December 28, 2009

Dear Home,


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Of course, I've already wished a Merry Christmas to most of my readers, and Christmas Day has passed anyway, so... It's the thought that counts. =s

But anyway, since you all want to know what I've been up to, my Christmas was great. On Christmas Eve, Elder Grimshaw and I stopped by the Wanners (members in our ward), and they had a gift for each of us. Elder Grimshaw opened his right away (after having been told that he was free to do so), but I opted to wait. I knew we were getting the same thing, though, so the surprise was gone anyway. Oh well.

Later that evening, we went to the Andresons (more members) who fed us turkey dinner and challenged us to a game of ____________(You have to guess. It's similar to the last game that I played in California, but that's probably more of a dead givaway than a hint).

Funny Story: We got there before Brother Anderson did, and I REALLY had to pee, so Elder Grimshaw and I walked back and forth in the hall outside of their apartment for several minutes. After a while though, I /had/ to go. Sister Andreson kindly stepped outside for a moment so Elder Grimshaw and I could go in and use their washroom. On the way out, however, I accidentally left the still-wrapped gift from the Wanners on the counter. Brother Andreson and some more guests soon arrived and we all went inside. Durring dinner, I noticed that I didn't have the Wanners gift anymore... and it somehow ended up underneath the Anderson's Christmas Tree. I decided to leave it there. I had already seen what it was, and I knew the Andresons would like it more than I would. I'm not going to tell the Wanners, though. I have no idea what they would think about all this. Brother Anderson thought it was hilarious when I told him. xD I think it's pretty funny, too.

On Christmas day, we tried to sleep in, but we couldn't. We forgot to turn off the alarm. =/ At about 9:30, every missionary in Saskatoon went to the Stake Center to open our gifts and have a White Elephant Gift Exchange. It went very nicely, and I got a LOT of really nice gifts! I'll have to write Thank You notes pretty soon. ^^ Then we shovelled some snow. (We would've volunteered at the hospital, but every other good person in Saskatoon beat us to it. The hospital already had all the volunteers they could handle.) As it turns out, shovelling snow can be a lot of fun, if you make it competitive. ^^ I won. =D

After snow-shovelling, we went back to the church and played board games. I lost Star Wars RISK, big time! The Empire took over the galaxy, but life goes on.

It was great to call home. ^^ It was SO nice to talk to my brothers and sisters again, as well and my Hinds neice and nephew, and, of course, my mom. I probably spent WAY too much time on the phone. I heard of an elder who took that long on the phone for his call home last year, and he lost his Emailling privilege for THREE WEEKS! But that was under a diferent, stricter Mission President. President Paulson probably won't be quite so harsh. Still, talking for two hours when we're only supposed to talk for 40 minutes is not a good thing. We'll do better next time.

The Watsons fed us Christmas Dinner. Turkey again. There's nothing /wrong/ with Turkey, but we've gotten the 'traditional' meal SO many times! I am really grateful for the Watson's kindness, and I made sure they knew that, but... I'm glad we weren't offered the leftovers.

The giant inflatable thing that I mentioned durring our phone call will have to wait to be identified next week. I'm out of time. Keep guessing and let me know what you think it was, and I'll tell you the answer next week.

I love you all, and I wish you a happy new year!

Your festive missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts