MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! For me it has been one crazy busy week! I will start with Christmas though. So we started the day off having a Christmas breakfast with waffles at one of our investigators. Then we had church where I gave a talk. It went good I think. I talked on the hymn "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." I have never given a talk on a hymn before but I think it went pretty good. After church we got to Skype our family!!! That was so great to see them! I can't begin to tell ya how great it was to see and talk with them! I love and miss my family a ton so it was great to be able to see them. It is really crazy to think that I will be with them next Christmas. I only have 1 more Skype call left! Time flys! So after we Skype we went to a Christmas dinner at a members. I was stuffed!!! It felt like thanksgiving all over again! After that we finished the day at our Branch Presidents house. All and all it was a pretty good Christmas!
So the rest of the week was eventful! So last pday we were in Juneau so we went shopping with some other missionaries like all day! They have some super cool stuff there and awesome sites to see. It pretty much rained the whole time we were there but hey that's Juneau for you. It was a really fun pday! For dinner that day my companion made everyone some Thai fried noodles which were the bomb. Then the rest of the missionaries landed and one of the Elders I came out with got to stay in the missionary trailer with me so it was a party! The next day was Zone Conference and everyone was there!!! That is a big deal here because everyone is usually on their own island or in our case a different country. It was a lot of fun and I learned a ton! All the trainings was great! One training that a member of the Mission Presidency gave really hit me. He drew a big shifter (one you use in a car) on the white board and said what gear are you in? I hope I am in 5th and not reverse. It was humbling to think about that question. There was a lot more I learned, but that was the main thing that hit me. The rest of Zone Conference was a blast! Since we are all so far away from one another President let us watch a church movie and then we played basketball after Zone Conference.
I tell you what, Zone Conferences in Juneau are the best!!!! It is so great to see everyone come together. All transfer long all you see is other missionaries on a tv screen for district and Zone Meeting but for Zone Conference you get to see them in person which is a party!!
The day after Zone Conference we flew a tiny plane back to Skagway and drove 3 hours back to Whitehorse. The plane ride was absolutely beautiful! All and all the trip to Juneau was super
awesome! Left Sunday morning and got back Wednesday night. Although it was a lot of fun it was good to get back to work in Whitehorse.
On Christmas Eve we hit the streets hard and talked to a lot of people. We OYM pretty much all day long. For Christmas Eve dinner we went to one of our investigators who is from India for real authentic Indian food. It was actually really good! I have definitely not been has picky with food on my mission as I was back home hahaha. So this Christmas weekend was great! Now we are off to do some Boxing Day shopping which is like Black Friday in America so this will be interesting! Love you guys and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Remember that Christ during this holidays!
-Elder Barney