with was feeding him some yummy treats. He was consuming them during our conversation. At one point he looked off camera and asked a question ... were there walnuts in that dessert? Yes. Landon is allergic to walnuts (all nuts). Not life threatening, but I could tell it was affecting his throat as we finished up, and he didn't have any medication on hand, so I was anxious to hear that he was all right with his next letter.
To Mommy:
I actually just waited it out. Later in the night, after we went home and went to bed, I had a lot of pain in the stomach.. I thought I was going to barf for a bit, but nothing happened. But as you will read in the journal entries, the next day, I ate nuts again.. It was in this mole salsa, and I just tried to power through. That was not a wise idea. That time we went home to take some Benedryl because it was really bugging me. But don't worry, nothing too serious! Well thanks again for the presents! I love my good supply of mustaches.. ;)
I was so glad he'd received his Christmas package from us in time! I'd gotten it off quite late, but the My Missionary Shipping service got it to the mission home in TWO days. So he did get it for Christmas! He had requested a digital picture frame filled with photos from home. I included a pedometer (that I'd purchased when he thought he lost his ... he found it again, but I figured I'd send the new one again for backup). Then we filled the box up with his favorite stuff (Oreos and Reeses) and some little toys and trinkets (like the mustache glasses pictured above).
*** A Peek in the Journal ***
- Sunday 1220: First normal Sunday here in Apizaco. Church starts at 12:00, finally! In every one of my areas we have started at 8 in the morning. But ... in January in changes ... to 8:00. It was the confirmation of Fred and Akjadra in Sacrament Meeting. In the evening, we found an investigator! Good way to start the week.
- Monday 1221: P-Day, yea! We started off by cleaning a bit, then when to the church to play soccer and basketball. It was so good to finally play basketball again, It was more than three months since I last played. After playing for a couple hours, we went to the store, and I got a haircut. We went to write home, but it didn't work! When we tried to login, it just showed "Error". Our district leader said he was having problems too. So he told us to get to work and we could check in the morning.
- Tuesday 1222: A lot of riding in combis today. We went to visit Hna Coral, who lives in Ixtacamsticlan, which is in the middle of the mountains. It is an hour driving in the combi, then another hour climbing through them. But it was worth the ride to visit this family. Later, we were able to use the internet to write home.
- Wednesday 1223: A bit of a long day as we didn't have any citas, just a lunch with members. We went to the church for our correlation meeting, but no one showed. There was a pretty fun activity going on at the church ... tacos, bounce houses and IronMan3. We only participated in the tacos ... ;)
- Thursday 1224: Christmas Eve, and it was awesome. We had to leave early to catch a bus to the Capo for the Christmas Conference. We started out with a little breakfast, which included some Krispy Kreme donuts. Then the games started. First, it was a basic relay race, carrying an orange on a spoon from point A to point B. After several rounds (and several accusations of cheating) the tiebreaker was between Pres. Nelson and Hna Nelson, with Hna Nelson representing out side. She suited up in her tennis shoes! It was surprisingly intense, and Hna Nelson won it for us. The second game was a memory game, which again resulted in a tie (and our group won it again!). There was a third "12 Days of Christmas" game, which we lost, then one last "Cat and Mouse" game. After that we began to sing a variety of Christmas songs (in English) ... and it turned into another competition, although no one was declared a winner. Then things cooled down. A few missionaries bore their testimonies, then it was time to head home.
- Friday 1225: Christmas! We had permission from President Nelson to sleep in until 7:00. Sure, it's only a half hour more, but it was great. For our service, we met up with Hno. Gutierrez. Mi compa was using the lawnmower and I was using the edger and we cut all the grass. It was a lot of grass by the way! Then we helped them construct a chicken coop. After working, the family brought out a series of pinatas. Not just for the kids, but for everyone! Then we played volleyball, not with a net, just to see how many volleys we could get ... I believe the high was 47. Then we went to the home of the Perez family to make the call home. It was great. The only bad thing was that I ate this apple dessert that had nuts. Haha, oh well. Merry Christmas!
- Saturday 1226: Pretty slow day today ... at lunch I accidentally ate nuts AGAIN. We visited with some families, met up with Fred at the church, then had an appointment with Angel, but he disappeared! We taught his mom and brother and she did say things had been better with their family. As we left, we found Angel with a friend and it was obvious he had been drinking.
- Sunday 1227: A pretty good Sunday today, except that my compa was feeling sick. We went to church, then to lunch, then to work. While contacting and looking for a referral, we found a woman who accepted to listen and said we could come again tomorrow. We had a couple other appointments too. Our last contact was very kind and nice, but it appears she only wants to listen out of curiosity. We we see how it goes!
*** Step Stats ***
Sunday, December 20 - 12830
Monday, December 21 - 24486
Tuesday, December 22 - 23489
Wednesday, December 23 - 17022
Thursday, December 24 - 15433
Friday, December 25 - 10855
Saturday, December 26 - 16845
Sunday, December 27 - 19243
That's a bit of a shift in Step Stats this week. Taking the top spot is Uncle Shane! They are moving and all the packing (and no chairs to sit on) got him more than his usual steps. Cooper slowed down ... and I barely made the Top10 myself! Callahan's Zip hasn't recorded several days when he worked and was active, so I'm sure he would have actually been in there somewhere. Hopefully I can regain my #1 spot when we return to the routine in January.
*** Between Brothers ***
Dear Landon, I don't have that much to say because we Facetimed on Christmas. I'm mainly going to be talking about Christmas, well of course. I did get a few presents. We went to Grandmas' house on Christmas Eve, I opened my present there and got a flashlight. That's right, a flashlight, every year! But I did have fun there anyway. The day after, we went to Magas' house. I had one present there and it was Utah Jazz shorts! And the presents I got here at home were, basketball shorts, Trey Burke jersey, red elite socks, and two t-shirts. And in my stocking there was, magnetic putty, worlds largest gummy snake, and a lot of stuff that I can't remember. We brought this game to Magas' house called, Pie Face. I only got whipped cream in my face like a million times. There was a game Jazz game, LAC against Jazz. LAC ended up winning because they gave Alec Burks a concussion as well as an ankle sprain. Well, that is about it for this week. Anyway, love ya, Colt
Dear Landon, it was really fun to Skype with you on Christmas, but it wasn't really long considering it was only forty minutes. And I only got to talk to you about the BYU vs Utes game. Anyway, I got plenty of good things for Christmas, starting out, I got a monthly pass to Gene Fullmer at the start of Winter Break. I got a big bruise on my knee the first day we were there when we were playing with some other people, but I still wanted to play. And for Christmas, I got a PassBack Football, wallballs, two pairs of joggers, swimming goggles, a Gordon Hayward Jersey, a new t-shirt, and these things called HotSnapz which are awesome. My favorite present was the PassBack Football, because when you throw it against the wall, there is bouncy kind of end to the ball, so it'll come back straight to you. The Christmas eve party was fun, we watched the Westra slideshow from the throughout the year, the Candy Bar Game, and just the party itself. I got a card from grandma and it had a $20 gift card to Amazon. The next day we went to Maga's house and I got some Utah Jazz socks which were pretty cool, then the day after that I went to the Jazz Game. It was a really close game, but the Clippers ended up winning at the end. But the Jazz would have won if the Clippers hadn't of given Alec Burks a concussion a a bad ankle sprain, or if Derek Favors wasn't injured as well. Love, Cooper
Dear Landon, I know that you know I've seen Star Wars, but you didn't know that I've now seen it three times. And it is awesome EVERY TIME! I've also watched some of the other Episodes again because that's just the right thing to do. For Christmas I got Boba Fett slippers, a magnetic pen/stylus, the new Copper Hills hoodie, some new ties, colored pencils for school, magnetic silly putty, and some awesome Jazz socks that Maga gave to me. Cooper got a Jazz voucher-thing so he can go to any home Jazz game this season, or something like that. Tyler got season tickets to the Jazz and tonight he had three extra tickets to the Jazz, Clippers last night, so he took me, James, and Cameron (some basketball friends). Dad and Coop took us there and all six of us were in the lower bowl! Also on Tyler's Twitter, he follows the NBA on it, and there was a picture where you can see us four! We were really blurry and it was a picture of Paul Pierce. In the 4th quarter, some guy on the Clippers missed both of his freethrows. Chick Fil A has a deal with the Jazz that if the away team misses two free throws in one pair, then they'll give everyone there a free chicken sandwich. They don't hand them out at the arena though. You have to go to Chick Fil A the day after and show them your ticket and they'll give you one. However, today Chick Fil A was closed, so we'll go tomorrow. It'll probably be crazy. It was really funny and way fun. Good to see you on Christmas. I talked to Bro Adams today, and he said that he got to Facetime/Skype Jake for two hours! Also when Bro Seewer was taking me home today, he said they got to for an hour. That's messed up maaaaaaaaan. Jk jk. So yeah... Wuv, Keaton
No comments:
Post a Comment