Thank(goodnessitsover)sgiving

What a week. Let me give you a play by play, starting with Thanksgiving day.

6:00 am we're at the Tacoma Narrows bridge, ready for our zone Turkey Trot. 1 mile each way, it was pretty freezing, but we needed to pre-work off all the food we were going to eat that day. 8:00 am Turkey Bowl with one of the wards, except this was wayyyy more intense than we were expecting, so the sisters mostly ended up in a huddle all trying to get warm with one blanket. 12:00 pm the madness begins, Dinner 1. Not bad, tons of food, but we weren't expected to eat a ton, which was nice. 2:00 pm, Dinner 2. Definitely the best one. I went all out on this one, even getting seconds on some things. Totally worth it. 3:00, Dinner 3. I barely made it through. At one point my stomach started going crazy and making noises (which it does frequently anyways) but that was awkward haaaaa. I thought I was going to explode. Then at 5:00 we had a dessert appointment and by the time we were finished I never wanted to see food ever again. And if I ever see a turkey again..........I'm going to let him run away. By the time we made it to the mission home at 7:00 I was done. I just sat on the floor and watched everyone play games and tried not to throw up everywhere. I think I ate a lot of lactose-filled foods between potatoes and pies and it did a number on me. Crazy that last Thanksgiving I was in the MTC. How different those two holidays were and how different I was. I can't believe how fast that went.

Friday was a ridiculously slow day, so we just won't really talk about it.

Saturday. Oh Saturday, didn't go at all like I thought it would. One of my favorite families from Steilacoom, the Agor's (Mike and Wilma and two of their kids, Kalei and Hoku) were going to the temple to be sealed. I didn't baptize them, so I didn't think that I would be able to go, but the missionary who did baptize them is in my zone so President Weaver agreed to let me go on an exchange with her so that I could go to their sealing. It was so amazing. I went to a sealing last month for someone that my companion saw baptized, but it was so much more powerful when it was people that I know and love. I felt so much peace and love there. Driving through Steilacoom was like going home. I was so grateful that I got to go. The day took a twist though when we called our companions to let them know we were on our way back to find out that they were both sick and in bed at our house! We stopped and got them Gatorade, then went to an appointment they had in their area. They weren't home, so we headed back and my temporary comp started to not feel so good. We had to pull over at one point cause she thought she was going to hurl everywhere (pause: we got a new car this week! Brand-new Chevy Cruze that had 19 miles on it when we picked it up-there was no way I was going to let her puke all over that brand-new car haha) but she held it in until we got back to our house. By then my companion was fine but the other two weren't, so they laid in our beds while we went to a dinner appointment where we played a rigorous game of "Armor of God" and then hurried back to take care of our sick ones. They stayed there until they could get enough energy to get into the cars, and Robinson and I drove them home. Once we got there, the wave of sick hit me, and Robinson had to drive home fast so I could promptly plop down on my bed and pass out for the night-skirt still on (that's how you know it was bad).

Sunday morning, meetings at 7:00 am. Love it........can't wait for the time change at the new year. I was exhausted. But we had to keep it up cause we were singing in sacrament meeting. Shaky, would be the best way to describe that performance. Literally. I was shaking in my boots. I barely made it through church and then I had to go home and sleep. I made it to a dinner with a member, but afterward I just curled up in a little ball in the front seat and couldn't move. Needless to say we were out for the night. So, not the most productive week of my life, but that is what Advil, saltine crackers, and repentance are for.

The highlight was definitely the temple. It was amazing to see those people that I love so much dressed in white and sealed together as a family for time and all eternity. There is nothing better than that, and to be with so many people who understood how important that moment was. The missionary who found them, who is home now, the missionary that baptized them, and the missionary who helped finish preparing them all got to go and see. I was blinking back tears, that's for sure.

I hope your Thanksgiving was nowhere near as close to filling as mine was, but I hope that you enjoyed it and your turkey nonetheless. Have a great week. Write me a letter. Love you.

Sister Chronister