December 29, 2009 Week 20

Me just walking in the cold. See how I'm all bundled up?

Hello everyone,

Well I talked to the fam on Christmas so there's not much to say. But I will tell you all a little about my Christmas since I know that mom forwards this to other people. Oh by the way, I want to thank everyone for all the gifts and cards they sent me. I wish I could personally thank all of you, but time won’t allow it for a missionary. We stay pretty busy. I am very grateful for everyone’s love and I truly hope that you all had a great Christmas and that your New Year will be the best you've ever had.

So on Christmas day we woke up and opened all the presents that everyone sent to me. Man did I get a lot. I thought that as a missionary I would only get two or three presents. I was wrong. I got about the usual amount as when I was home. Everything is great and I love it all. Then we went upstairs and had brunch with the members that we live with. Their whole family was over, and they have a big family. It was a lot of fun. We ate and played games with them. Then we kinda hung out some more and tried to figure out some of the stuff we got, like that metal puzzle thing you sent me Jo and the Rubix cube mom and dad gave to Elder Cashin (which he has played with constantly, he can't put it down). I also tried to play with that finger skateboard you guys gave me. Let’s just say I'm not fit to be a skater or a finger skater, but it’s still fun to dink around with. Later we went and had dinner with a family and it was good, but after that we went over to another member’s house. Here I got to talk to the family and they can tell you all about that. Then we played Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader and ate pie. Yup that’s my Christmas day.

Then the very next day, we went out as usual and got back into the swing of things. It was so nice to relax and talk to everyone. Missionaries need that every so often. I guess that’s why they do it every 6 months.

So not much else happened. We were going to set a baptismal date for someone on Sunday, but they had to cancel. We are going to meet with him this Friday or Sunday so hopefully all goes well there. Oh the Storms came to church on Sunday and I think they had a good time and they felt the spirit, except for the husband because he couldn't hear any of the speakers. He's kinda old and his wife said he is too stubborn to use hearing aids.

Yesterday we had district meeting and the Assistants to the President came. My district leader wanted one of the AP's and I to teach lesson 1. He gave us 5 minutes to prepare. So we prepared and we actually taught a really, really good lesson.

Well I love you all. I just realized that I end my emails like that in almost every email. But it’s true so I'll keep saying it. You should read my Journal haha. I think everyday starts out like this, "So today..." Ah well. Thank you again everyone and have a fun New Years. I have no idea what I'm doing for that. I'll probably be sleeping, how sad.

Love,
Elder Garrick