"We just about looked at each other and screamed like little girls because we were so excited"

Dear Friends and Family,
We had a WONDERFUL Skype chat with Elder Dahlberg for an hour on Christmas.  Some ward members were gracious to donate the use of their computer so that both Elders could talk to their families.  We took a family picture in between stories and a few tears...  (Who, me?  cry???  He started it...)

Merry Merry Christmas from Bath, Maine to San Diego, California!!

We had a good email chat back and forth today, so I'll try to piece it all together to make this blog entry.  He sent lots of fun pictures as well.

Best Christmas Ever.. And its strange to say it but i think its true. I got the best Christmas present anyone could ever have which was family and love. I got both of them when i got to skype home on Christmas. That was the best Christmas Present i could have been given. But thank you to everyone who sent me Christmas Cards, especially (Sister Collins! The Bowers Family! The Oldners! Aunt Lynn! Grandma Petersen! The Noltes!!!) (The Noltes win coolest Christmas card of the year.) Thank you for the Kringles too mom. (For those non-scandinavians... Craig's mom makes us a sweet bread like treat for Christmas morning called Kringles. They rarely actually last until Christmas morning...)  I ate those so fast the bag didn't even get unzipped... (True Story) This Christmas was great! I got to have Brunch over at my Ward Mission Leaders house. The Jones family. They are really awesome and possibly the best ward mission leader and meal coordinator in the entire mission.  And than after Brunch i went to the Derrs for Christmas dinner that was very well put together and tasted great! Than i skyped my family from there and i haven't been so excited/anxious/nervous in forever until then. (I cant talk today..) So some things that have been happening in my world as a missionary other than Christmas was that Alex has now gotten a new phone and we will be meeting with him this week sometime. 

The Jones family  Ward Mission Leader

This is the Jones family. No doubt about it they are the best in the mission. I seriously don't think anyone can be better than they are.

On Saturday we were walking to a families home to give them Tupperware back and we turned down a street and a man who was getting stuff out of his car stopped us and told us that he was Mormon and that he hadn't been to church in over 20 years. and that he would like to start going back. Elder Lund and I just about looked at each other and screamed like little girls because we were so excited. We gave him our phone number and we got his and we will also be meeting with him this week. His name is Pete B**** He has an upcoming heart surgery and has a broken finger from what i saw. He is around 50 years old and has a dog that can supposedly shake with all 4 paws. Thats what he told us and we will put that to the test next time we see him and his dog. 

Sunday, we finally had a full 3 hour day of church. its been 2 full weeks without all of church due to crazy bad weather. But after church we went to a Less-Active ladies house named Janet T*****. she is Colombian and she had her 20 year old niece, Brigitte there who is from Colombia and is here for a month to learn English. Elder Lund and i knew this and we came prepared with a list of questions to ask her to get her more familiar with the English language. We talked with her for about an hour and i could see improvement with every question that i asked. I learned from that experience that you cant learn anything without trying it. Just like how Brigitte needed to learn English so she needed to constantly be speaking it. 

The weather here has been different from what im used to. Sunday night it was a snow/sleet/rain storm and there was all types of stuff falling from the sky. The snowflakes were as big as quarters and they would fall much slower than the rain, which was also falling while the snow was. 

Icy branches

Snow looks so pretty, but...

you have to shovel it!

Or just be silly!

Christmas gifts from friends and family

Huge boots at LL Bean store

These are all my Christmas Presents! THANK YOU FOR EVERY LITTLE THING!!! i felt so overwhelmed when i opened it all. I was like wow. they really care about me.

The Derr family is really into Lego's.  Here are some pictures of their collection, and then a picture of their gift to Elder Dahlberg..

Wow!  That's some serious Lego building!  Very cool!

'sup dude?  

Maybe in a couple of years...

Thanks for the constant love and letters. I really appreciate it.