Christmas Miracles! And Transfers, Ack!

Hey everyone! I decided to put this at the top because it's important. :)  (Also, I know my emails are always long, but this one might just take the cake!)

I'd like to ask you all to pray for a new family that we met a couple members of this week. They are really struggling financially, and don't have much food or anything. Christmas is a wonderful time of year, but it's also hard for so many people, especially if they don't have much. Please keep this family in your prayers. Bless that the parent will be able to get a job and that the kids will be able to have food, clothes, and adequate shelter, especially in this weather. 

Thank you all so much! Merry Christmas!

Okay, now the summary.

1- Gatorball and chair soccer! (Pretty sure they were made by missionaries, for missionaries. XD)

2- Detour to a Detox facility. :l  Second scariest day of my life on the mission!

3- Mustard Seed! I finished my drawings for my friends! :D

4- Cookie drop-offs

5- District Council

6- Mustard Seed again! 

7- Camping out at the church

8- More cookies! 

9- Cold Christmas morning

10- First miracle!

11- Calling my family! :D

12- Absolutely darling movie that we watched with the mission!

13- Dropping off cookies again!

14- Mind-blowing miracle

15- Dinner with the Fortins

16- Crazy Transfer News!

1- We finally got permission to play P-Day sports inside! Not just, like, hanging out at a mall, but in the gym of a church building! :D  It was actually really fun! First, we played Gatorball. Basically, soccer mixed with ultimate Frisbee.

1- There were two teams. My team had one more player, but the other team was much more athletic, so I'm not sure it was a very fair match-up. XD  We kicked a soccer ball around the big gym, and at first we tried to score in the basketball hoops. That was really tricky, though. We could kick the ball, but we could only use our hands if someone kicked the ball off yhe ground to us. I think each team scored once before we decided to play Gatorball the way it was originally intended: with chairs. 

1- We set up folding church chairs at opposite sides of the gym. The goal was to hit the chairs with the soccer ball. At first, I tried to run with everyone and score, but I felt like I was just getting in the way. XD  I also nearly got decapitated a couple of times when the Elders kicked the soccer balls across the length of the entire gym! So eventually, I found my way to the chair that my team was supposed to protect. I figured since my natural instinct was to keep the ball away from me anyway, I'd be able to be a goalie. 

1- Surprisingly, I did decent! I'd kick the ball away, although it never went where I aimed. I also got hit in the back, legs, and arms a few times when I was crouching over the chair to defend it. XD  I blocked the ball with my hands a few times and that was a mistake. Elder Pitts kicks hard! Once he kicked from about halfway across the gym. I help up a hand to block the ball and it struck my palm. The shock jarred through my arm and up to my shoulder. My hand immediately turned beet-red and tingked for a few minutes. Then it stung. XD  But my team cheered me on and said I was good at protecting the goal! 

1- Chair soccer was fun! We set up chairs around the gym and each of us defended our own chair. If the soccer ball hit our chair, we were out and had to sit down. When we sat, however, we could grab the ball if it came past us. If we threw it and hit someone else's chair, they were out and we were back in! There were many truces, allies, and betrayals. I got betrayed many times--mostly because I mistakenly counted almost everyone as my ally.

1- Elder Pitts and Sister Smith were terrifying! They had crazy soccer skills and very fancy footwork! When they got the ball, they would slowly approach someone who wasn't out yet. They reminded me of hunting big cats closing in on cornered prey. They knew their victims couldn't escape. Almost every time they got the ball, they would get someone out. They both destroyed me at different times. XD

1- The most fun was when we played revenge chair soccer! That meant that if the person who got me out also got out, I was back in! Once again, there were short-lived trucks and brutal betrayals! Elder Russel kicked the ball across the gym. It bounced off the wall behind me and hit the backside of my chair. XD  Even though he didn’t intend to get me out, everyone insisted that it counted. I spent a lot of that round sitting sitting down. Elder Robinson got bold and left his chair a lot. He dashed forward and got quite a few people out. It basically went from a free-for-all to everyone I the district wanting to get Elder Robinson out. XD

1- Elder Robinson once kicked the ball so hard his shoe went flying! He scrambled to put it back on while Elder Russel and a couple others all charged for his chair. He managed to get his shoe back on, then blocked them all and got Elder Miller out! I got back in when Elder Robinson got Elder Russel out, then Sister Smith totally betrayed me, slipped under my defenses, and got me out. It was Sister Smith and Elder Robinson for a while.

1- Every time someone on a chair got the ball, we would toss it to Elder Pitts because he was close to Elder Robinson. He would throw the ball and try to get Elder Robinson out. Once, Elder Robinson kicked the ball through the legs of Sister Smith's chair, but it didn’t touch the chair! XD  Then, he finally got her out, so I was back in!

1- I was in the middle of thanking him when he charged at me. I realized very quickly that he and I were the last players. I had enough time to think, 'Shooting stars!' before he was right on top of me. Somehow, I defended my chair. The ball spun away from us and bounced off the wall, and I blocked it with my legs. It bounced into a corner. I dashed after it an kicked it away from Elder Robinson. He was too far away from his chair, so I had a clear shot. For once in my life, the ba went where I aimed when I kicked it, and I nailed his chair. 

1- I couldn't believe I'd won! At least three Sisters tried to tackle me. XD  They were all laughing and cheering. The Elders all said something to the effect of 'Good game', then we took a much-needed break. It was really fun and crazy, so I hope we can do it again next time!

2- For those of you who don't know what a detox facility is, it's basically a place where addicts try to recover. From my understanding, it's also where people go after overdosing on certain substances, or if they have significant health problems from said substances. So... not a place I would ever like to find myself in. God had other plans on Tuesday!

2- We stopped by the house of the old lady who had us remove snow with a broom to see if she needed more help. She was grateful that we checked up on her, but her daughter had come and shoveled the day before, so she was good. We had some time to kill, so we decided to drop off a Bible to someone who had requested one. Another referral from an Elder. -_-  I'm starting to dread getting Facebook notifications beginning with, "Hi Sister Howard and Sister Marsmaker! Are you able to help out my friend that lives close to you?" The Elders keep giving us sketchy referrals!

2- The guy wanted a Bible, and he was in a detox facility. It was close by, and we had a Bible, so we thought, Why not?  We drove to the facility--which was right on the border of our geographic boundary. We read Google Maps wrong and accidentally left our area for a little bit. We drove into Kingsway and kept trying to turn left to get back into Londonderry, but I swear the adversary was laughing at us! We got stuck waiting for a train, then had to drive almost a mile before we could make a left turn! Every road had 'no left turn' signs, and the one that we could have turned onto was closed for construction. -_-  But, we eventually did get back into our area!

2- We drove to the detox center and tried to find a spot to park. A lot of roads have no parking signs because of the snow. We found a spot on the side of the detox place, but there was a mini tent-city and a couple people, so we drove a little farther. The two of us said fervent prayers, grabbed the Bible, and got out. The ground was covered in snow, cigarettes, old newspapers and bus passes, pigeon feathers, crushed cans, and other detritus.

2- We walked around the detox center, but all the doors we tried were locked. They had signs pointing to other doors that were also locked. There were also a lot of people staggering around. Most of them were smoking or drinking. The air was thick with the reek of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. A few people were standing in the empty lot and gibbering to themselves. Some were walking around aimlessly. A few were also trying to get into the detox center, but with no more luck than we had. The rest huddled together, sharing cigarettes and lighting trash on fire.

2- Sister Marsmaker and I were getting pretty spooked, especially when a couple people kind of approached us. They didn’t get close, but they followed about twenty feet behind us. We walked around part of the detox center and past the tarps and tents. There were sleeping bags, shopping carts, and signs strewn about. It made me so sad to see people living like that... :(  There was a guy in one of the tents shouting nonsense. I was just hoping he wouldn't notice us.

2- We hopped back in the car to warm up and pray again. We were going to try an immigration facility that was right next to the detox center, but the security guy that we were about to talk to headed inside. -_-  The doors to that place were also locked. So... we eventually decided to try the detox facility again. We found a button to call on the gate, so we pushed it. We told the workers that we were delivering a Bible to someone. They came out and took the Bible, then wished us farewell. I was glad we didn't have to go inside to drop off the Bible!

2- We tried to drive out of there as fast as we could. Turns out, the detox center was located smack-dab in the middle of the Chinatown we saw last week! The place I never wanted to go to! XD  The Lord has a sense of humor! We were trying to get out of there, but dozens of people were just milling in the road. Driving was slow and scary. People would cross the street, then abruptly whip around and go the other way. I saw so many of them almost get hit! A few people would yell and make odd gestures to us as we drove by. (Reminded me of the sky-shouters that we would drive past on the road to Disneyland!) Finally, after a few red lights and impaired people stumbling around our car, we were back to less-populated roads.

3- The rest of Tuesday was fantastic! We went to the Mustard Seed. I finished the drawings that I made for my friends there, and I was able to give them out. :)  The other volunteers gushed over them and thanked me profusely. They loved all the little details I put in. I was kind of bashfully proud. I loved drawing the animals for my friends and trying to infuse bits of their personalities into the drawings. The more they looked at them, the more little things they would notice. It's been a while since someone has picked out hidden details in my drawings, and I was so happy that they liked them! Then they made me melt and said they were going to frame them. *embarrassed artist sounds*

3- We made beef bolognese at the Mustard Seed that day. Lots of pasta with a scoop of spicy, meaty sauce and carrots. We got to take home leftovers for dinner and my tongue spontaneously combuated because it was so spicy! XD  I did eat it, though. :)

4- Tuesday night (Tuesday was a very long, eventful day) we dropped off cookies to people! We missed Christiana and another friend, but we managed to give some to the Spitzer family. :)  When we were walking back to the car after knocking on a house and getting no answer, we met a guy on the street. He seemed pretty friendly, and I had a thought to give him the cookies, but I was too shy. When we got back to the car, Sister Marsmaker was like, "Do you think we should give the guy some cookies?"  I admitted that I'd had the same thought, so we jumped back out and gave him a plate of cookies. :)  It made me feel really happy to see him get excited about the cookies.

4- We dropped off cookies to Tatiana and Ildar, two Russian members. Ildar looks and sounds intimidating--because of his very thick accent and bass voice--but he's a big sweetheart. He was telling us all about people in the Ward who were related to Joseph Smith and other early church members. Also, Tatiana got endowed last week, which we're super excited about! We'd been trying to help her set up a time, but the language barrier was a little difficult. We're so happy for her!

4- We also visited the Masseys, who are next-door neighbors to Tatiana and Ildar. Sister Massey told us about the family that I mentioned above. She wants us to help in any way that we can. I know that prayer is powerful, and I have faith that God is aware of that family and wants us to help them too.

5- District Council on Wednesday was great! We practiced teaching the Plan of Salvation simply. Elder Pitts split us into pairs. This time, he joined the pairing and had me walk around and listen to everyone. It was interesting... roleplay-teaching with other missionaries is stressful, bit it was also stressful to pace around and listen to everyone else. I wrote down a few good things that everyone did when they taught, then we gathered up at the end and I read my list.

5- It was funny to listen to! One missionary was teaching and the other was pretending to be an 8-year-old. Elder Russel was like, "Oh, is God like Santa because he gives us gifts?" (He was the '8-year-old'). His partner, Elder Robinson said, "God is like Santa but way better!" XD   It's actually a good teaching strategy to build off of common beliefs like that.

5- Another funny thing I heard was Elder Pitts explaining the Fall of Adam simply. He told Sister Marsmaker (the pretend 8-year-old) that Adam and Eve got sent to time-out because they disobeyed God. XD   What a long time-out!

6- The Mustard Seed was fun on Thursday. We helped a lot with packaging and storing the meals. For the past couple months, the Mustard Seed has been working doubletime so that everyone can get a Christmas break! They're closed for the next week. We made a ton of meals, so we were helping to store them. Also, I realized close to the end that it might be my last time at the Mustard Seed if I get transferred... I'm hoping I get to stay, but I don't know. (I'm writing this before transfer news, haha...)

7- Welp, our wifi neighbors moved, so the wifi cut out. :(  We're going to be hanging out at the church a lot more, like I did during my first transfer. We decided not to go wifi tracting (asking people in the apartment for free wifi, haha) for a few reasons. But, the church building has wifi! We did weekly planning and basically spent the day at the church. My phone almost died, so I had to use the emergency charger from the car! We also got KFC and it was really tasty!

8- We're making more cookies to drop off to people! We hope to deliver them on Christmas. (I'm writing this part on Christmas Eve to save time) Sister Marsmaker is really good at making cookies! Since I'm a bit of a klutz in the kitchen, I'm mostly just putting the cookie dough on the trays and sticking them in the oven. XD 

9- Christmas morning was far below freezing. I heard a rumor that it was the coldest Christmas day in Edmonton recorded history in 140 years! :0   Here's a tip: Don't tell people you don't like cold weather while filling out mission papers, or else the Lord might be like, "Hmmm... how can I test this young person's patience and help them gain an appreciation for all forms of weather?"  XD  

9- We're still waiting to hear if it was the coldest Christmas. Not the coldest winter ever, but the coldest December 25th. We don't know what the temperature was 140 years ago and we can't look it up, so I guess we'll have to get all our info about it secondhand. XD   I know that it was about -28 Celcius, so -18.4 Fahrenheit.  OOF. That's cold!

9- Edmonton has made me rethink my definition of cold. The other day it was just below freezing--only maybe -6 Celcius. I was fine with just a sweater, a jacket, leggings, and my ear warmers. And a scarf, of course. I found myself thinking, This isn’t so bad, which is weird because I'm not a cold weather person. But when it gets down to more than -20 Celcius, the air hurts my face and touching any metal is like touching liquid nitrogen! 

10- After studies and things on Christmas morning, we decided to drop off cookies to our wonderful friend Christiana! We went to her apartment, then texted and called her. After a few minutes, we tried to buzz her. Nothing was working and she wasn’t responding. We could feel time slipping away, and we were beginning to grow discouraged. Just when we were about to leave, I got the feeling to just try the inner apartment door. Turns out, it wasn't locked properly! XD  We went in, found Christiana's door, and totally surprised her! She appreciated the cookies, but she said she appreciated our visit even more.

11- We went to the church! We brought a ton of stuff. Supplies to make sandwiches, some snacks, popcorn, blankets, and the stocking and presents we got from family. :)  We got to call our families. Paden was able to join the call, and that made my Christmas! I've only been able to talk to him twice since coming on my mission. He's just so busy in Brazil! 

11- While I talked with my family, I opened presents. My parents got me a couple sweaters, some nice wool socks, and heated gloves! I'm dying to try them! >:D   It was so fun to be able to see and hear the Christmas chaos going on back home! Wrapping paper was strewn about, my siblings were running around, the dogs were confused, and the cats were nowhere to be seen. My dad had a ribbon scarf and accidentally chosen himself when he stepped on it. XD  I also got to see my siblings open a couple fun presents! 

11- I wish I could have sent things home, but I'm a procrastinator! By the time I considered making a Christmas package, it would have been too late to send it. Also, postage from Canada to the States is expensive! And I didn't find things for everyone in the family yet... I might send a package home next year, but that's a bug might! XD

11- Anyway, it was amazing to be able to talk to my family. I'm immeasurably grateful that our Savior Jesus Christ was born, and that we were able to gather together and celebrate that. I've had some people tell me, "He wasn't really born on December 25th!"  Honestly, I don't care. The day doesn't matter. What matters most is that many years ago, our Heavenly Father gave us the most wonderful gift of all: His perfect Son to save us from an imperfect world.

12- Have you ever seen the movie Klaus? If not, find it and watch it now! We watched it as a mission. At first, I was a little repelled by the animation style, honestly. XD  Disproportionate people with hard shading, and anatomically incorrect animals. XD   But after just a few minutes, I was hooked! 

12- The Cowleys told us to watch for parallels between the movie and missionary life. By the stars, I found so many! XD   It's about this snobby rich boy named Jesper who lives the high life and has everything delivered to him on a silver platter. His father is the head of the royal postal service and tries to get him to work. When Jesper makes it clear that all he does is want to mooch, his father banishes him to a remote town called Smeerensburg (I think; something like that). He tells Jesper he needs to establish a working postal office and mail 6,000 letters in a year, or else he'll lose his entire inheritance and his father will disown him.

12- Jesper gets sent to the dismal Island of Smeerensberg, where he has the challenge of starting a post office in a place where people don't write letters. There are two old family lines in the town that despise each other. They're constantly up to mischievous acts like stealing, vandalizing, and destroying each others' houses and property. 

12- A little boy whose dad keeps him confined to his property loses a drawing. Jesper is so desperate for mail that he says he'll mail the drawing back to the boy for a penny. The boy doesn't have money, and his dad chases Jesper away with some very ugly, vicious dogs. XD  Jesper can't find anyone willing to write a letter or use the postal service, until eventually he meets an old, lonely woodsman who makes toys. Jesper gets scared because of the woodsman axe, and when he runs away, he drops the boy's drawing.

12- The woodsman is named Mr. Klaus. He finds Jesper again and demands to know who drew the picture. He gives Jesper a package and tells him to give it to the boy. The woodsman ends up throwing Jesper down the chimney because the yard is full of bear traps, stakes, and the dogs. XD  

12- And so, the legend of Mr. Klaus is born! A huge, bearded man who can fit down any chimney that brings toys to children that write him letters. Pretty soon, more kids start writing letters. At first, Jesper just wants to get the letters because he wants out of Smeerensberg and back into his rich life. But eventually, he grows to care for the townspeople. He tells them that Mr. Klaus knows everything, and that only nice kids get toys.

12- The kids startle their parents by being nice to each other. Instead of pulling pranks, they play. Instead of breaking holes in each others' fences, they paint over graffiti. Instead of stealing fruit, they make jam and pies for each other. Throughout the course of the movie, the townspeople start following their childrens' examples and doing good deeds for each other.

12- Anyway, I don't want to spoil the whole movie, but it was super heartwarming! (And heart-wrenching)  There's a great plot, good morals, quirky characters, hidden lessons, and a few plot twists. There's also a fair amount of humor, including mu favorite: dark humor! >:D   But overall it's a sweet story about doing good deeds without expecting anything out of it, burying the hatchet, and making the most of what you have in not very ideal situations. It's the perfect cute movie to watch as a family for Christmas! And there were so many missionary parallels. XD

13- We gave cookies to the lady that we've visited a couple times who needs help with snow. She was overjoyed to see us and invited us in. Luckily, her house didn't smell like death this time! XD  We stayed for a bit and let her talk, then had to rush off to dinner.

14- So... we should have filled up our car on P-Day. That's the day we're supposed to do so. *nervous laughter*  We almost ran out of gas on Christmas, so we stopped at a random gas station to fill up. The pump wouldn't accept the card. I was getting cold and exasperated, and we were late for dinner, so I huffily suggested that we just go inside to pay for the gas.

14- We went inside and the guy at the cash register started walking us through what to do. Then, he broke off and stared at my name tag. All of a sudden, he blurted, "I need you girls to save my soul!"  

14- I was shocked and struck speechless. He didn’t sound like he was joking. I wasn't sure how to respond to him. Sister Marsmaker told him that we're missionaries and explained that we teach people about Jesus Christ. He told us he'd been in contact with missionaries before, then lost contact a few months ago.

14- I threw out some names of previous Sisters in the hope that it would spark his memory. He said he remembered Sister Bladh (Blade) and Sister Gonzalo! He said he should give them a call, and we invited him to do so. :)

14- Definitely a Christmas miracle! If we hadn't gone to that gas station and gone inside to pay, we never would have met that guy and reminded him about missionaries from the past! He kept telling us that they were super nice to him. I'm glad he remembered their kindness. :)

15- The Fortins had us over for dinner! It was delicious. Ham, mashed sweet potatoes, stuffing, salad, and cranberry sauce. Turns out, I like cranberry sauce and stuffing! I'd always been hesitant to try them, but last night I was like, Eh, what the wolf spiders. It's Christmas, so why not?   I'd say the final Christmas miracle was that I discovered I liked two foods I'd avoided for years because I'm a picky eater. XD

15- After dinner, the Fortins gave us some cute owl handwarmers, cookies, and a tub of sour gummy worms! I was in heaven. We also got to watch their cat Hastings play with tissue paper and oven mitts sprinkled with catnip. He loves oven mitts and he enjoys tissue paper. It was so funny to see him rolling around and attacking the oven mitts. XD

16- Turns out, transfers aren't happening this week! Sister Marsmaker and I sat anxiously awaiting a transfer email, but it never came. We got told later that for certain reasons--that we're afraid to ask about, haha--transfers are postponed for next week. So... Sister Marsmaker and I have another week together! Whoohoo! :D

Welp, this week has been absolutely insane! I hope everyone else is having fun, staying warm, and reading your scriptures!

Sister Marsmaker and I in the snow, camping out at the church, and in front of the Mosaic at the Mustard Seed location we serve at! Then some frost, icicle, and snow pictures. I also found a cute bird footprint in the snow! XD