Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

Happy Thanksgiving from South Carolina!

Momma!  I will be staying for at least one more transfer. :) Yay!
We are losing one of our sisters and an Elder out of our apartment though :/
 Elder Gundersen and Sister Eames are both going :( They leave tomorrow morning, early. It'll all be good though. Elder Gundersen is a total goof, but I will miss him a lot. I love his spirit. :) He's probably the nicest kid you'd ever meet in your whole existence. We have nothing planned for today, other than doing everything and anything that he wants to do. :)
Sister Clow is the absolute best! We recently moved the boundaries for the Elders and Sisters a little, so they are in our area, so we get to visit them all the time! Sister Clow told us to stop in any time we were hungry or needed anything, and she would take care of it. It's like I never even left home! She is the greatest, she and Brother Clow! :) I wanted to know why on earth you were awake at 4:30 am though??! Haha they texted us at 6:40 am and told me you were on the phone with her, and I was very confused :P
I love the Book Of Mormon so much Momma. I am so sorry that I gave you so much grief about me not wanting to read. If I could go back in time and slap myself, I so would. I wish I had the knowledge I have now back then. I could've been doing so much good among my friends and family! I am very excited for Thanksgiving, we have a couple of members feeding us, and I think Sister Clow might make me mashed topatoes just like daddy does. :) I love it here! I never want to leave! Haha The day I get transferred I will cry like a child.
It is about 30 degrees outside. The cold here is so much colder than anything I have ever felt in Utah! It is such a humid cold that it just soaks through your clothes and makes you and your clothes freezing! haha I have been carrying my inhaler lately because the air is cold and there are a lot of wood/coal burning heaters out here, so biking gets pretty hard in this cold air. I am doing well though. :) Luckily I have some nice, warm thermal G's and a couple very warm scarves to keep me toasty. :)
I should be online on Thursday, maybe Wednesday. I should be emailing then, if not, I will just text the Clows' and have them tell you I love you and how I am doing. :) Maybe we'll go see them and I'll send you a picture! I have made an oath to wear a lot of really ugly ties, so if you ever see one, please buy it and send it. ;) Haha so me, right? I am loving the other package you sent me! I was really needing a sweater, and the one you sent is soooo warm. :) Thank you so very much. I will be watching out for the package, if you send it to the Clows' it will always get to me faster. I still need to send your ornament home. It is the one Sister Clow bought for you, I am still looking for a special one though. :) This week is supposed to be very cold, and it will probably rain the next 3 days, so we might get some ice. haha :) The baptism went flawless, and I will send you some pictures of it!
I love you so much Momma!

That's her Momma on the left, and her daughter on the right, and that is K**** T***** in the middle. :)
She's the best!
Now a 3 generation member photo!

And this is me this morning in my nice, warm scarf :)

We got to go to the temple last Wednesday!

Little pigs BBQ

It is easy to smile when I am this happy!

Our district bowling :)
~love the little photo-bomber

He looked right into my soul and smiled at my spirit.

Momma! And Family!
This week was great! We were able to do a lot of things that we had been trying to get done in the past month, but time would never allow.
Seeing David A. Bednar was such an unforgettable experience! I wish Y'all could've been there to hear the words he spoke, and feel the spirit that entered the room when he did. It wasn't really a talk, or him preparing anything, he just showed up, started to talk for like 5 minutes, and then started to ask certain people questions. It was a big session of religious Q and A with and Apostle! I am the luckiest 1 out of 200+ Missionaries that were there. At one point I had a comment/answer to a question he asked as all, and I raised my hand and got to stand up and speak directly to him, and he talked directly to me. I felt so raised up. Nothing could've brought be down that day! And, after he talked with us for what seemed to be the shortest 3 hours of my whole entire life, we all got to walk up and shake his hand. He looked right into my soul and smiled at my spirit. :) There was so much love in that mans eyes.
Also, I was surprised that I was looking right into his eyes, because he was my height. :) Haha
My question was "How do I completely give myself to God on my mission" And he never called on me, but by the end of the meeting, my question was answered. :) When I talked to him, his question was "What do you notice about this pattern, The Lord's pattern, that we are using today? And my answer was to the effect of "It's amazing how, even if you don't get to 'voice' your question, the spirit answers your question, and all the other ones you didn't know you had." :)
Being a missionary is good. Just good. :) I have all the freedom of being 2076 miles away from home, yet I am learning to be exactly obedient and to 'act 40' as president Holm says. It is weird doing service or something where I am in normal clothes, because I will say, "hi, how are you" to someone, and they'll just look at me weird. I am liking wearing a suit every day. I never ever ever thought I would. :) Haha But I get so much joy of pushing past the uncomfortableness of knocking on a door or talking to a random person on the street, and having them accept what we say. We build a relationship in such a short amount of time it's amazing. But I love it so much and I wouldn't give it up for anything. :) Also, we get to go to the temple this Wednesday morning! :D
Thank you for telling me about the family! I miss y'all so much! You have no idea! Well, you probably do, because you made me. But I have been praying for each one of you individually daily and I love hearing how everyone is doing.
I am going to send the SD card this week, I promise. And now that I have promised, I have to do it. :) haha I just need to put my mind on those things that I need to get done, and work on not chasing that squirrel down the road. :) Haha how can you ask me what I want for Christmas?? I am a missionary! ;) I have the Gospel and people to teach it to! ;)  I have no idea Momma...I have everything I could ask for...well, it would be nice to have my Momma. :) haha
Thank you for everything Momma. You are the best Momma ever. all the other Missionaries are jealous. :) Haha I love you so much! What can I send y'all for Christmas?? (I found your ornament!)
I have  to get off. I love you so much Momma! I pray for you every day and I think about you always! I will take tons of pictures this week and be very careful with my money. Promise. :)
I love you!

So, this is the picture he sent with no explanation. We figure the caption could read.
"In our family, this is EXACTLY how a 40 yr old behaves." or "See Grandpa, nothing has changed".
Take your pick.
Also, we are naturally assuming he is is literally chasing squirrels down roads ;)

Baptism

Momma!
Yes, The Clows' are my favorite ever. :) So much. They are the absolute best. If we are ever hungry or anything, we can just pop in and Momma Clow will cook us something to eat and sit and talk with us for a while. :) When I leave this area, I am going to cry. I love it here so much!
I haven't heard from Kyle or Kenny. I actually haven't gotten any mail in a couple of days. No one in our apartment has. I think they may have messed up something at the mail office, I'm going to call in today. The baptism on Saturday went awesome! There is a theme for 'Baptism day' where everything that can go wrong, does. And nothing works out until the very last second. But, everything ended up going without a hitch. And, I got To baptize T******! My very first baptism on my mission! And Elder Sumner got to come back for a couple hours because A****** wanted him to baptize her. It was so cool to see him again! I missed him so much! haha The baptism was so full of the spirit, and when I think back on it, even though it was only 2 days ago, I can't remember too much, because it all flew by. I love knowing that I was able to assist them in learning about the gospel so much. :) Now we just have to get their Momma divorced and then married so we can baptize her. :) She is ready for it, it is just the legal things that we have to take care of. :P Also, I got the box with the Garments and the scarf, I love it! I wear it whenever it is chilly :)  I'm impressed that you were able to make it so fast! The whole apartment, except Elder Harris is pretty sick right now. We all came down with a pretty bad cold that kept us all down most of yesterday, and we don't feel too hot today. We were afraid that it might be Pneumonia, because I gave a blessing to a member that was sick, and they later found out that that is what she has, but it doesn't seem that bad, so I doubt it. But I bought some NyQuil and DayQuil and I have been sucking on cough drops so I can get back on my feet. :) Everything is going so great! Transfers are 2 days before Thanksgiving, so I don't know if I'll still be in this area or not, but we'll see very soon. :) I love y'all so much! Thank you Momma! :)  My time is up and I have to go, I will take lots of pictures at the baptism this Saturday ;) I love you!
Also, I heard there was a hurricane in the Philippines, have we heard from Barry? Is he alright?

Daddy and me :)

~I know this one is out of focus, but it is so great of the two of them~ Cyndi

After Baptism Ice cream celebration!

Catfish huntin' 

Or else my bike will go on the roof...

I just got done reading your email, and I was actually laughing in the library and people were looking at me. You described that story very well! :) I miss my Pups!

 I love you Mommy :) And you ARE a tired old mommy.. :) I can't even tell you how many times I see a southern lady yelling at her kids, and I think "Have I ever told you you're a good Mommy?" And it makes me laugh and miss you all at once!

I say those things in my head so often it would make you laugh! Also, the other day some lady yelled "Get out of the road!" As she drove by, and all I could think was "Or else my bike will go on the roof.." Hahaha So I thought I would tell you about that. :)
Those pictures are the best! I miss snow so much! It has been pretty cold here though, it wouldn't surprise me if we got an inch of snow. Cold here is very different from Cold in Utah. I love seeing the look on peoples faces when I talk about being used to a couple feet of snow at least! When it snows here, everything shuts down, schools, stores, roads, everything! All because of an inch of snow! Haha And people are so bad at driving already, that the accident rate sky-rockets if there is any ice or wet anything on the ground. People in the south are terrible drivers. I am just so happy the Lord is protecting us. :P
The Ped-sheds are amazing! I got them on Thursday and I have been wearing them ever since! I love them so much! I can bike and walk all day without my feet hurting even a little! :) So that is much appreciated. :) We will be eating Thanksgiving dinner at the Crossens' home, unless I get transferred. Transfers are 2 days before, so I won't know until I leave. :/  I am super praying that I'll get to stay, because I love this area. They usually keep Elders and Sisters in their area's for about 6 months, and I will have only been here about 4. So I shouldn't get transferred, but there is always that possibility. :P
Missionary work is so great! We have 6 people preparing for baptism right now, and we have 2 girls getting ready to be baptized this Saturday! And...... I get to baptize one of them! The other girl wants me to find out if Elder Sumner can come back to baptize her, and that might be a possibility, so I am going to call President Holm and find out today. :) I am so excited to baptize someone!! :)
Elder Harris and I do a lot of knocking, so we have a lot of new people to teach, and most of our days are full of appointments.
The Clows' absolutely LOVE the gift you sent them, and it was nice to see something that looked so familiar. :) Sister Clow sounds like she is very fond of you. I really think that you should come visit them when y'all come through on your trip. :)
OH! ALSO! We get to go through and do a session before Christmas! :) We all get to see the new video! We are all so excited! You have no idea! :)
Also, they announced that we would all be getting iPad Mini's pretty soon, like, within the next couple months. :) Crazy, right? And Elder Bednar is going to be coming and speaking to us in the mission pretty soon. They are just spoiling us! ;D I love you Momma! You are the best Momma in the world!

Lockdown!
~The missionaries were in their apts with all the doors locked by 6pm on Halloween

Elder Gundersen made his Comp mad, so he calmly walked over 

and poured a whole box of cheerios on his head.