The week before Thanksgiving, Preston flew in to town on Thursday evening. Ethan and Camee were going to drive over on Saturday, and Andrea and Mike and their family were going to drive on Tuesday. On Friday we were in interviews and got a call from them saying Andrea was going to leave with her kids on Saturday and drive over, following Ethan and Camee because of the big storm that was going to hit right before Thanksgiving. Mike had to work, so they just got him a one way ticket to fly after work on Tuesday. I was so glad they did, Tuesday ended up very stormy, and also, we got to have them for a few more days than we had planned on so it was a win win. They got here on Saturday and the first thing the kids wanted to do was to jump in the hot tub. They actually were crazy enough to hop in the swimming pool that wasn't heated up yet, but they loved it.
We were happy they got here early so they could come to a baptism with us. Our friend Ryan got baptized. He is a perfect example of how it takes many people to help someone on the covenant path. He went through a very large number of missionaries, and many, many of his YSA friends were instrumental in his conversion. It was a wonderful baptism and we were so happy for him.
On Sunday we all headed down to Stockton for a Stake Conference and later that night we had our Come and See Missionary Devotional. Libby was in heaven with all of the cute sister missionaries. Sister Christensen was so nice to her. We left and had to run back in because she wanted to get a picture with her. She had stars in her eyes and she told her mom that she 'met a missionary'. These missionaries are like celebrities in kid's eyes, and I can't think of any better group of people for kids to idolize.
We took a trip up to Apple Hill before the weather turned cold and rainy. It was a brisk, but beautiful day.
Dog Piling Uncle Preston
Vi Vi enjoying her yogurt
We had our four week new missionary meeting on Tuesday and we served these fun and delicious Thanksgiving Cookies Elder Swainston's parents sent to us. These missionary parents are so thoughtful, it makes me wish I had been a more thoughtful missionary parent.
We spent some time Wednesday cooking and decided we were going to jump on a bandwagon I know a lot of people are on, and have pie night the night before Thanksgiving. We are always so full Thanksgiving night that pie isn't much of a treat, so we had it the night before.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, we are so grateful for our abundant blessings. I just love that we have a whole day set aside to just be grateful and count our blessings. One thing I was thankful for were these darling place cards James and Libby made. They were the perfect finishing touch to our Thanksgiving table.
Since Thanksgiving was so late this year, as soon as it was cleaned up, we got into Christmas mode. Christmas jammies and a Christmas movie finished off a wonderful day.
Friday morning we had a funny thing happen. We wanted to go out to breakfast to a place Ethan and Camee had heard about. Ethan checked and said it served brunch until 3 and so we worked out, and had a relaxing morning before heading downtown. About halfway there he looked and he had read it wrong, they only served brunch until 3 on Saturday and Sunday. No worries, we always have our go to 'Bacon and Butter' which was in the same area. We had two cars and Mike and Andrea were following us so we let them know of the change. Before we got there we decided we better check to make sure they were open. Nope. Closed the day after Thanksgiving. Plan C was quickly settled on and we found a place called Mimosa House in East Sacramento. We got there and found it was a 45 minute wait. The funny thing about that is we have a Mimosa House in the Town Center 5 minutes from our house. We decided to head back to El Dorado Hills rather than wait another 45 minutes. We walked right in and had breakfast 5 minutes from our house and it only took us 70 minutes of driving to get there. Ha ha.
And they had cool toys for the kids to play with before the food came. The best part of the day for the kids was a trip to Nibblers. Our new popcorn and candy store in the Town Center.
The kids definitely 'found their happy'.
We also made Christmas cookies and went back downtown to Old Sac. They have a Christmas light show that I have wanted to go to since we got here but we have never been able to make it. I thought the kids would love it. Downtown was so crowded and parking was horrible and the kids all fell asleep in the car, so Mike and Scott dropped us off and Ethan, Camee, Preston, Andrea and I went to the light show. It was really cool. Too bad the kids and the dads missed it. It was a fitting end to the day that started with our breakfast fiasco that morning. We had some good laughs about our day.
Fake Snow is the only kind of snow we have in Sacramento
There was real snow, however, falling at Donner Pass and so we were watching the weather very closely to see when it was best for them to drive home. Saturday morning looked like the best time, so they all packed up early and were off. It was so fun to have so many of our family members here for a few days. We missed our family who weren't here with us, but were very grateful for those who were.
During Thanksgiving week we were also blessed to have a few visits from former missionaries. We got to see...
Elder Barton and his cute parents
Elder Miller came with his cute parents as well
Sister Cha, and Sister (Beck) Bingham and her husband, who also served here before we came, Elder Bingham
Sister Clark was back in town and happened to come the night of The Silva Valley Ward Christmas party. She happened to serve in our ward, so she and her darling sister came with us to the ward party. Win/win for all of us.
We had Zone Conferences the week after Thanksgiving. Scott and I taught together about the New Missionary handbook that has just been released. It is much more principle based, which we have tried to be in our mission. It is going to be awesome and help missionaries not only now, but as they go home, having learned to make decisions based not only on rules, but based on their love and desire to be disciples of Jesus Christ that we hope they gain while they are here serving. I was able to teach on the Christlike attribute of Virtue. We all learned that virtue is much more than moral cleanliness. Virtue is being all in the gospel of Jesus Christ, with all of our heart and soul. The assistants had an amazing training on hard work. Titled 'Be R.A.W' . Which stands for Repent, Apply, Work. Scott finished off with a training he titled 'Mind the Gap' and talked about what we do when our reality doesn't meet our expectations and how to bring them closer together without lowering our expectations. We also did a fun project that we are working on with our friend Patrick. I can't wait to share it when it is finished. Let's just say it's going to be our way of 'lighting the world' this Christmas.
Day 1: December 3, 2019, Wissemann Building. Sacramento, Elk Grove, Cordova and East Sac Zones
Sister's Picture
Elder's Picture
Sacramento Zone
Cordova Zone
East Sacramento Zone
Elk Grove Zone
I had so many chapsticks to give away, we celebrated anyone who had a birthday between zone conferences, and before they came into the mission. I still have left over chapstick to last quite a long time. I definitely over ordered.
I love this picture, we rarely get one of Patrick Twomey on this side of the camera
Day 2: December 4, 2019, Temple Hill Chapel. El Dorado, Folsom, Carmichael and North Sacramento Zones
We had a neat miracle this day. We needed to go outside at 11:30 for our special project but when we woke up it was pouring rain. We sent a message out to all of the missionaries to pray that we would have a break in the weather at 11:30 and we did! It was a little misty, and started raining as soon as we were done, but the miracle was, that we were able to do what we needed and that Heavenly Father answered our prayers to have the rain stop at 11:30. When we pray specifically God can answer our specific prayers. God is so good!
Sister MacQueen and Sister Prettyman had birthdays this very day!
My Silva Valley Ward Missionaries
Day 3: December 5, 2019, Brookside Building. Lodi, Stockton and Manteca Zones
Lodi Zone
Stockton Zone
Manteca Zone
In addition to all of this...
Sister Christensen and Sister Shu made us a delicious homemade pizza
We had to snap a picture of President, Elder Burrows and Elder Capron in their matching glasses
We spent last Saturday night in the ER with poor Sister Graham who had an unfortunate bike accident on a rainy evening and dislocated her elbow, and had a small bone chip. She was in so much pain, but was such a trooper, smiling the whole time and being so kind to all the workers. She was the perfect example of a disciple of Christ.
We got to attend a Zone P Day with the Sacramento Zone where we played some games and had a delicious breakfast cooked by Elder Dusbabek, Elder Lybbert, Elder Denton and Elder Lowenthal.
We love this cute picture of Hermana Quesenberry and Hermana Johnson in front of an R.C. Willey truck. I stole it off of Hermana Johnson's mom's facebook, but it was just too good not to.
We did our last transfer board with Elder Thacker. He has served as our assistant for the past 6 months and will be going back out into the field for his last two transfers. He has been remarkable and has influenced us in so many ways, but his impact on younger missionaries in this mission can not be measured. We will miss our more constant interaction with him, but are excited to see what he will do in his new area. We love him dearly.
At the same time, we are so excited to welcome and work with Elder Barr as our newest assistant, he will be serving with Elder Brown. We love Elder Barr and know he will be a great example and help to all of our missionaries. And an added bonus is being able to hear his Australian accent more often.
And finally, we were so happy to welcome our newest Senior Missionary couple, Elder and Hermana Phelps to our mission. We told them we prayed them here. We are so thrilled to have a Spanish Speaking Senior Couple. They will be serving with the missionaries and members in Stockton. We haven't had a senior couple down there and the missionaries and the members are going to love them.
We continue to work as hard and as smart as we can. We continue to love and to be inspired by our missionaries. We continue to strive to be more consecrated disciples of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And we continue to be grateful every day for this season of service.
