We had a great Thanksgiving week. Even though, of course, we miss being
with family, it's amazing how festive and comfortable we can feel in
the mission field. I am sure it is because we have our "missionary
family" to be with, and we feel soooo blessed to have them! As you
know, we have four companionships in our area so we have a big group
when we get together. Other areas only have one or maybe two
companionships which would be more of a challenge to enjoy a family-felt
celebration. Our dinner was traditional and delicious! We did find a
turkey at the Costco-type store here called Metro. You have to have a
membership card to shop there which we were given by one of the branch
members, but it was refused when they scanned it at the entrance, but we
asked if we could still look around, and we found a turkey, as well as
frozen cranberries. So we asked another member we were meeting with
that same night if we could borrow their card and went back the next day
to get our turkey. I know it sounds like a silly thing, but we
honestly weren't expecting to find turkey anywhere and had heard stories
from many here that in the past that has been the case. So we were
really excited to think we were going to have a turkey dinner on
Thanksgiving. Everyone contributed to the meal--mashed potatoes,
stuffing, vegetables, fruit salad, rolls, apple and banana cream pies.
We had a member who gave us some grape compote,
which is homemade grape juice, that I saved for Thanksgiving and also
was delicious. I just have to give a shout out to one of our regular
readers, Sister Hangen--your son's stuffing was the highlight of the
meal and the best I have ever tasted! We all overate and enjoyed every
bite!!
Before we ate we watched a Thanksgiving message from
Mormon Messages and then went around the circle and everyone shared what
they are thankful for. Of course, your perspective on a mission is
focused on eternal principles and everyone shared such heartfelt
thankimonies. Elder Glavatsky, our Ukranian elder, experienced his
first Thanksgiving with us and it was obvious he was very humbled to be
here on his mission experiencing such great things and meeting such
stalwart missionaries. We all have so much to be thankful for. Our
spiritual thought we shared with the families we met with this week was a
brief explanation/history of our American Thanksgiving holiday.
Similar to our missionary district, we asked each family member to share
what they are grateful for and had good experiences with every family.
It's always a good thing to stop and realize your many blessings. One
family in particular had their less-active brother and wife there, and
they expressed gratitude for the gospel and an increased desire to begin coming to church again. An attitude of gratitude always invites the spirit.
Having your support and prayers on our behalf makes a difference. Thank you for your love, we love you! You are a blessing.
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