Received Mon Dec 8, 2008

Hmm...I'm just thinking back on this week and not much has happened here either. We only really got to go out and work 3 times this week.

Other stakes keep on sending us semi truck loads of clothes and things to give away and we have more than we can handle. This week literally a semi truck FULL of clothes came to Galveston and we (the missionaries) along with help from a few members unloaded the whole thing. The ENTIRE cultural hall was filled with clothes with only room for a few walkways between all the boxes of clothes. After church (this was last week actually, not this week) people spent hours upon hours looking at the clothes and taking boxes out to their cars. They only left when they couldn't fit anymore clothes into their cars.

So for P-day we went to the church and we had a contest to see who could find the best/funniest clothes. We did 2 rounds and we had 2 minutes to find clothes then we had to go into another room and put them on. I've got some pretty funny pictures from that.

So on Wednesday after that we had to go load all the leftover clothes into trucks to give them away to goodwill and other places like that. There were still TONS. All the donation centers are full now. On Friday we got another load full of Christmas trees, decorations, and random household items. So a lot of my week has been loading and unloaded boxes of stuff from trucks.

On Saturday we had a ward open house. We spent all week passing out invitations to all the houses that we did service for. We set up stands to show different things that we believe in. We actually had a very good turnout, which is good because we put ALL of our time into advertising for this this past week. We found 3-4 people that were going to begin teaching.

On Sunday we had the confirmations of Kim and Paulette. I confirmed Kim and Elder Pedersen confirmed Paulette. It was a really neat experience for me. I did a lot of praying and did everything I could to make sure my mind was 100% ready to be able to tell Kim everything she was meant to know. It was a really neat feeling. She had tears running down her face by the end. Paulette did too after her blessing...it was a really good Sunday.

I got my package with my swishy pants and shoes this last week. I'm actually wearing my shoes right now. I sleep in my swishy pants every night now too...its getting pretty cold. SO...that brings me on to my next point: my Christmas list.The only things I have really thought of are winter clothes. I have a rain jacket but I don't have just a normal sweater for when its just cold and not rainy out. So I would like a sweater...maybe just something like that green soft one I got for Christmas last year. Whatever you get will be perfect. I also want a beanie...my ears get freezing cold every night. Just a solid color beanie...something really cheap and simple. Hmm...oh yeah. Early on in my mission, unfortunately I think some of my garments got taken. At the Alemany's house some missionaries came to use their washer and I think they accidentally took some of my garments so I've got 2 extra tops with no bottoms. So if you ever get the chance, more garments would be good. I think I have 6 tops and bottoms, then 2 extra tops with no bottoms. So I'd get maybe 3 bottoms and 1 top or something like that. Pens would also be nice...a couple black and blue pens. Those Pilot G-2 pens you always get are nice. Somehow I have 0 black pens left...they also disappeared during all my post-hurricane adventures. Oh and also one of those cheap 10 dollar zip-up sweatshirts you can get at walmart. I had a grey one I bought in Provo...something like that would be perfect for P-day. That's everything I've thought of that I really need.

Speaking of presents...that reminds me of a funny story. One day Kim called me and Elder Pedersen and told us she was at the Renaissance Fair and that she bought us each a gift. So eventually we came over and she ran over to get her bag with our gifts in it. She pulls out my gift and its a necklace with a catholic cross on the end of it. I was like uhh...wow that's an awesome gift, thank you! And I kind of strayed the conversation away and put it in my backpack. Then she was like, oh, I thought you were going to wear it. I really did not want to wear that thing, so I thought of a good way to get myself out of the situation. I told her I would try it on, but then I had to put it in my backpack so it wouldn't get in my way when I was riding my bike home. Then she pulled out Elder Pedersen's gift and it was a really girly wand with a big pink star at the top that blinks on and off. She gave it to him and said she got it because "you're my guiding star." And she was 100% serious this whole time too. Elder Pedersen just played it off like it was the coolest gift ever. It was pretty funny. We pinned up the cross and the star wand on our wall in the apartment. I've got pictures of us with our gifts.Ive been taking a lot of pictures lately...I'll probably send that USB drive home by Christmas. Hopefully that package gets here though.

Ok well I've got to get going now. I think we're going to play softball as a zone for P-day today. I'll talk to you all later!!

Love,
Chase