We Survived the First Holiday .....

We made it through the first Holiday with Sean away from home....okay, maybe I should re-phrase that.... I made it through the first holiday with Sean away from home...although we really missed having him here - and the house was quiet with just 4 of us - we all survived. Sean spent his Thanksgiving with a few families in his current ward and sounds like he had a nice time. Thought I would add some excerpts on the past few emails we've received from him:

Nov 29, 2011
Thanksgiving was a lot of fun for us. We ate at the trumbells for thanksgiving which was a ton of food and then hung out at the owens for the rest of the evening. Kevin will not be getting baptised the 17th, his kids however will be baptised the 16th. TWO weeks away!!! very exciting, whats also very cool is i was asked to do the baptism so thatll be a first. btw yes i have recieved the letters and the package. Thank you so much for that!! .... So i dont really know how the call home works but as soon as i know ill let you know. Im pretty sure it will be happening at the owens though so you may get to talk to them as well.

Yes.... very soon we get to talk to Sean... I CANNOT WAIT!! I am the Mom that has always talked to him everyday, texted a million times, etc.... and it has been so hard not having that instant communication with him... but I am learning!

Nov 22, 2011
....So transfers happened so its now official, me and strickland are companions in the van maren ward. For thanksgiving were going to the owens and the trumbelss. Were basically going to be at the owens all day and were going to the trumbells at 5. So that will be fun. I really dont know what i want for christmas....pictures of you guys ofcourse. A tie or two. Not skinny though just a regular tie. I really enjoy the stocking stuffers you know that, I dont want you guys to go all out though. Foucus on the boys and use what you would put into me on getting the boys ... Church movies and sountracks to them would be nice. Like the best tw years sountrack i would like. Anyways love you guys and miss you a ton as always !!!!!!

Nov 7, 2011

Yes i cant explain how bad last night sucked. thats when jones left. like it really stunk. but yes im with elder strickland now who is from kissimee florida. yes i get along with him very well so the next 2 weeks will be fun. elder roley who was his comp got et'd to rockland because some other missionaries got moved around as well. hahaaha, haidan cracks me up. he definitly knows what to say..... lol. yes its weird, ive been saying i have little brothers who are 7 and 9 but soon it will change lol. it must be very exciting for him. its a pretty big deal. [he is referencing an email conversation we had on Haidan's upcoming baptism] keep me posted on how everything goes. its really hectic right now, all our investigators are either not wanting to visit right now or just simply wont read the book of mormon, but they are slowly getting closer. the youth here are pretty cool. the stake youth actually just put on a play called savior of the world fri sat and sun. we werent sure how good it was gonna be but it actually was really good. a lot of talent and great singers from our ward alone.

We love hearing from Sean - and hearing about his mission. I've put a request out for more pictures, so hopefully he will send some again soon!

And of course..... if you are wanting to write him a letter or mail a Christmas message to him, please do so! He would love to hear from you! His address is listed on the right side of the blog.