Saturday, November 26, 2011

Letter #30: Thanksgiving Party &
Christmas Light's Big Debut

WHAT A WEEK!!!
Well... I feel like we've had a lot of adventures this week. We got absolutely spoiled haha. President and Sister Holmes rented out a place called Noah's (it's a big party/reception hall near Sandy) for Thanksgiving. We left the square at around 12:30 and went there to play wallyball (which Sister Lane and I played hard representing Canada in, haha), watch movies (including marry poppins, beauty and the beast, toy story and how to train a dragon!- which I only watched half of that last movie though... I guess I'll have to wait a while till I find out what happens!!), play games, eat a thanksgiving dinner, line dance, limbo, karaoke, you name it! haha it was hilarious to do line dancing with a bunch of sister missionaries from all over the world... we only had about 6 songs that were approved for the dancing I guess, so we ended up doing chacha slide, electric slide and boot-skoot'n-boogie literally over and over and over... haah it was fun though! To be honest I just loved being silly and jumping around like my moron-self again :) I'm sure you're all so surprised to hear that! haha But no it was really fun! I never before or probably will again experience a dance quite like that, haha! It truly was one of a kind... seeing sisters from China and middle east dancing to country- hehe.We all had a great time and for once in my mission life I got to go to bed early!! I was asleep before 9pm... glorious!!!
The next day, friday the 25th is when the Christmas Lights on Temple Square made it's big debut! Pretty exciting stuff, but I don't think I was quite mentally prepared for it haha. We had a teaching appointment with D**... once again, can I just say how amazing he is?! The first time he ever looked into the church at all was monday and yesterday when we taught her he had already read up to 2 Nephi 4, as well as Mosiah 12-17 and pretty much all of lds.org and mormon.org... insane-o! I'll just say it was pretty humbling for an investigator to pass my entire transfer worth of Book of Mormon reading so far in his 4 days!!. haha It's SOOOO great. We just love him and are SO excited for his progress. He's really searching and it's so rewarding to see the knowledge and joy it brings as the gospel answers his questions.
After we taught him, we came out from the room with all the computers (the RC), and saw PEOPLE!!! The Square has been fairly quiet recently... and when we went into the RC just an hour earlier there really wasn't many people, and all of a sudden there were HUNDREDS in the North Visitors Center alone! I'm sure there were thousands on the square. Usually we just roam wherever we want to during our time on the square, but since Christmas is so crazy we all have assignments. Our first was the Christus. INSANE! I don't mean to sound disrespectful but it was like a mosh pit at the Christus. I've never even seen that many people crammed in there. You couldn't even walk, let alone try to have a spiritually uplifting conversation with someone. Sister Lane and I found ourselves just standing there at times just looking into the constantly moving crowds of craziness and just thinking "OK.... how do we even approach this?!?!" haha it was pretty funny. I can see how the lights and the business could be fun as a normal person, but it was somewhat overwhelming as a missionary trying to control it and start movies and invite people to meet with missionaries, receive a Book of Mormon or to share the message with their friends. But as the night went on it got so much better. We met many wonderful people and I even ran into a few friends from BYU! There are so many wonderful guests and members to meet. They all have their great stories and testimonies and so many are so willing and wanting to share the gospel. This season is so special and despite the craziness of the Square at night, the spirit is still very much there if you can find the time to pause and feel the peace of that sacred place. it's beautiful all light up!! I know I am going to LOVE Christmas here on Temple Square. We're staying out an extra hour later than normal (so till 10pm) and we're only taking 15-20 minutes for dinner to accommodate the crowds (like we did during general conference, but to be honest I think this is even busier and crazier than general conference). I just LOVE it. I love this work! The entire Christmas season is really exciting. I couldn't believe the rush of people, but once I got over the shock I loved it!! I love being busy and just working and serving... it's what brings joy so I am very excited to truly spend my Christmas serving Christ- whose birth we are celebrating! I'm so grateful to be on Temple Square at this special and sacred time. What a blessing!
I love you all so much! I'll include a few fun pictures from Thanksgiving. I'll keep working hard but know I love you all so so much! Thanks for your love and support. You mean the world to me!!
Love
Sister Mullen


Pic 1- these are all the Canadians of the Temple Square mission right now... WAHOOO!!! O CANADA! Sis Sanchez is also from Calgary. Sis Peets is from Ottawa and is my District Leader. Sister Labbe is in her first transfer and Sister Lane and I... well.... we just love each other and have WAAAAY too much fun together.
Pic 2- Sister Chau is back from MD for her outbound... we were rocking the Christmas songs in Karaoke
Pic 3- These are my current roommates. Sis Hirt (Alaska) and Sis Bleyl (Virginia). Theyre fleet (in charge of all the mission cars) and aboslutely hilarious. We always have SOOO many funny conversations and just have had a great time living together these past two transfers. this is Sister Hirt's last transfer... I will miss her!!

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