Hope that the holidays are amazing for all of you! They are definitely amazing here in Calgary. So much has happened I don't even know where to start. Christmas on the mission is definitely a completely different experience compared to back home; I got excited about things that I never would have before, ate Christmas dinner at a non-members house, and hit 6 months a couple days ago. Here are some things that made my first Christmas in the field amazing!!
Making 600+ cookies
So uh, for Light the World our district came together (all elders) and decided we were going to make chocolate chip cookies for investigators and members! We walked into Walmart thinking we owned the place and that we were going to make some amazing cookies. First, we grab 3 large bags of brown sugar. Then we figure out that we now have enough brown sugar to 12x the recipe. So we grabbed enough of everything else to 12x the recipe. I thought $90 was a little much for chocolate chip cookies... Get back to the chapel and spend the rest of our day making 250 (eatable) cookies, and freezing the rest of the dough for another time. We had 3 huge popcorn bowls of cookie dough to freeze!
Branch Christmas party
Our party had a really good turnout! A lot of investigators present and a lot of members there to meet them and friendship them. We spent all friday morning and saturday afternoon setting up the decorations, it was my only chance to decorate a Christmas tree this year! Elder Ruan sang Hallelujah to our branch youth putting on a nativity, I hung a pinata over group of kids swinging golf clubs, and so many more fun times.
The Calgary Nativity
Missionaries in Calgary get assigned a night to go volunteer at the nativity. An outdoor, free showing of the nativity for all of Calgary to come see. We got assigned to go help Sunday night! I thought we would go and just park cars or greet people, no, I got there and they sent me to the cast trailer to get me suited up in Wise men clothes! (pic attached) I Was feeling pretty wise until they started putting makeup on me.. That has to be against the white handbook. Anyways, it was fun to greet and take pictures with a bunch of different people that night!
Christmas Eve
Had lunch with an investigator. Just went to a nice little restaurant in Chinatown near our apartment. We had planned on being there at 1 but we didn't all get there until about 2... Then we sat and talked and ate until 3:30, so much food. I lost track of time and then realized that we had Christmas eve dinner with a member at 5. Long story short I ate more food for those two meals than I ate the entire week before Christmas.
Christmas Day
Had a nice breakfast at one of my favorite members house! The Salmons. We had pancakes and sausage and everything else that you would eat with that sort of breakfast food. My favorite. Then I got to call my family and see how they were doing! Seems like they all had an amazing Christmas. Definitely my favorite part of the day, thanks to technology, I felt like I was with them opening presents!
Lastly, We got invited to a non-members house for Christmas dinner! There was a bunch of different people there, all coming together to celebrate together! We had some more amazing food and just overall good times. To finish off the amazing Christmas day we had a hilarious white elephant gift exchange. I walked away with a bottle of French Longueville and some oreos. Elder Choi got some tea and a really cool notebook!!
The holidays are such an amazing time to reflect on the Savior and His birth! I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice. I hope all of you take time to remember the true meaning of CHRISTmas. Love you all!!
Ji
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