Touchdown!

Dear Family and Friends-

  Wow.  I'm kinda on a high right now because of all the letters that have been appearing in my inbox.  Trying to read/reply to some of them, write to President, and then write my weekly letter has created a jumbled mess in my mind.  I'll do my best to sort through them in the few minutes I have left so you'll have a good idea as to what kind of adventures Sister Kolb and I got ourselves into this week.  Are you excited?  I'm excited!  Here's the news:

  Last week was quite the week.  Wednesday 'twas the day before Thanksgiving so Sister Kolb and I spent the morning running around looking for pumpkin pie filling to bake pumpkin cookies for some of the members.  Since we were in Gurnee to get some yarn (Sister Clark is making us sweaters!) we decided to save some time by venturing over to that Walmart instead of going all the way back to Waukegan.  30 minutes later, we discovered that the store was all out so we purchased a few things and then decided to run back to Waukegan to see if that  Walmart had any.  Negative.  It turns out that Mother Nature had too much rain this year, creating a shortage of pumpkin.  After a quick stop at our apartment to drop off the groceries, we ran back to Gurnee so Sister Kolb could borrow a U of U sweater from Brother Spencer.  (I'll explain why in a few lines.)  We asked him if his wife had any pumpkin to spare, but he could not confirm the question.  He suggested we go to the Gurnee library where Sister Spencer works and ask her ourselves.  We found her shelving books and approached her by asking if she had any books on crazy Mormons and then made us very happy by telling us that she did have a can to spare.  Bless her days!  That evening it was back to Gurnee for dinner with Rita's family and a lesson.  We showed Bruce faith paper and then had a lovely time talking with Rita and Irene about Joseph Smith.  I definitely think wonderful things will definitely be happening with that family very soon.

  Sister Kolb and I were up bright and early on a very rainy Thanksgiving morning to prepare for the much anticipated Turkey Bowl.  We missionaries had decided to play wearing Utah shirts.  Sister Kolb had U of U, Elder Balhorn wore BYU, and Elder Miller and I wore USU.  Everyone met at the church, but then had to wait for someone to run home and get a football.  Minor detail.  While waiting, the Elders, Adam Bourgeois, Sister Kolb and myself played a rousing game of basketball.  Not surprising, we beat the Elders.

   The Turkey Bowl took place on the football field across the street from the church.  Sister Kolb and I were on a team with Adam Bourgeois and Brother Van Noy.  The Elders were on a team with Brian Van Noy and Lisa Bourgeois.  Bishop Bourgeois soon arrived and we made him all time quarterback.  Now, please remember that I really had no idea what I was doing.  I kept looking at Sister Kolb so she could explain some of the vocabulary, such as "blitz" and "first down."  It still didn't make much sense, so Adam would just tell me to run after someone in a certain direction.  For the most part I gaurded Lisa because she is about my size.  However, by the end of the game I think she was a little scared of me.

  The field we played on had become very muddy from the rain the night before and that morning, but that did not deter us in any way.  I'm almost amazed no one ended up in the hospital because it got pretty ugly at times.  At one point I ran stright into Brian Van Noy and ended up on my back.  A few plays later I ran into Elder Balhorn and again ended on my back, but hit my head on the ground quite hard.  To make me feel better, Elder Miller dove through a puddle.  I think the Bishop and the others were quite surprised to see two sister missionaries playing football like we were.  Bishop told us that he'd never been chased by sister missionaries before and Sister Kolb responed with, "at least you're being chast."  I thought it was funny, but no one else got it.  Sister Kolb made the final touchdown, meaning that we once again beat the Elders.  Since no one had brought a cooler full of gatorade, the missionaries celebrated by diving through puddles.  Walking back to the car, we almost froze but it was worth it.

  After a lovely shower, we drove to the Campbell's for dinner and had a lovely evening with them, stuff ourselves silly.  I'll be home right after Christmas so I'm pretty sure the airport staff is just going to plop me on the plane.  The rest of the evening was spent at Bishop's, with Sister Kolb and I playing ping pong, Elder Balhorn and Brian Van Noy playing chess; Bishop, Adam, Brother Van Noy and Elder Miller playing foosball, and the wives chatting.  I definitely think this Thanksgiving was the best of my mission. I was slightly scared to go to sleep because I hit my head so hard, but Sister Kolb called Sister Child who assured me that I'd be fine.  Thank goodness because dying on my mission was not a pleasant thought.

   On Friday morning, neither Sister Kolb nor I woke up for exercise.  I'm pretty sure I would have thrown something at her if she'd tried.  I think I can honestly say that my body has never been so sore in my entire life.  That day and few days after, I was walking around like an old lady.  Every part of my body hurt, but I'm totally willing to play again.
  That night, I gained a new companion for 24 hours as part of a companion exchange.  My companion was a Sister Kaufusi from Tonga/California.  During our day together, I made sure she met the famous members of the ward, including Sister Clark and Sister Leonard.  Sister Leonard's husband was home and he made us an early lunch of apple and cheese omelets.  Yummy!  Who knew those two things would be such a good combination?  I fully support it.

  On Sunday Sister Kolb and I helped Rita decorate her tree.  It felt so good to be with a family and doing familyish things.  She's invited us over for Christmas and we are quite excited.

  My time is running short...

   *Irony:  I gave a talk in district meeting about "enduring diligently."  Was Elder Larsen trying to tell me something?  It went very well.

  *While tracting, I made up a story for Sister Kolb about Olga, Rudolph, and Jiminy Billy Bob in the Bahamas.  Quite entertaining.

   *We delivered cookies to the members yesterday and while knocking on the Bowker's door, Brother Bowker closed the door on us!  I never expected to get that from a member!  Sister Kolb and I had a good laugh, giving Brother Bowker a hard time.

  Okay, that's everything from my corner of the world.  I hope all is well with you.  I'm counting down the days until I get to talk to my favorite family!  Are you excited?  I'm excited!  The gospel's true!

             Sister Waters

P.S.  Transfers are next week.  Stay tuned as to where I'll be spending my last transfer!
P.P.S.  Compliments of Sister Spencer:  Where does Hitler keep his armies?  Up his sleevies!  I loved that one!  Hope it made you smile!