FIRST WEEK IN JANUARY

January is always a good time to set new goals. Our first goal is to lose weight. So we start our diet today. We have stocked up on lots of tomatoes and carrots and salad. Also oranges and apples. We took all our cookies and sweets to our district meeting on Tuesday so the missionaries would eat them up. No problem there as they consume them so fast. Now our cookies and our sweets gone and we can start to eat healthy foods. We've done it before and we can do it again. I need to lose 20 to 30 pounds and your dad needs to lose 50. We can do it with the lords help. Right?

This week has been a little bit different than normal for missionary work. It's like we had 3P days this week. New Year's Day we have district meeting in the morning and we worked until five. Then we had the sisters over for spaghetti dinner and play dominoes. They did not have to be back in their flat until 10 o'clock. The buses were not running so we had to take them home.

Yesterday was like a P-day all day long. We went and picked up the elders from Chesterfield, took them to McDonald's and then went to the Sheffield three building so they can play basketball and watch movies. Elder Allen played hockey with them and today is paying for it. He is so sore. The missionaries love that he will hang out with them. As Elder Juran says, "it will be great." Elder Juran goes home on the 9th of January. I don't even like to talk about it because I cry. (Like I am right now.) He is from the Czech Republic and we may never see him again. He says he is would like to go to BYU and I hope that he does. He is so humble and a great example of what a missionary should be. Tonight after correlation meeting we get to go out teaching with him and his companion Elder Krylborn. It is such an honor to be with them. They see the good in people no matter what and are very obedient.

Well enough of that. After hanging out at the stake center we came back and through dinner together for the missionaries. It was nothing planned but just stuff we had in our freezer. We had eight missionaries her at our flat. We taught them how to play the "famous person game." We only use people from the Scriptures and church history. We divided up into teams with Elder Allen on one team and me on another. My team WON, hooray. It's surprising to know who knew people from the Scriptures and who didn't. I think it stems a lot from those that took seminary and those that did not. Seminary as you know it, is not the same all over the world. Those in areas where the churches is small and a student would have to do it independently. Release time is much better. All and all it was a great evening and the missionaries needed to be back by 10. No more days off and back to missionary work today.

Last Saturday Sister Staheli got a call from the mission president and she was being transferred. Her and her companion were in a threesome and someone needed to go. A sister in another area had hurt her back and had to go home. Sister Staheli was chosen to take her place. We had become very close and I hated to see her go. We both cried. Elder Allen called the assistances to see if we can drive her to her new area. This way we could spend some time with her. We met Elder Mosley and Elder Goodwin and the zone leaders from Grimsby at Doncaster to make the exchange. Seeing those elders and being with Sister Stahlei a few minute minutes made the drive all worth it. It's funny because we never know when we're going to see the assistances. They showed up a few days later at our district meeting. I joke with them and said "how come you guys keep following us around?" "You know know Elder Mosley, that means I have to take your picture. Your mother would never forgive me if I didn't." I hope you enjoy the pictures also.