New Companion: Elder Long

December 19, 2011
Merry Christmas Jared!

Last week was a filled to the brim with preparations for Christmas, mostly for our family party. Every year I vow to make it different, so I can enjoy this time of year, but it seems to be the same every season. I'm still trying to finish the quilt I am giving, Grandma asked me to make one for her, and Nichole needed help making one too. Marion wants to make one for a friend, and several other friends need help quilting theirs as well.  I've worked more at Spanky's because of all the sick people, everyone wants their hair done for the holidays, and I haven't even started shopping. By the time Tuesday came, I could feel  I was coming down with something. I quit doing all exercise and tried to get a little more rest. I ate lots of oranges and tried to make it go away. I just don't have time to be sick before Christmas. I did pretty well and ended up just getting a mild cold. Yeah! 

The Mott party was pretty crazy! There are so many people. It is just wall to wall bodies. It gets a little claustrophobic with so many people, but we still had a good time. Of course, everyone is asking about you and wondering how you are doing. We got another really nice quilt this year, it's from Mark and Ruth. There were three missionaries there. One was from Washington. He goes home tomorrow. One was from Hong Kong and one was from Slovenia.

Sunday morning, My mom, Mikayla and I all went to Music and the Spoken Word, which was their Christmas special. It was AMAZING! I love their productions. We hurried home so I could sing in Sacrament meeting in a double quartet, a Capella. It was me, Tricia, Laura, Craig, Kris, Kay, Jake and Davie. We sang "Joseph, Dearest, Joseph, Mine".  What a pretty song.

Kalyn did have her surgery. They did another news story on her. She did really well and looks great.  Jeni is in Chicago getting treatment for her cancer. She is really positive about the outcome. Kaylene will get her tonsils out this Wednesday. I sure do work with a bunch of sick people!

This Sunday, we are only having Sacrament Meeting. It's at 11:00. You can call anytime after about 12:30. We'll be home all day. We are so excited to talk to you. If you time it right, you can possibly talk to your grandparents or Nichole. They are all coming down for dinner. Let us know about what time and we will be ready. I'm so excited to talk to you!

Be sure to tell us about your new companion. Where is he from?

Merry Christmas!!

Love, 
Mom



Hey,


My new companion is Elder Long. He's from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. He's a really cool guy. The next six weeks are going to be fun. After we got put together at transfers, Elder Long and I met up with someone he taught in one of his areas. He lives Carmel, the really nice part of Indianapolis. We went to a great pizza place called Bazbeaux Pizza. It was us and about twenty other missionaries, plus one of Elder Long's former companions that came back to Indiana to visit. Elder Bair was there so I got to talk to him about what's going on in Plainfield. It sounds like for the most part, things are going really well there. Anyways, this guy paid for everybody. It was crazy. 

After that, we drove the Spanish Elders' new vehicle back to them. They're getting a truck. The whole way home we listened to Christmas music. It was great. Elder Long likes a lot of the music I do.

We got to teach the Meeks this week. It was great. Almost all of them ended up coming to church too. This Sunday we had the ward choir's Christmas program. They did a fantastic job. 


Well, that's all I can really think to write about. We had a lot of canceled appointments this week, but I guess that's what you can expect the week before Christmas.


Merry Christmas,

Jared