Thanksgiving 2011

From the crossroads of the West.....

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

It’s official – the holidays have begun and from 5pm to 9pm, Temple Square is a madhouse of crazy. But amazing and fun. We’ve only experienced the first night, so I’ll tell you about TSquare later.

I literally had a dream come true on Thanksgiving. The Temple Square Mission had a DANCE PARTY! Well, a missionary-approved dance party. Still, super fun. But that was only a small part of the day’s festivities. Here’s a rough itinerary of my day:

6:30 - 10:00   Normal activities - study, exercise, etc.
10:00 - 12:30 TSquare time. Except for 2 FANTASTIC teaching appointments, which we are still rejoicing over.
12:30 - 12:50 Quick change! Get into P-day clothes (jeans) & get to Westgate.
1:00   Depart TSquare and head to.....nobody knows (even the driver - haha)
1:30 - 1:40     Arrive at Noahs!!!! (that's where everyone went last year) Greetings and Instructions by the APs. There are 3 game rooms, each with a tele screen, and across the hall a GIGANTIC room for eating & dancing)
1:40    Pool! I watch while compy plays.
          Watch crazy volleyball court with a giant movie screen
          Play table tennis and generally hang out with SisterW (another DL in the zone and a good friend)
3:00    Watch "How to Train Your Dragon" Yay - I really like this movie. And in an awesome theatre room.
4:00    Get interrupted by SisterB from Melbourne (our AP2) giving us the call to dinner.
4:15 - 5:00     Dinner! With Mary Poppins in the background. Seriously, there was a telescreen in every room!
Dinner was catered by the same people who make sandwich boxes and taco dinners for us at Conference time. Tonight was turkey, taters, corn, stuffing, rolls, salad, pie, etc. All the good stuff. And boy, were we stuffed! Yum!
5:00    Entertainment!
SisterG did her TSquare rap; Sisters L,V,D (our roomies) and SisterB did an Italian song; and.....Pres&SisterH! Actually, President had his son do a "rap" he and his companion came up with on their mission in Alabama first, then Pres& SisterH danced for us. So cute and so funny. Don't worry. I have lots of video and photographic proof of all this.
5:20    DANCE PARTY! It was mostly the same 5 songs, but some we played 5 times in a row for the limbo contest, line dancing, freestyle, etc. So Much Fun!
(I have always talked about how much fun it would be to have a dance with this mission and I got my wish ) There was lots more dancing, picture taking and general fun in the 4 rooms we were using.
6:30    Announcements
6:45    Talk from President. Inspiring us as always. No one should go to bed without getting on their knees to give thanks to God for their blessings.
7:00    Supposed departure.....but the bus was late. So it ended up being time to watch "Beauty and the Beast" WOOT for Disney classics.
7:30    Actual departure time.
8:30    Abundance of picture taking in the apartment with me and compy. Yes, pictures will follow.

So that was Thanksgiving, Temple Square Mission-style. Today is actually P-day, so the Christmas lights are on at the Square, and we have morning P-day until further notice (probably my birthday). It's weird, and we get an hour less of p-day, but it's what other missions do. Weird. I really like being part of the special (and best) mission.

This is where I sign off for today. Love you all. Merry holidays and Happy Christmas. I have a District meeting to plan. Ugh. I'd rather give a talk.

Testimony of the day: President is right. So I'll say, It's All True. Or I wouldn't be here.

Sister Clayton

PS. Some of you will get this (you know who you are). Guess who passed by me last night when I was talking to an awesome RM.......CARL! No joke. It was very Twilight Zone. And no, I didn't talk to him or see him for more than 5 seconds. But he's alive! Ah, Ghosts of EFY!