It's the 1st snowfall of the winter!

From Dec. 1, 2008 email: We got our first snow yesterday, but it didn't stick. Yay! It's a VERY foggy day. . . I've never felt so claustrophobic!

This week was busy because of Zone Conference & Thanksgiving. Monday night we had an appointment with Lillian which went great! We took Sister Woodward, a new move in, with us & they clicked. Both were Home-Ec teachers & short & had a few other things in common. When Sister Woodward shared her testimony, it really touched Lillian. I know that she felt the Spirit. Now we just have to get her praying & reading the BoM.

We had Zone Conference on Wednesday instead of Thursday because of Thanksgiving. Such a super meeting! They talked a lot about faith, which I have been lacking a lot. The mission must be needing more faith as a whole, even though I felt like each training was directed towards me. The assistants gave the 3 stages of faith: 1-sounds good; 2-belief; 3-knowledge. For too many of us, our faith is in the belief stage. We don't make that extra stretch to make it a knowledge. We believe that there are people out there waiting for us to find them. We don't have that hope & faith to KNOW they are out there.

Thanksgiving was great! We started out our day at the Hartford Zone Turkey Bowl at Trinity College in Hartford. That was my 1st time in the city of Hartford. What an experience! Sister Haueter & I were the only Sisters there & she didn't want to play, so I didn't get in on any games. But I don't want to make the Elders look bad, do I? :) I got to toss the ball around a bit so that made me happy. I caught a somewhat difficult pass & one of the Elders said, "She's on my team." Hahaha. I have to thank my brothers that I'm making a good impression on the Elders with my sweet football skills. I made a pumpkin & a coconut cream pie & took them so the Elders could stuff their faces. Good reviews! And thanks Mom for that package [pie ingredients]! I loved it! Later that day we went to the Rasbands for dinner. They're such a great family. Dinner was amazing as usual. They do something each night called "thankfuls" where each person says what they are thankful for. I said I was most thankful to have a family out here that would take us in & treat us like our own would. I almost teared up after I said that. It was my 1st little bit of homesickness. But it didn't last too long. I thought the holidays would be a bit harder to get through, but I'm doing good so far. Although I miss being with the family this time of year, I'll survive. I know I'm doing a great work here.