Dec 29th

So much to write, so little time!

So for the mission Christmas party we had to come up with a skit. We had some ideas in the open, and Sis Smith and I were in charge, but since we had three musical numbers, exchanges and Christmas shopping to prep for, we were booked and couldn't get it together in time. So, seeing we have a Samoan from Australia with us.... we learned the Haka! It was simple, impressive, unique, and loads of fun! Out of the 13 zones in the mission, we were called to be first, so we scrambled to get everything ready (the elders found a smoke machine in their apartment, so we let out some nice fog for the second round of the haka) and it went really well! Due to the rush, none of us got a recording of it, but there were plenty in the audience who did, so I'll have to get it from them sometime.

The mission party consisted of a White Elephant Gift party where I acquired a glow stick, and Sis Smith an awesome N'Sync poster (still haven't hung it up though), singing as a whole mission (over 220 voices all at the top of their young lungs so it filled the gym really well), skits, Christmas dinner, and more skits! A lot of them were renditions of a missionary Christmas Carol, or spoofs off people who work in the mission - President Blatter had a representative in almost every skit, although he has a really good sense of humor (you need that as a mission president)! It went from9am-6pm, which was longer than they'd planned, but it was lots of fun to see everyone in the whole mission.

Christmas Eve we had district mtg, had dinner with some members, and went caroling with our district before we ran to the Olympia stake center where we got to play volleyball! It was weird playing on a day other than p-day, but President gave the elders in Lacey permission, so we sisters were allowed to do the same which we did with the other zone sisters as well.

Christmas was very packed with both food and company! We started off at a young family who let us Skype there before running to a Christmas dinner at our member friends' house. We stuffed ourselves there before running to a Samoan Christmas party where, naturally we had to eat some more and were given leftovers on the way out. Other than skyping with my family, that was one of the most special moments of the day as we watched the "He is the Gift" video with them and their 20 other family members that aren't Mormon, and Sis Smith and I sang a duet of Silent Night where the Samoans joined and sang the second verse in Samoan. You just have to love the Samoan culture of love, song, and family! It was amazing.

We then ran to our next dinner appointment which was less casual at a senior missionary couple's house. We had no idea, but the APs were there, so we just had a random dinner with the APs, the elders in the area who are in our district, and the AP's investigator. That was fun! We ran by another house on our way home that night where thankfully we weren't given any food but treats as our car was full of leftovers from every house we'd visited!

This Friday I went on an exchange to Olympia with none other than my favorite, long separated companion Sister Walker!! We were so excited, had a blast, and loved every minute of it. She's doing well in her new area, and it was hard to leave again, but who knows what will happen the next two transfers!

Apparently I'd been texted during the exchange, but the message didn't get to me that I was to give a talk in church Sunday, so as we walked into some meetings Sis Smith mentioned that I would be talking about Jesus Christ. After our meeting I had about 20 minutes to prepare, but fortunately it was only a 5 minute talk, so basically me baring my testimony. It went well and we finally got our investigator to church that kept saying she'd come and never did. She made it in time for my talk, and loved church, so she'll be coming back next week! :D

Love everyone, hope you have a great New Years, and I'll catch you next week with pictures!!

Sister Dunster