Merry Christmas!

'Ello family!

 

There are officially 5 days until Christmas now, which means you can count that number of days on one hand, and that gets me excited! I'm so excited to talk to you all this Saturday! Sister Bringhurst and I may or may not have a countdown going...I am really looking forward to Christmas itself though. On Christmas Eve we have a dinner up at Kirtland and then we spend the night there and have a brunch on Christmas morning before Sister Bringhurst and I rush home and attempt to make the one hour trip back to Ravenna in 10 minutes. Just kidding. We aren't allowed to go more than 5 over the speed limit. (Literally. We have a machine called Tiwi in our car that says "speeding violation" in a creepy voice and sends a notification to Salt Lake if we try to speed. Tiwi is not our friend.) But I digress. The point is I'm very excited for Christmas. It's definitely going to be very different (already has been) but it's Christmas nonetheless.

 

To celebrate Christmas as a mission we finally got to go to Kirtland for the mission conference at the Kirtland Temple last Tuesday. The snow was SO bad on Tuesday morning in Ravenna that we didn't think we would get to go. In fact, the members that we live with were SO upset that we went anyway, she even called President Sorensen and got us permission to not go, but we just couldn't miss out. So the six sisters serving in Youngstown Zone all drove together in the Zone Leaders' truck...it was pretty sweet haha. But we made it safely and it was definitely worth it. It was an awesome experience. We got to hear from our leaders, take the sacrament in the temple (had to get permission from the apostles to do that!), and then we broke off into our zones and bore testimonies. It was a tender, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Then we headed over to the stake center, had lunch, took a mission picture, and had a couple of more speakers. THEN they brought out the letters. Oh boy did they set us up for that one. Here we all are, feeling the spirit, missing home, thinking about Christmas, and then they give us letters from our families while they softly play Christmas music in the background. It was a very sweet experience. Although truth be told, I'm glad I'll only have one Christmas away from home. Two would be a bit much for me.

 

So Dylan was baptized on Saturday! That was exciting, to say the least. It was definitely one of the most bizarre baptisms of all time, I can guarantee that! It's too good of a story to tell through email, so I'll be sure to tell you all about it on Saturday when we talk. Just for a teaser, let's say that the actual baptism was by far the longest portion of the program. He almost drowned when he was younger and so he's scared of water. There was probably about 3 or 4 minutes between the time the prayer was said and when he was actually baptized hahaha. ohh boy. Definitely going to have to tell you that whole experience. 

 

I had my fortune told this week, so I thought I'd let you know. Last Sunday, Sister Bringhurst and I were walking into sacrament meeting when the man who hands out the programs (Brother Eiseman) looked at Sister Bringhurst and said "You have a boyfriend back home, don't you?" When she said that she didn't, he asked to see her palm, and said that he is "really awesome" at reading people's palms but that he usually doesn't because he doesn't want to show off. But he read Sister Bringhurst's palm and said that there was a boy back home who is madly in love with her. "No, seriously, I can see it in your eyes". haha. Then he asked to read my palm as well. "Sister Maughan, you are going to go back to school" (oohhh...never would have thought that one!) "and I can see that you are going to get married within two years from today. no no no no NOOO. It will be within one year from today!"  oh boy! get ready family! That was December 12, so that means that I will meet, fall in love, and get married all within 4 days of being home. And Bro. Eiseman said that I could take that fortune to the bank, so I'm feeling pretty confident about it all. :)

 

Anyway, I love you all so much! I'm bursting with excitement to talk to you on Saturday. Have a very Merry Christmas! love you!

Sister Maughan