Cherrywine - 

That is what it is called !!! 

 It's great and there is no alcohol !!!

So on Monday-

We woke up, did studies, relaxed for a little bit, went to clean the car, and emailed.  After we emailed, we had to go down to King for the Zone Activity.  We basically went down to a big park/field like last time and played ultimate Frisbee and football.  They tried to get me to play, and I really wanted to, but I didn't want to mess up my ankle even more.  :P  So I just sat and took pictures.  We were only there for a little while before we had to go home, wash the car, go shopping, and go to dinner.  After getting all our chores done, (meaning we had to clean the house as well so that we could get sprayed for bed bugs on Thursday), we headed to dinner with  Sister H (Sister H's sister) and her best friend Sister S.  We went to Rigatoni's.  Then we went to go street contacting and try to see our investigator, but she wasn't home.  So at 9:00 we headed home, planned, and went to bed.

On Tuesday-

We woke up and got ready to go into Winston-Salem for my doctor's appointment with Dr. Biggerstaff for my ankle.  Turns out, the guy is a Mormon because the staff recognized us and he walked in and told us that the G's in our ward are his in-laws.  haha  Small world.  He looked at my ankle and said that he didn't want to do an MRI.. it wasn't quite that bad, but he did want more x-rays done.  It is definitely a high ankle sprain, not a regular one.  This is why it is taking so long to heal and it's swollen all the time.  So he put me in a lace-up brace for the next month.  Problem is, when I put my shoe back on, it wouldn't fit.  So we had to go buy me more boots so that I wouldn't freeze, and could still wear the brace.   The doctor said if it doesn't get any better by the first of the year, he will want to look at it and discuss surgery depending on the severity.  But he HIGHLY doubts that.  So no worries.  The other problem is, transfer meeting is on the 30th of this month.  So what the Cravens want to do is just send me to a different doctor in my new area if it so happens that I do get transferred.  Then we came back and went street contacting for a few hours, had dinner, went street contacting... i think?, got our mattresses moved out of our apartment because they had bugs (YAY!), gave the car to the Elders, planned, and went to bed.

On Wednesday-

We got up, planned, went to the library to grab the wifi to check Facebook, but got turned around due to construction, so we street contacted all the way home.  Then we ate lunch, and went street contacting all over Pilot on foot.  Fun Fact: It takes us 45 minutes to walk to our church building, but 3 minutes to drive.  Weird, right?  Then I got a blessing from Elder H and Elder E.  Partially because Elder H worries about me a lot and it was to help him just as much as it was to help me.  He asked if I had a specific question I wanted answered, which he knew I did.  But I said no, because I think of it like a birthday wish.  If you say it out loud, it won't come true.  And it definitely came true.  I have an extremely strong testimony of priesthood blessings because of my mission.  I always looked at it as encouraging words that the power of the priesthood brought about, but it is indeed God talking straight to the person receiving the blessing, and even the person giving it as well.  In the blessing, it said that I would be okay and gave me a few reasons as to why I am here.  When it said I would be okay, the Elders calmed down, and I took away the reasons that I am here.  It was great.  We think that Elder H may become the next District Leader, but we will see.  Then we went out to dinner at Cousin Gary's... another restaurant, and went to the church to help decorate for the activity on Friday. They really needed our help.  Without it, I really don't know if everything would have gotten set up for Friday.   haha  A member offered us to go get us milkshakes from Aunt Bee's and bring them back for us.  That was really sweet.  We then went home, planned, and went to bed.

On Thursday-

Apart from the fact that we got our apartment sprayed for bugs this morning... YAYAYAYAYAY!  We had planned to walk across the bridge.  Keeping in mind that this would take us 4 hours just to walk there and back, we weren't sure if we could pull it off because we didn't have that much time.  Ends up that we made it to McDonald's, ate some lunch, tried to update our iPads with the wifi, and just walked other areas of Pilot, we didn't have time.  Just as I suspected!  ;)  Then we went to dinner at Sopper's with the J's.  I figured out the trick with that place!  Then we went to iron tablecloths for Friday.  Then we went grabbed the car back, went home, planned, and went to sleep.  We got the car back because...

On Friday-

We woke up, finished personal study, and had to head to Winston-Salem for Zone Meeting.  It was really good, but we kind of felt chastised the whole time because of all the business items.  They (the Cravens) are really cracking the whip because they are leaving in July and they want to be able to fix everything that is wrong with the mission by the time they leave.  Even though there really isn't anything wrong.  Also, I have a secret that I will tell you later in the letter that is kind of freaking President Craven out.  Btw... he came to talk to us one on one on Saturday and said that you wrote him a letter the other week?  Why?  What did it consist of?  That makes me nervous.. haha  Anyway, then we went out to lunch at Panera Bread with Sister G and Sister A from Stuart, Virginia.  Sister G was one of the original three sisters in Pilot.  I adore her.  We then went back to Pilot, talked to D M and tried to get her and her mother to come that night to the program, but they didn't feel good.  Then we went to practice for Come Let Us Adore Him.  The practice was not good !  Everyone sounded bad  and I was super stressed.  So we finished practice, went to mingle for a few minutes, said hi to President and Sister Craven, and went to sit down.  The Methodist choir performed first, which was amazing!  After they finished, the pianist needed a seat, so Brother H gave her his.  So nice of him!  But then he didn't have a seat.  So I told him to sit down by me.  Then the Presbyterian choir performed.  Which was also amazing, then us.  We got up there and as soon as we opened our mouth, you could tell that legions of angels were helping us, we sounded UNBELIEVABLE!  Seriously.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the live Nativity, but I will send you pictures of it when people post them.  We then got to go see all the many Nativity sets that were displayed in the relief society room, and go mingle while everyone was having refreshments.  The Elders handed out about 50 pass along cards for He Is The Gift, and we were just cordial and made new acquaintances.  We went way over time that night, so we headed home about 9:45 and went to bed.

On Saturday-

We woke up, did studies, went walking for a little bit because Sister B and I were having a morning.  President and Sister Craven always come talk to the missionaries when they are in their specific area, but I got nervous, which kind of irritated her.  We were also trying to plan out how many people want us over for Christmas, so we were stressed.  We walked around and came back to talk to them.  We just talked about the area, our health, our studies, and our relationships with others.  It was a nice talk.  We went street contacting in the rain for a few hours and then came home, got dried off, and went to Cousin Gary's again with another member.  We then caught the end of the Pilot Mtn. Parade, went home, got our coats, and tried to go see C.  Again... unsucessfully.  She wasn't home.  So we went home, made up some planning, and went to bed.

Now Sunday Morning-

We are getting ready to get picked up by a member for ward council right?  We walk out of the apartment, and for some silly reason, Sister B decided that she wanted to make a dramatic entrance into the member's car.  She decided to (ever so gracefully) trip over her own foot, off the curb, and slide a few feet on the concrete.  SIDE NOTE: I DO NOT do blood.  Even though it was only a little bit, I was on the verge of passing out all day long.  She got scraped up a little, but the lady in our ward that helped her, because I was going to pass out, said it was nothing serious.  I will attach pictures below.  So we made it to church, got into sacrament meeting, she felt something hot and sticky on her leg, and found out that she had bled through all the bandages.  SHE NEVER STOPS BLEEDING I SWEAR!  haha  But she is okay.  We rebandaged it and we are going to the store to get her more stuff soon.  We went to lunch after choir, to the B's, who live all the way in Germanton.   After that, we spent a few hours trying to round up people to go to the Christmas Devotional.  Did you guys watch it?  It was amazing!  If you didn't, get on and watch.  We were kind of irritated though because President said that we could only go if we got people to come with us.  Sister B and I got two families there, Elders H and E got two families there, and the other Elders came with no one. 

This morning:  P-day

We have been taking it really easy because of Sister B’s leg and my ankle, so we took a much needed nap after planning, ate lunch, and came to email.  She is going home in February, so she is going to the local t-shirt shop by her house and is going to make me, her boyfriend, his brother, and her all shirts that say "I take naps on P-Days".  hahaha  It'll be great.

Okay.  Now for the fun stuff.

The secret I had earlier was that... ELDER D. TODD CHRISTOFFERSON IS COMING TO WINSTON-SALEM TO TALK IN STAKE CONFERENCE!  We are kind of beyond excited.  It is a treat alone to get a member of the 12 and of the 70 to come to your mission, but he has personal ties to North Carolina because he lived and worked here in Charlotte in Law for a while.  It should be amazing.  So we are going down for the mission conference on Saturday morning where he wants to personally meet all the missionaries in the mission, the adult session on Saturday night, and the stake conference on Sunday morning with the M's.  Isn't that great??????  I'm really excited!

I am so excited for the magnets!  I will take pictures of them and show you!  Thank you all so much for making those for me!  They will really help people.  I am going to try my hardest to give them away to what President Craven calls "the elect".  Because I don't want to give them to just anyone who will probably throw them away.  You know?  I may give a few to a few members, but we'll see.  I will definitely show them the message that you put on the back whether it is a member or a non-member.  I really love that you guys are focused on what you can do for others this Christmas.  Of course, enjoy the presents and other things, but I only hope that you are getting the blessings that I am getting from my mission.  I love the fact that I get to help out the people of Pilot 24/7.  I want to hear more stories of how you have been able to help people out

Whatever else you want to include in the Christmas Package is up to you!  Btw... yes - please open the package I sent you.  It has instructions in there on what to do with the ornaments as well as anything about my ankle that I may have forgotten.  I love your spiritual thought for this week.  I challenge each of you to keep sharing the He Is The Gift video with as many people as you can this week and invite the spirit and Christ into as many homes as possible this Christmas season.  I love you all more than you can even imagine!  It is unfathomable... literally!

Loves and Hugs!

Ashley