Catch Up

I have to say, I am so impressed with my friend the Paces who are serving in the Mission Office in Ghana.  They post on their blog every Sunday.  I aspire to do that but I forget to take pictures and find that there really isn't a whole lot for me to write about.  I have been saving up for weeks and these are a few of the activities we have participated in over the last three weeks.

The Young Single Adults Ward that we have been assigned to likes to have activities.  Once a month we have a game night.  People bring all kinds of games.  Everyone goes for the game that they want to play and we have lots of snacks.  I have discovered Bannanagrams!

We also have Linger Longer after church several times a month.  There is always a theme.  The last one was just before Thanksgiving so of course it was a Thanksgiving theme. 

                                                                         Rebecca

Kiery, Rebecca and Alec.

 The Relief Society had had a pie baking night a few weeks ago.  Attendance was sad.  Only three girls came but they made lots of yummy pies and so we got to enjoy them at Linger Longer on Sunday.

Elder Halstrom

Elder and Sister Stevenson

 On November 13 we had the great blessing to have an ALL Mission Conference with Elders Halstrom and Stevenson.  All 185 missionaries traveled to Altoona.  We had some wonderful instruction from servants of the Lord and all who attended were blessed for the time we had there.  The next day, we had a special Stake Conference and Elder Stevenson spoke there.  We had met the Stevensons when we were in Guam and it was good to be able to attend these meetings and hear him again.  His wife spoke in the Stake Conference.  They have a son attending Carnegie Mellon University here in Pittsburgh and so Elder Stevenson asked his daughter -in-law to speak in Conference.

This is our entire group of missionaries in the PA Pennsylvania Mission.

Elder Haroldsen is our Fleet Coordinator and works in the office with us. He really enjoys photography and takes all the Zone Conference pictures and any others he can. This was when he was taking the picture at the All Mission Conference.  He does a really good job of photo shopping.  If you go back to the group pic you will find he added himself on the right hand side.

We got to drive this new Suburu to the conference to switch out for a car we are now selling.  Wayne really liked the cruise control.

This is Elder Gull.  He was assigned to produce the Mission Video for 2016.  For the entire month of November he came to the office a few times a week and worked on it the entire day.  The finished product was presented at our December Zone Conferences.

This is Sister Casler.  She is the Mission Secretary and works in the office also.  On this day, she was working on gift bags that were given to all the missionaries at the Zone Conference.

I had been working on these all week to go in the bags Sister Casler made.  This is the Mission Cookbook.  Next time I get an idea I really need to think through how much work it will involve.  I also bought myself a binding machine so I could make them.  One of the Elders mothers had also made a PPM Christmas ornament that was really cute and that went in the bag. Sister Johnson had mission recommend holders, a picture of Christ, a Christmas card from the First Presidency and another from the Johnsons.  They turned out really nice but of course I did not get a picture of the finished product.

I did take a picture of a finished product I had been working on.  This was my fall wreath.  It is a stitch and fold project and I now have a Christmas one hanging on the door.  The fall one is now on my table with a flower in the center as my centerpiece. 

We went into the downtown area of Pittsburgh and enjoyed the lights and a Christmas Market. 

One of the favorite vendors was a Kathe Wolfhart store.  We had been to her store in Rothenburg Germany and it is amazing.  I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of merchandise in this little temporary shop in the middle of Pittsburgh

They also have a beautiful, big tree in the middle of a big ice skating rink they set up.  Not many people on this night but we went back a week later and it was very full.

Bad pic but we returned to the Benedem Theater to see Christmas Story the Musical.  It was very good but as you can tell, we were way up in the balcony. 

 
The theater is very old.  It has been restored but much of the décor is original.

For Thanksgiving, the Ader Family, the Clarke's and the Chritensen's cooked dinner for all those in the YSA Ward who had not gone home.  We had about 17 show up.  They played games before dinner and then we ate.  Brother Ader had cooked two turkeys and then he told everyone to take leftovers home in the Styrofoam trays that he had brought.

Elder Clarke really enjoyed his meal.

I have a lot more that I could post now but this is getting way too long so I will save it for another day.  I have been taking a lot of pictures or at least I have been trying to.

As you can see, we do keep active and we have fun here and there.  We have been seeing a lot of Pennsylvania and we love it here.  But the thing we enjoy most is working with the missionaries and members here.  We love the work we are doing and try to make ourselves available to help in any way we can.  We miss family but know this is where we are supposed to be at this time.