Freemont 25

This past week was amazing. :) lots of fun crazy things happened. xD lol

Monday we were going to play Jurassic park but the elders were late so
we just played sports and watched one of our zone leaders try to not
fall down while rollerskating around the church gym. Traffic made us
late to dinner.

Tuesday we went to Shinn park - it had been raining so they didn't
expect us. :) we went to teach a darling little 11 year old Skylare.
Her younger sister was baptized about a year ago (mom and grandma were
less active) and she started coming to church with that sister about
six months ago. Miscommunications were made on Sunday about when she
was to be baptized but they decided. We went to the temple with the
institute group and some investigators. Natalie turned the insane age
of 18 (how dare she grow).

Wednesday we tried going to another service but it was closed. We
taught Skylare the rest of the lessons - all of them in two days wow.
And no one showed at bible study.

Thursday was awesome. Mission get together! We started with breakfast
then a devotional. Then there was the talent show! I sang a mash up of
Angels We Have Heard on High/O Come O Come Emmanuel/God Rest Ye Merry
We then had a gift exchange by zone - mine was wrapped the way my friends do it, all in different
layers of duct tape. E Brown picked it - and no cutting of the tape
allowed. xD we were then allowed by President Mella to watch a movie.
The choices were The Other Side of Heaven or The Prince of Egypt.
Those who know me well can guess that I voted for the one I could sing
to, PofE. Problem was we were divided 50/50, and with President as the
deciding vote we watched OSofH. Well, at least I hadn't seen it in a
while and understood a bit more things because I have had a Tongan
companion - who happened to sit behind us. xD We left before the movie
ended (boy is it long) and were still late to Skylares baptismal
interview. The poor darling was sooo nervous - but we told the elders
who were interviewing her that, so everything was fine. We went to
Sister Hoskins and met her daughter Heather, who is home for
Christmas. I got a box with presents from my family - with the pajamas
I had been anticipating! Owls. :) and yes that was my idea - or fault
if you ask Natalie. xD she made some for my companion as well. My
darling Abigail turned 8! Ahhh! I remember when she was born! It was
six in the morning and dad told me to babysit, and then
later I was the first kid to hold her.

Friday was CHRISTMAS! :) most important thing is that I was able to
skype my family. <3 and="" brother="" everyone="" grew="" my="" now="" p="" somehow="" what="">sings bass. Hurray! We then went to prepare something we were doing for
the zone. :) then dinner. Then the thing - which of course everyone
was late to, I've come to expect them to be late. We put on a
treasure hunt for the elders. xD they all thought it was fun, so we
did good.

Saturday was Skylares baptism! :) yay! We went to ACS service. Waited for
transfer calls - and thankfully neither of us are leaving, I get to
keep my companion until she goes home, which is at the end of this
transfer.

Sunday was church. We did singing time in the primary and nursery for
one of the wards. It was awesome - there are very few kids (maybe 5 in
Jr. and Sr together, with about 3 in nursery) so it was fun. Sis Smith
also gave a short talk in primary. And we went to the outgoing
fireside - Heather drove us in her mustang. It was awesome.

Also, we froze twice this week. And there was frost on the Windows of the car.

I almost can't believe that 2015 is just about over! But I know that
as long as we look forward we can do great things. Everyone want to go
and watch the Mormon message New Years: Look Not Behind Thee? Good. :)

Have a wonderful new year! Love you all,

Love,

Sister Kelly

Sister Smith at Shinn park

The Oakland temple!

Sister Smith and I at the temple.

Sister Smith and I right after skyping with family.

Skylare!

The Bishop baptized Skylare!

All of us at the temple

Freemont 24

Monday was a sisters pday with Sister Mella at our stake presidents
house. It was all about etiquette and manners. Then we emailed while
playing board games with the zone. We visited a recent convert.

Tuesday we went to Shinn park service. It was fun. We went to institute.

Wednesday we had zone studies then district meeting. District meeting
question "what is your favorite Christmas tradition?" Went to viola
Blythe. Visited some referrals. Went to a relief society dinner thing
than to bible study.

Thursday we went to Sis Hoskins. Went to ACS service. It was my amazing parents
anniversary. :)

Friday we had a lesson but it got cancelled. So we planned with some
elders we are co teaching with. Dinner was at one of the bishops
houses. Had a small youth sports night. Lydia turned 14 and is now
able to go to church dances.

Saturday we had zone sports with a random homeless guy who wanted to
get warm. Measured how tall a table was with sis smith. xD There was a
zone breakfast at the stake presidents house which was fun. Although
we were surprisingly the first ones there - usually the zone leaders
are there first but nope. All the elders were late. We helped a member
move and destroyed a couch. :) we had dinner with the bible study
group. Then we had a zone prayer about Sunday.

Sunday was the day where. . . Let me start from the beginning. Before
I arrived in this area, the zone leaders and Pres Mella and the stake
president were in a meeting discussing the numbers for the upcoming
months. There was a typo. Instead of 80 at sacrament for the month, it
was 80 for the week. President Mella said the number was inspired, so
the zone prayed about it and dec 20th was decided as the day. We ended
up with 42, which was very good. The members stepped up and it was the
day of the Christmas programs. One of the wards primary gave us and
the elders we co cover with bags of food and necessities like
toothpaste for Christmas. Also found out that the son of one of the
bishops was in the same mission as my cousin Amanda and he said he
knew her!

I am super excited for this upcoming Christmas week! There is a
mission Christmas Eve party and talent show  and white elephant gift
exchange (which is lining up to be hilarious) and on Christmas we get
to talk to our families. :) my district is planning on going caroling
to our investigators. The church's Christmas initiative is amazing and
I could watch it over and over - if you haven't seen it, you should!

Merry Christmas!

Sister Kelly

Freemont 23

Monday was awesome. After emailing we went bowling as a zone, which
was lots of fun. We went to dinner at a young family's home and they
did FHE with us. We got home to find that the Spanish elders were
having dinner with a member in our apartment complex, so we decorated
their car. . . .and helped clean it up after watching their reaction
from behind some bushes. :)

Tuesday was my five month mark. I can't believe it. Somehow I've been
out that long. We had our zone training this morning from 11-3:30. It
was long, but split in parts and awesome. For the first half, E. Handy
and Wilson taught a short lesson about contacting and then we went
contacting for an hour - because the zone leaders were setting up the
second half, which was focused on Christ. They set up the seminary
tables and took some decorations from a Ward bulletin board and
decorated the tables. They borrowed a nativity set from a member. They
wrote each member of the zone a short letter thanking them for
contributing to the mission and zone. Sis Smith and I taught the
lesson. It was beautiful. After that we went to visit the Wood family
- the dad is less active because of work and the rest are non members
totally willing to be members, they just need to come to church. Went
to Institute. We had enchiladas for dinner and watched the John tanner
story and talked about the kirtland temple.

Wednesday was awesome. We had zone studies. There were few zone people
there, just us and the Spanish elders and the Irvington elders. We
talked about emergency preparedness and did role plays. We did service
at Viola Blythe. We had dinner a little early, then went to the temple
with Sis Hoskins because an investigator was going up. The lights were
up on temple grounds and the skyline was clear enough that we could
see San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Also sorry, no pictures
of that till next week because we are unable to go on a computer.

Thursday we cleaned our car and did service at ACS. I got a Christmas
letter from a cousin - and sorry Seth, I would send one back but I
don't have enough stamps. Next year though. . . . xD

Friday was Zone Conference - the reason we cleaned our car. We were
there from 11-4:30. It was fun and President Mella was an investigator
in a role play. :)

Saturday was my darling little sister Rachel's third birthday. :) I
spent most of the day gushing about her and showing pictures to any
members we saw. We went to a Christmas party for a Ward we are not in. We were asked to
sing, but sis smith tried to get us out of it and so that is how I
ended up singing a solo for a Ward we aren't in. xD "Love Knows No
Borders" by Sally DeFord.

Sunday we went to sacrament and Ward councils then went home so sis
smith could rest - because she was sick. Then we went to help with a
sacrament meeting at a rest home. Then off to see the beautiful temple
hill choir concert.

I don't think this upcoming week will be as busy. :) although, there
are two important events in my family. . . . xD

Also I've been in my second area for about three weeks. Ahh!

Can't wait till Christmas!

Love and miss you all!

Sister Kelly

Somehow we are lined up by height. . . 

I hope we all spend some time contemplating the gift in the manger.

We all blocked Spanish in. 

Sis. Smiths actually indestructible fort. :) We were playing dodge ball. 

The Elders' fort

Zone p-day-bowling

Freemont-22

Monday we played sports as a zone. we cleaned for apartment inspections.

Tuesday we finished cleaning. sister Mella visited at the exact time the apartment inspectors got there. Helped the same member finish moving. we went to dinner/institute.

Wednesday started with zone study. Then we split for district meetings - our question was "in five words, what was a missionary to you personally before your mission?". Then I insisted on taking a zone picture - so we did. went to chick-fil-a for lunch. Went to a food bank service. visited with sister Hoskins while she made us dinner.Taught a small bible study class.

Thursday we tried to see Dani. went to practice a song I was asked to sing for a christmas party (i'll try and get it recorded). we did service at ACS.

Friday we got the caulking in our bathroom fixed. saw Mahi. did a sports night with the youth. I got my box and a thing of letters from my family. :)

Saturday we did weekly planning. went to the g ward christmas party - and at the same time Midge was baptized in santa cruz! we couldn't find a ride so we didn't go, but I was promised pictures. :)

Sunday we went to church and Dani wanted to stay all six hours with us. Started making a planner for Sis. Hoskins. We had dinner then went to watch the christmas devotional. tried to find some referrals.


Sister Smith was so cute with this cat!

Our little apartment Christmas tree-thanks sister smith's mom!

Santa Cruz zone
Freemont zone

Freemont 21

Hello all! I have made it through my first transfer to a different area.

Monday we did the normal p-day stuff: shopping, emailing, etc. Sister
Unga wanted to go clothes shopping so we did that - I got a black
skirt. I insisted that we have a zone picture - because I somehow had
not taken one. The Watsonville Elders couldn't come, so it was our
district and the Watsonville sisters. We went to the Martins and I got
some oils samples.  :) we went to FHE and played volleyball and
basketball. I finished packing - easy as I packed most of it when I
got the call!

Tuesday I was so nervous that we got there an hour and fifteen minutes
early . . . . So. We went and did language study at a park. And I am
now in Fremont! Which is near the top of the mission. We have two
wards, C and G but we serve in the other wards by
invitation. My companion is Sister Smith (she was "born" {trained} in
SC as well) and literally her old companion and I just switched
places. Also we are basically the only sister missionaries in the
Zone. The other missionaries are Elder Champagne, Elder Pettingill,
Elder DeGroff and Sister DeGroff, Elder Handy (he plays the piano
well), Elder Feller-zl, Elder Wei and Elder Chen (Chinese?), Elder
Brown-Spanish-zl, Elder Wilson-district leader-Spanish, Elder
Twitchell-training, Elder Schiss-trainee (or baby if you use mission
lingo. Your "trainer" is your "mom" or "dad" and the trainee is a
"baby" - and yes we are super weird). The DeGroffs teach institute.

Wednesday we did a Zone Study - it was awesome. So basically we all go
to the church at 8 and do our personal study then at 9 do comp study
as a zone. It was really fun. We had district meeting. The question
was "What Disney character would you want as your companion?" The
questions are all focused on Disney - for some odd reason ;). Tried to
go to a service but it was closed. Went to see Sister Hoskins. She is
the mom here and she is awesome. Had a "meet the Mormons" movie night
with the institute.

Thursday was THANKSGIVING! We went to see a wedding - because she
called and said "you're going to be there, right?" So we went. Ate a
good turkey dinner at a members home. Played some zone sports later in
the day - because not everyone could do the turkeybowl, so.

Friday we did service at ACS - a cute thrift store.

Saturday we played morning sports with the zone. It's what we do for
exercise every Saturday. Had a coordination meeting with Elders Feller
and Handy because they serve in the same wards as us. We tried to
visit people.

Sunday we went to church. Hooray. Five hours instead of eight. xD sat
by a darling little eight month old in Sunday school. :)

And there are 26 days till Christmas!! Ahh! :) hope all the holidays
and birthdays go well! Four of my siblings have birthdays in December,
of course. xD

Love Sister Kelly

Elders Champagne, Schiss, Twitchell, and Pettingill. Sister Smith and I. 

And we can get on the computers - some of the elders got a key. 

Sister Kelly

This is Caramel, sister Hoskins dog with Sister Smith and I. 

So today we were helping someone move and we got to talking about how I am the oldest of eleven and so talked about how many siblings everyone else had and one said he only had two so another said "are you lds?"