SNOW

Yep we got snow but I'll be talking more about that later. To begin the mass email this week we had our Zone Christmas devotional. It was a really great experience. I think one of the things that stuck with me most about Christmas from it was President Craig talking about "the hopes and fears of all the years" If you're familiar with the Carols in the hymnbook that is a line from "O Little Town of Bethlehem". Christ's coming was truly the hopes and fears of all the years.

One thing I really enjoyed about this Zone conference was we were able to stay at the Zone leaders house for two nights. The first night we had 8 people in this house and the second night we had 10. IT was a blast. We were only expecting 6 people the first night but the APs decided to crash there because they had a washer and drier. That was quite the surprise for us but it was good and kinda fun. Partially because one of the Elders that was staying there was being extremely angry. But one of the ZLs was his former companion and worked his magic to get him calmed down and having a good time. Watching that happen was quite amazing. Especially since it was something the ZLs did that got him going. Another thing that was interesting and fun to watch was the second night there was much tie trading going on. I didn't participate because nobody wanted any of my "Beauties" or in other words ties that are not visually pleasing to the eye. I now have doubled my tie collection by collecting these "beauties". I actually came away from that experience with one more tie. The story behind it was kinda funny.

So there I was... I had been trying a bunch of new stuff on the mish already so this went quite well with what I had been doing in the past. One of the Elders had this Ginger drink mix and he was offering it to anyone who would take it. For good reason. So I was like what the heck I'll try it. So i warmed up some water and dumped it in. It was nasty. Somehow I took one or two more spoonfuls of it before I decided that it was truly nasty and I wasn't imagining it. But, another Elder who was trying to get some ties for cheap got offered to drink the rest of it for a tie. He declined multiple times so I piped up and asked if I could get a tie if I drank the rest of it. He said I could so I tried as hard as I could to just drain it. It ended with me coughing my lungs out and looking for something to get the nasty out of my mouth. Nasty.

The final thing about Zone Conference was an answer to my prayers. We were able to attend the temple the end of the first day. It was sooooo good. I had been wanting to go to the temple ever since I found out I would be in the Stake with the temple in it. But lucky me I got sent 2 and a half hours away from it. However one of our trips out to Regina Elder Spell and I snuck over to take a look at it. But yeah I was soooo yoked to go to the temple. 

Back to the subject line of this email. We got snow and lots of it. IT just absolutely dumped on us this last Thursday. We got at least half a foot in a day and it's been snowing off and on since then. It's been interesting driving around with bald tires but we've survived so far :D But there

s a miracle story that goes along wtih this snow. We felt like we should go shovel the snow off of the driveway of a lady who did not like the missionaries too much. She blew up at Elder Spell the last time he tried going over there so we were a little worried. But when we started shoveling her driveway she came out and thanked us a lot for shoveling her driveway. She also offered to have us over for dinner. Which at any time before then and after the missionaries that put the bad taste in her mouth she would've avoided us like the plague. It was amazing. 

That's all I got for now. Love you all and have a great Christmas season