Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Hey y'all! So pretty much I wrote 4 sentences of this on my pday on Christmas and then it was never finished so we're gonna do a little catch up today. It might be a long one so bear with me. I'm also gonna be talking about our friends as well because they are amazing! First off, Christmas was amazing and the members here took such good care of us. We also had tornadoes and flash floods around the town so that was cool. Especially when our radio alarm woke us up about 10 times one night 😃 But no worries we are safe! Just had some crazy thunderstorms and some streets were turned into rivers. I LOVE Theodore and could be here my entire mission. Our district has 20 people on date which is CRAZY. This place is so blessed.

I'm going to give a quick rundown of our friends this week and a half! We put 3 people on date for baptism this week! One is a 15 year old named Allison and her and her 7 year old brother (almost 8) are being baptized on February 8th! I was on exchanges when they put her on date but she is so cute and we are so excited for their family! Next up we put our friends Jerry and Shirley on date for January 25th! Jerry is older and lives with his mom Shirley. They have both been taking the lessons for a while and we invited them to be baptized and they accepted! All three of them also came to church on Sunday! Yayyyy! Jerry and Shirley are so sweet and they feed us every lesson. 

Next up we have Janet and she is on date but we haven't been able to get in contact with her for a while. She has been avoiding us so we decided to have members reach out instead and give her some time. A member invited her to church and she said she would come but she didn't make it. We called and texted her and she FINALLY answered us! So hopefully we can start having lessons again and find what we can do to help her right now. 

Our last friend on date is Liam and he's 12. He has been out of town for a while so we will probably have to move his date but we hope to meet with him again this week!

We invited our friends Chris and Stephanie as well and they said they would pray about it! He then put the day in his calendar tho so... I have faith it will happen.

Me and Sister Hunt got matching pajamas for our zone conference and that was awesome. We wore them pretty much every night the week before Christmas.

Got a little sick as well so we got some meds and tried to stay strong but the second day I had to sleep til 10:30. But I was able to slay the days after that.

Next up was zone conference! It was awesome and we had a talent show and we got to wear pj's so that was lit. I also got to see Sister Huber!!!

We had to drive 3 hours there and back, but on the way back wr had a phone lesson with Chris and Stephanie! They told us they got married!!! We were so so happy and excited. They had been engaged for almost 12 years and Chris decided it felt right and they got engaged and married the same day with all their family there!

We also met a lady named Megan and she is so awesome. It was crazy because we were in the area to see another person but then we saw her husband and mother in law outside so we talked to them. We talked about what we do as missionaries and the man said my wife would probably be more interested in this. We were about to give them our number and then she pulled up so we talked to her. She used to be taught by missionaries and she was interested in meeting again. So this week we taught a lesson and it went to well!

So Christmas was fire!

We went to a members house and played some games on Monday and then on Christmas eve we went caroling and you know we spread some Christmas cheer up in this town. Then we had a delicious meal with the Esquedas. We helped them prep dinner and I made this.

They pranked me and put 25 toothpicks in my hair too while I was busy at work.

This week we also got some pretty sad news. Brother Hubbard who is in the bishopric in our ward passed away after a surgery he had. It was very unexpected and we had dinner with him a few days before. He was the sweetest guy ever and it's definitely hard for the people in the ward and his wife. 

On Christmas morning we made reindeer pancakes at the Fullerson's in our ward. It was so fun and their house is the best. We went on a little zipline too after in their backyard.

The Christmas morning crew.

Then we went to the beach and played around. It didn't even feel like Christmas but I love the beach so it was good.

Then we went to the White's in our ward and they gave us the most delicious dinner. Smoked Mac n cheese and brisket, potatoes, and cheese bread. Probably one of my favorite meals so far. Then they made us hot cocoa and we hung out while the Elders read a Christmas book.

Had a little basketball night with some of the people the elders are meeting with!

We went to Texas Roadhouseee with Gilly! It was FIRE!! Got some loaded fries and rolls. Made me miss my hometown. I miss ya Meg.

Not much else to report I don't think. We have a few other people and we will hopefully try to meet more with them. I will try to keep y'all more updated with the friends I meet here in Alabama. 

Anyways, I hope y'all have such an amazing week. I am so happy here and I genuinely love being a missionary. There are days that are hard but every single day I feel so lucky to be able to testify of Jesus Christ every day. I get to try and love as he did and share his light to every single person we see. We have been studying the doctrine of Christ as a mission and I have loved studying it. Jesus Christ laid out his plan for us perfectly and allowed us the opportunity to use his atonement every day as we repent. I love his gospel and I know it blesses all of God's children. I love you all! Have a happy and safe new year!