December 27

Hey Family and Friends!!! Merry Christmas!! Did you all have a great day?? I sure did!! It was such a great Christmas!! Well we also had a very eventful week leading up to Christmas so I will tell you all about it!! Well we will start on Tuesday before Christmas...it was our p-day because it was transfers! After we did our personal study, we went to the mission office to pick up Sister Hayes. She was our companion for a day!! Sister Stockwell went home so she was companionless...it was lots of fun to have her with us. Both Sister Rice and I have served with her so it was a blast! We just did all of our normal p-day stuff and we had fun. It was also nice to have another sister at p-day! When p-day was all over, we had supper with the Reil family and that was an event. They have 5 kids and then there were 5 missionaries...because the mandarin elders have been eating with us all month...so there were a lot of us! Then we went to ESL. It was lots of fun. There were lots of Christmas treats and we played some fun games to help the students learn some Christmas carols! It was a great day. Wednesday was transfers and we got to go because we had Sister Hayes with us. Her companion is now Sister Sagers, but she was coming up from Lethbridge so she didn't get here until about 4...so we had Sister Hayes for extra long. So when we got back to our area, we studied and then had a lesson with Tammy. Then it was time to take Sister Hayes back to transfers. Then we had supper with the Higham's. They are so great! Then we had a really fun night! The Stanford's invited us to go to the Cannery with them. I have lived in Utah all of my life and have never been to a Cannery. It was so fun!! We canned lots of things and then we cleaned everything up! It was also fun because the service missionaries that were working there, are the Hornberger's. They are Ryan's...the stantion man from the temple....parents. He is still doing great! Completely active and still dating the girl he was at the temple with! It is so great to hear good news like that! Thursday was our weekly planning day, and it was fun. Since our investigators are out of town, we didn't have much to plan for. But then we had to take a trip to the mission office because Sister Hayes left some important things at our apartment so we mission mailed them to her. Then we had supper with the Young's. They are a really nice older couple and they also invited the Mark family over for supper too. Then we went to the Nativity with Sister Thomas and her daughter Laura!! It was lots of fun! We picked the perfect night to go because it was the last semi warm day...and there was nobody there so we were basically able to walk right into it and didn't have to stand in line. It was great! We had lots of fun with them. After that night we were in -30C weather and it has been freezing cold!! Friday we needed to gather a few things so we could make some presents for the people we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas with. After we had lunch, we helped Sister Hobbs for a little bit. She is doing well and we cleaned her house all up so it would be good and clean for Christmas. Then we had a lesson with Sandra. She is doing better and better every week. She is definitely making progress!! That is the best part! To watch people progress! Then we had supper with the Fleck's. Their kids were cute and really excited for Christmas! When we were done there, we went to the Ford's to help them put up some Christmas decorations for the holiday season. We were also grateful that we survived the end of the world! Saturday we had breakfast with the Ivany's and then we went to Jennie's to do some last minute Christmas preparations for her! Then we met the Elders at the church so we could give them their Christmas presents. My favorite was Elder Ferrell's face when he kept pulling out the chain of his mission!!! It was priceless! Then we had the Richmond ward Christmas party! We were on crowd control with Santa....he even let us sit on his lap! Sunday was a great Christmas church service with all the great music. Then after church, we had supper with the Hyde's. They let us come over at the last minute because our original dinner appt canceled at church. So that was really nice of them. When we were done there, we went to the Ford's and had a quick little lesson with them. Then it was finally Christmas Eve!!! We had a great day! First we had our DDM and then went to lunch with the Elders...we also brought Laura along with us! It was lots of fun. Then our Christmas celebrations started! We went to the Ford's and we played a bunch of games with them. It was lots of fun. Then a little bit later, we went to their big family gathering. There was lots of yummy food. Then we had to be in by 6:00 so our entire zone got together and just played games. We really only have UNO...but that got old after awhile, so we figured out how to play Scum with UNO cards. That was lots more fun. Then it was time for us to turn into pumpkins...so when we got home, we cleaned up our apt so it would be clean for Christmas and then we watched 'Mr. Kruger's Christmas' and went to bed. We decided to sleep on our couches out by our Chrismas tree. Then comes CHRISTMAS!!!! It was such a great day!! We woke up at our usual time and opened all our presents. It was lots of fun. Then we got ready to go for the day. We started our Christmas morning with the Gossling family. They have the missionaries over every year and their children aren't allowed to come out of their rooms until the missionaries get there. It was fun to watch them all open their presents. When they got to come down we all opened our stockings....because Santa found us there too!! Then we had a delicious southern Christmas breakfast. It sure was yummy. Then we all sang some Christmas carols together. Then it was the time I had been waiting for!!! We got to SKYPE!! It was so much better than I even imagined it would be! It was so great to see everyone and talk to you all!! It was just AMAZING and the best Christmas present ever! Then we had lunch with the Istvanffy family. We spent a few hours there and while we were there, we played the deluxe edition of Settlers of Catan. It was pretty cool because everything on the board and all the pieces were all 3-D...not to brag or anything, but I won. Then we ran to the Ford's so we could skype again for a few minutes with the rest of the family. Then we had supper with Sister Tagudar. We had a Filipino dinner. It was interesting...but pretty good. Then on our way home, we stopped by to see Sister Holloran. She is a single lady and asked us to stop by. She is so sweet and it was good to spend a little time with her. Needless to say Christmas was such a great, but exhausting day!!! Then Wednesday we had p-day. It was another tender mercy that it was on Boxing Day...as close as I can get to Black Friday...but it just isn't the same since we can't leave our apt until 10...but we were brave and went to Chinook Mall. It is one of the busiest malls in Canada...it took us over 30 min just to find a parking spot. We didn't buy anyhing because things are still cheaper in the states...and I don't want to pack it all home. Then we just went to the church and played games. We figured out how to play Nertz with UNO cards too...it was a little bit confusing, but it worked. It is amazing what you can do with a deck of UNO cards. Then we had supper with the Salleh family. When we were done there, we decided to deliver some of the LA treats for the ward. IT WAS FREEZING COLD!!! But we somehow made it through the end of the night! I hope you all had a great Christmas!! It is such a wonderful time of the year to celebrate the birth of our Saviour!! I am so grateful for all He has done for me! I hope you all have a great week!! I love and miss you all!! Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant 1- The Nativity 2- The Elders and the Christmas presents 3- Christmas Eve 4- Christmas at the Gosslings 1- Our Christmas stockings 2- Our fun crowns from our Christmas crackers 3- Fun at the Cannery 4- More fun at the Cannery...don't we look attractive...