Merry Christmas!

Well, this'll probably be quite short.

Due to the fact that we Skyped for like a long time. :)

I hope you all have a great time in Puerto Rico or Harry Potter World. Don't get too drunk of Butter Beer...without me!! ;)

Good work on the show Soph. Trust me, I've been given pieces minutes before the performance and have had to improv it. I can't imagine doing that ice skating though!! Nice job!! Sorry you have to work on Christmas/Boxing Day, Mom. So did I. ;) I just have to wait a few months, then I'll get my break. 

This last week was quite a blast though with all the Christmas festivities and what not. Sadly, because of Christmas and New Years, our investigators like to postpone our visits until 2017. So we didn't have a ton of stuff to do. But I'm not bitter. :)

The week really picked up Thursday/Friday. We drove into London Thursday night for Zone Conference on Friday. We stayed the night with some other Elders, which was very fun. Friday we had a great Christmas Zone Conference. I, like usual, had to play the piano and accompany most of the most musical numbers performed there. It was a ton of fun and I got to see a lot of missionaries that I haven't seen in a while. So that was great.

On Friday, we had a Christmas Eve Breakfast with one of our favorite families in the Branch, the Saundersons. We had a traditional Dutch plate called Habbakuk or something (they're like thick crepes). It was great. That day we also went to Doug's house (a less-active member) and sang Christmas songs with him, which was very special and spiritual for all of us. And on Christmas Eve night, we went to Branch President Biggley's house and had a very nice dinner with him and his wife. Needless to say, I was absolutely stuffed by the end of the night.

Christmas was super great. For the first time in a long time (because I either play the piano/organ, or translate into Spanish) I got to sit in the audience for Sacrament Meeting and sing my little heart out. It was actually very nice. Later that day, we went to the Kemp family's house. Skyped you all, had an Incredible Christmas lunch/dinner, and played a fun game were basically you just put whipped cream on this lever and smash it into your face. Pretty great. Later, we went to another family's house and had some more dinner/dessert and had a good time with them all. A pretty typical Christmas as a missionary. I had a great time Skyping you all. It seems like nothing has really changed with any of you (except for some kids' sizes), so keep it that way until I get home. ;) 

Yesterday was Boxing Day, so we didn't have P-Day. We decided to walk through the town and see if people were out buying stuff (because Boxing Day is basically Canada's Black Friday). I don't think that Leamington got the message that you buy stuff on Boxing Day because NO ONE was out doing anything. We walked by all the stores that had huge BOXING DAY SALES and signs on them, and the stores were completely empty. Sad day. Then it started to POUR rain!!! We were about a mile away from our car. So we walked through the huge rain storm and got soaked to the bones. The rainstorm continued for the rest of the day and thick fog came in to to make the driving conditions even more dangerous. But I didn't get in a crash. So take that Mother Nature. The rain melted most all the snow, which I'm fine with because Christmas is over. But I was VERY happy to have snow this last Christmas. I don't like Christmas without snow...at all.

I don't have too much to say, expect this simple truth that Jesus Christ lives. We've celebrated His birth. Now what?? What came after the birth of Jesus was far more important than His birth. And that was His life, what He did. He taught, led, blessed, gave the blind their sight, healed the sick, and raised the dead; He atoned for our sins, pains, and afflictions; He suffered the worst type of death the world has ever known; He rose from the grave after three days so that we could live again. Let's never forget that. Let's never take Him off of our minds and off of our hearts. He lives. I know He does. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week. Happy New Years!!!