Hi Everybody,
We
can't believe how quickly these days have rolled by, flown by, passed
on, whatever days do when you wake up one morning and wonder if we can
run fast enough to keep up. This coming Wednesday we will hit the half
mark of our 18 month mission. Oh my goodness! Didn't we just leave
Orem last week in a snow storm and had to come back to our house because
we forgot the kitty litter? Guess what, we used the kitty litter the
other night....not for our car but for the car of a friend who got stuck
in a two foot deep snow bank. Yes, we have snow here in New York and
it's beautiful (and would be even more beautiful if the sun would
shine. Haven't seen the sun for 2 weeks). It actually snowed last
Wednesday at the very time we were taking missionaries to transfers in
Utica. It took about 4 hours to do a less than two hour
trip.....average cruising speed was around 35 mph and about an hour at 0
as we were stopped on the freeway while a mess was cleaned up. There
were no mountains to go through but some hills where semis can't get
enough power to get up the hills when the roads are slick and then all
lanes of traffic are stopped and the tractor trailers jack-knife and
nobody can get through. But we made it there (unlike 3 mission cars who
were in accidents and 2 were totaled but no missionaries injured), had a
shortened transfer meeting, said goodbye to going home missionaries,
picked up a new sister for our area and headed home. Going home was
much easier except for the time the freeway was closed by Syracuse
because of a major accident involving several cars so we were re-routed
off the freeway and back on again. We think this will be a pretty
common thing this winter. The NYDOT do work hard on the roads though
and put tons of salt to keep the major roads snow and ice free. So Dad
has found a new fun thing to do. We bought a monthly car wash pass and
you can wash your car as many times as you want to in that month to keep
the salt from rusting it out. It's a drive through and we will have
the cleanest car in NY for the next few months! Back to transfers, we
said goodbye to Sister Davis and hello to Sister Anaya who is new from
the MTC and will probably be here for 3 months waiting for her visa to
Portugal. In 6 weeks Sister Lopez will go back to Temple Square to
finish her mission so if any of you ever go to Temple Square in the next
6 months, look at all the name tags and if you see a Sister Lopez, give
her a hug from us. She'll be home before we get back. We're so happy
to be able to keep Elder Chao and Elder Thompson! It would be
awful....like having our grandkids gone....had they been transferred a
couple of weeks before Christmas.
We
just mailed Christmas packages to all of you (except Bryce our favorite
child because Santa Clause will still come to him tee hee).
So....watch for the UPS truck. They promised they'd be delivered before
Christmas. You can open up the big box and take the little packages
out.....be sure and find the envelope that's floating around loose in
the box. And we just wanted you to know that Taco is still alive and
well in pet paradise via New York so watch for your little package from
Taco and you can trade around or exchange with each other or at Target
if it's a duplicate. Merry Christmas!!
One
of the Sisters in the branch did this awesome thing for Christmas this
year. It's a type of advent calendar where she sends us a talk on
Christ for each day and they are amazing talks. The majesty of His
birth and life and resurrection and Atonement as testified of by the
Brethren over the years is a wonderful thing. We think we will do this
same thing for every Christmas for the rest of our lives! Today was our
last meeting with the branch for the next 5 Sundays as nearly everyone
leaves for the Christmas break. We'll meet with the Ward during that
time and we'll really miss the closeness with the branch. We thought
last week would be a break from cooking and it was somewhat because no
Friday Forum. Do you know that when I went to give blood at the blood
drive yesterday, my blood pressure was down to normal for the first time
in the last 8 months! Seriously!! So we had fun having the
missionaries over for transfer breakfast and pictures and we made a ton
of popcorn for FHE where we all watched The Saratov Approach (most had
never heard of it) and we ate nearly 2 9X13 pans of better-than-anything
cake for Institute and last night we had new-found-friends over for
dinner. I might actually have to make a meal or two for Dad and I in
the next few weeks! the ward and branch members who are here have
filled the missionaries dinner appointment sign-up sheet clear until the
end of December. We might have to squeeze in a lunch or two if we want
them to eat with us!
Well...this
Sunday is almost over except for singing tonight with a ward/branch
choir for a community Christmas program. It will be fun and luckily
there are enough singers who have gone to all the practices and know the
songs well enough that we can just stand up there and lip sync! Handel
would appreciate our attempts at a ward choir singing the Hallelujah
Chorus and Glory to God:) And tonight we'll go tell Faung Yuen's mother
goodbye as she is going back to China and we will never see her again.
What a kind, loving, good hearted woman with whom we can only
communicate with hugs and smiles and thumbs up! We hope she has felt
the love of the members here so when the Church goes to China and a
missionary knocks on her door, she'll remember! Our friends also from
China that we met the first week here will also be headed back to
Mainland in just 6 weeks or so. Their daughter is now meeting with the
missionaries on a regular basis for lessons. We'll miss being with the
YSA for the next month but we're glad they all get to go home and be
with their families for the Christmas holidays. We might have pretty
boring FHE with just the two of us while they're gone!
On
to a new week! Have tons of fun this last week of school all you kids
that we love and will SURELY miss at Christmas. If you get together on
Christmas Eve and do the nativity be sure and face time us or somebody
video tape or something. We'll be thinking a LOT about Carlee and Cade
ie Sister Jacklin and Elder Jolley, Jr. but know they'll be happy. We
sent them packages too (and our new discovery... white chocolate covered
oreos....a limited edition found at any target. Look for them!). If
it's possible to do a 3 way skype when you talk to them on Christmas
day, let us know. We know the beauty of this time of love and giving by
our Father of His Son will fill your hearts and prompt you to do good
and love everybody. Love You All!!!!!!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO Dad and Mom and Grandpa and Grandma and E and S Jolley
No comments:
Post a Comment