North Carolina In December 

I am going to make this one a little shorter I think because we are going to be talking on Thursday and I AM SO BEYOND EXCITED I CAN BARELY HANDLE IT!

For a specific time that I am going to be Skyping, here it is!

Sister Burrows and I call about 12:15 your time.  So what I am going to do is call you on our cell phone, then I am going to set up the Skype call with either Mom, Dad, or Beth.  (Whoever you want!)  Then we will have about an hour to talk!  I hope you got my email earlier about the Skype question.  You sent me the username and password for one account, which is great!  But I am going to need you to send me the username for the account that I am supposed to be calling on Thursday because you can't operate a two-way call on the same account.   Please and Thank You!

Speaking of Presents... I LOVE THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS THAT YOU GUYS SENT ME THIS YEAR!  They were so creative!  I think one of our favorite things was the tags that you put on them.  We were laughing soo hard every time we got to open a new one.  I laminated them by hand with packing tape and I am keeping them!  By the way - Yes I received Grandma and Grandpa Deinstadt's second package as well as their Christmas Package and the cash. Tell Grandma and Grandpa D – Thank You.  Oh!  Will you let the Wharton's know that I got their card as well?  The pictures are priceless!  I love them!  Tell them thank you for me!  Will you also call Rich and Pam and tell them that I got their package?  It was so sweet of them to send a nativity and table runner and I LOVE THEM!  

So I take it that shopping went well?  You'll have to tell me what you got them.... or send me pictures of everything after they have opened it, along with the Christmas tree

Good luck to Beth on the Wisdom Teeth!  It is now a contest.  Let's see whose recovery was worse.  Keep in mind that I was eating whole food and up and moving around in 4 days.  Just saying... haha Jk!  But in all seriousness.. I hope everything goes well kiddo and take as long as your body needs to recover because it isn't fun.  :(

You can send the letters to anyone you want to!  (With the exception of a few.. and I don't even have to say it, mom.  You already know.)  Past that, I don't care who it goes to, and HI EVERYBODY!  haha

Good luck with catching up on the blog by the way.  Hope it isn't too hard for you.  If you have to make the posts a little bit smaller for the last few weeks... do it!  But make sure you're putting pictures on there for me!  Thanks mom!  Love you!

I am glad that my plaque looks good!  I am excited to receive it when I get home!  Sister Burrows' leg is doing a lot better.  Now it's just a little pink rather than all gross and cut up.  I haven't had to go on splits without her yet, although she did get super sick last night because she is exhausted and wasn't able to function.  She started to get a fever and a cough.  But I just made her go to bed for a few hours and we are taking it easy today so that it doesn't relapse.

If I am her companion till the end of her mission, I will make positively sure she finishes with a BANG!  Because that is definitely what I want to do!  So, no worries.  By the way, reminding me that you were sick with amoebas reminded me that my situation is not bad at all. 

Okay so here it goes, but it'll be short.  Mostly because we had to update the iPad area books this week and all of our previous plans were deleted.  So that's always fun.  

Monday-

We went shopping with Sister H to get some essentials, the elders Christmas presents, etc.  (I may be sending some things home periodically throughout my mission because if there is one thing I have undoubtedly learned from Sister Burrows, it's that you should never wait until the last moment to send everything home.)  It is going to cost her anywhere from $20-$200 to send all of the stuff home that she has accumulated throughout her mission.  Geez!  So I may be sending one home after Christmas... and it may include something from NC if I can get it to stay good that long.  Then we came home from shopping, ate some taco soup that was probably one of the hottest things I have ever put into my mouth.  Did you know that corn soaks up spice?  Me neither.  Brother H was practically crying because it was so hot.  He got 4 glasses of water.  haha  Then we went to teach some investigators with her and went home for the night.

Tuesday-

We think that we woke up, planned, went to check Facebook, had lunch, did a few hours of finding, and then we headed to King to get some dinner at a place called Dairie-O's.  Yes, it sounds like a cereal brand, but it is comparable to Dariy Queen.  So we ate that while we were fixing the areabook with the Library's free wifi (Yay for being a missionary and stealing free internet use!).  Then we tried to drive around and go caroling to some of the less-actives in the ward.  Unfortunately, none of them were home or we got lost without a GPS.  So we went back to the library and waited for the Elders to call us for the split lesson that we were supposed to do at 8.  They met us there and we all drove to her house, sang Joy to the World, and taught her about the importance of prayer and how we need to turn to the Lord in time of stress and need.  We also met her son and he is HILARIOUS!  But those are stories for another time!  haha  Then we headed home and went to bed.

Wednesday-

We went up to Holly Springs that day because we had a lunch appointment, after we got up and did studies, with a member.  She is the sweetest thing.  She doesn't like to cook and she usually doesn't even sit at the table with us while we were eating.  So, bless her heart, the woman went to Wendy's and bought us lunch and brought it home. 

Thursday-

We got up, planned, ate lunch, and hit finding HARD that day.  We are trying so hard every day to find what President Craven calls, "the Elect."  They are hiding from us though.  haha  That night, we went to a member home for dinner.  We went to the N's that night.  They are so beyond funny.  We talked about how the work is going, etc.  Then their daughter wanted to bring a Christmas tree to her uncle and cousins because they weren't going to be able to have one this year.  So we helped them devise a plan and commended them on their service opportunity.  Then we went home, Sister Burrows got an amazing blessing from the Elders because she was having a hard day, and we went to bed.

Friday-

We had to wake up really early and get ready to go to Zone Conference in Winston-Salem.  By the time we got there, most of the seats were taken by the sisters.  And since Elders and Sisters can't sit together, we had to be the cool missionaries and create our own row behind the AP's.  haha  Overall, the meeting was really great!  Except for the fact that I couldn't fall asleep till 2 the night before and I was unbelievably tired.  And it was a 7-hour meeting!  Yay for missionaries!  haha  But it wasn't that bad because in that 7 hours, we also had lunch and played a huge game of Jeopardy for our "Christmas Party" which had all the categories set as things from our mission and mission guidelines.. fun right? Then we headed home and got home just in time to go to the member's house for dinner.  That was a great night!  And to finish it, she gave us each a cookie basket!  WE HAVE SOOOO MUCH FOOD!  But like President Craven said, this is really the only area that happens in, so enjoy it now!  After dinner, we went to Choir Practice for the rest of that night because we had to get ready to sing the Cantata that we sang on the 5th in church on Sunday.  Then we sent a couple of emails, went home, planned, and went to sleep.

Saturday-

We woke up, planned, went to see one of our potential investigators, had lunch, and had another HUGE DAY OF FINDING!  We went out and did street contacting.  Then when that didn't work, we went door knocking.  Then when that didn't work, we decided to add Caroling in with it.  Miracle Story:  We were going door to door caroling and talking about He Is The Gift.  We were about to pass this one house because it didn't look like they were home.  Sister Burrows was leaving it up to me that night where we went, so I was just going to pass on it.  We got to about the middle of their yard and decided "Why the heck not?"  So we went up to the door, knocked, and began singing Joy to the World.  The utter shock on her sons face was priceless.  I'd say he was about 15.  So he called his mom and sister over and they were also shocked.  The daughter (who I would say is about 20) asked if we were cold and the mom invited us in.   We started talking and she said that her best friend growing up was Mormon and that it left a lasting impression on her.  We decided to show them He Is The Gift.  By the end of the video and our testimonies, they were in tears.  Stephanie asked us to come back whenever we wanted to.  So we set a return appointment for today and they said that they were so excited that they were going to make rice crispy treats.  However, something came up today, so we are actually going to go back on Friday once everything from Christmas calms down for her.  So I'll have to let you know how it goes next week.  If they get baptized, I am going to call them my "What If" family. After that, it was getting really late so we headed home, planned, and went to bed.

Sunday-

We woke up, went to church a little later because our meetings for the morning were cancelled, sang the cantata and finished up the meetings.  Like I said earlier, Sister Burrows wasn't feeling good yesterday, so most of the day yesterday and today was spent with her sleeping and me doing whatever.  I am in the process of transferring all of my notes to my lds.org account and so I can email them to you so you can read them.  You'll really like it I think.

Just remember that I love you all sooooo much!  I will talk to you on Thursday and I will look for your reply letter tonight.  

LOVE YOU GUYS TONS!  TALK TO YOU SOON AND HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Ash