Exclusive Weekly Sister Lovell Magazine: Christmas Chaos

And I'm back!!

This week has been crazy chaotic from start to finish, and I barely even have time to write this email now!

Tuesday was Zone Conference, which is basically where a bunch of missionaries from the surrounding areas all meet together at one of the church buildings and hear from the mission president and his wife. This zone conference was special however, because it was a Christmas Zone Conference!! It was crazy fun!!

We started off in the chapel and had a devotional where there were musical numbers and we read the Christmas story from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We also played the chimes, and only a few people reading this will know this specifically, but my family does chimes as a tradition every year. I got to be part of one of the songs because I think President Murphy saw me quietly but excitedly freaking out and waved me up to the front XD. I also did one of the musical numbers! Sister Williamson (one of the girls in my quad) and I sang Silent Night as a duet with our District Leader Elder Largey on the piano.

Then we went into the gym and sang Silent Night again, but this time with everyone as a Musical Christmas Card as I believe they called it. We sang it several times to get it just right for the recording. XD it was fun. Also, Sister Murphy asked me to sing the Alto part but an octave higher as the descant part for it, and I did! I did it, it was a little nerve wracking and embarrassing, but it was good XD.

We also had a couple piñatas, and I got to go at one point, and it was pretty funny because the guy holding the string lowered the piñata right as I swung, but I felt it move so I still hit it dead on anyways XD. Ngl [not gonna lie] it felt like I was using the force. Totally awesome moment for me there haha!

We also sang The 12 days of Christmas but modified to fit missionary standards and here it is:

The 12 days of Christmas my mission gave to me:
1 - a cartridge for a TiWi (last verse: an increasing testimony)
2 - 2 reassignments!
3 - 3,000 fb friends
4 - 4 plates of cheese curds
5 - 5 check your speeeeeeds
6 - 6:30 wakeups
7 - 7 trips to kwik trip
8 - 8 too much custard!
9 - 9 zones baptizing
10 - 10 acts of service
11 - 11 we can do this's
12 - 12 Miracles

That is a whole lot of missionary and Wisconsin lingo, so don't feel bad if you're confused. It was pretty hilarious tho XD

We got a bunch of Wisconsin food on the way out as well for lunch, which was all pretty good too!! The whole day was pretty dang awesome!!

I don't remember a whole lot of the daily things, only that it was busy, and that we had several lessons and people to call!

One thing I do remember however, is a call to one really sweet old man who has been meeting with the missionaries for a while. It was kind of a tender moment actually. I absolutely adore him. He shared about how he's usually pretty lonely for Christmas, and a little bit about that, and even tho I can't really share much more than that, I couldn't not share about him because he absolutely made my day just talking to him, and I sincerely hope he knows how much he is loved.

On a completely different note, we also had a Covid scare this week!! We got a call that one of the ladies who made the food at the ward Christmas party tested positive, and to be wary about that. Luckily, we made a call to the Mission nurse to ask for counsel and she said we should be fine, for various reasons, but to just go forth carefully. So that was a fun experience XD

Also!! Saturday was my companion's birthday!! It was really fun to be able to celebrate with her even if it was just on the smaller side. Bonus points: she got lots of fb birthday wishes from random people whom she could then text for good reason and find people that way!! Blessings all around!!

We also on her birthday went to a restaurant for lunch called Mac's which is a Wisconsin exclusive restaurant that is a straight up Mac and Cheese restaurant! I got the loaded baked potato Mac and Cheese, and it was honestly... really, really good. I was skeptical, but... I was pleasantly surprised to find out how much I loved it XD. While we were there waiting for our food we met this family that knew a little bit about the church already. They noticed our name tags and initiated the conversation which was a neat change! They were Baptists, and they had several questions which we were thankfully able to answer easily!! We handed them a Light the World pass-along card in the parking lot, and they said they needed to give us something too, so they sang us Silent Night, but in gERMAN! Which is super cool, because I know Silent Night in German as well!! (Kudos to you Mr. Curtis, I miss being in your choirs!!) I was happy to mouth along the words with them as they sang. :)

We went caroling as a way to prosalight [proselyte] Saturday night as well, and it was actually really effective! We didn't get into any homes to share messages in that moment, but there were several people who said they'd be happy to hear from us another time!! Miracles all around!!

We got to attend the ward for the first time, which was both super cool, as well as a bit of a culture shock. I'm used to a small ward being like... 300 people? Would be my guess? XD This was/is considered a pretty big ward, and the chapel was pretty dang empty. When the four of us joined the relief society activity earlier in the week (I forget which day) someone made a comment about how we "nearly doubled their relief society"!! It's also winter and there's snow on the ground, so less people are bound to show up, but it was still a little strange to be outside of what my trainer calls "The Utah/Idaho Bubble".

Today has probably been the craziest day of them all!! This morning we had an oil change at 8 am, and we got to just vibe in their waiting room for an hour. I didn't mind, except I forgot both my phone, as well as the colored pencils I was using for a project I'm working on. Ah well XD

We went shopping and did some other p-day stuff, and then the other sisters in the zone invited us to join them in a p-day activity... to Lambaugh Field!!!

We toured it, and it was super cool!! Almost cool enough to convince me to start being interested in football, and that's saying something. We got to be in one of the private booths, walk through the tunnel the players go through, be down on the field (not actually on the grass, but rIGHT THERE). Super cool!!!

We also got to go to dinner tonight with one of the players who is actually in our ward. Brother and Sister Kafusi! They're really darling, and dinner was super great. They took us out to a fancier restaurant, so we dEFINITELY over-exceeded our meal hour, but that's okay XD. It was pretty awesome. He told us about his mission in New Zealand which was super cool!! [Read an article about Bro. Kaufusi here.]

Other than the excitement of the major events this week, we had lots of snow! And if you're wondering how I handled that, I will refer you to one of [last] week's pictures, courtesy of Sister Williamson XD

That's about it!! Thanks for checking in! Love you all!!!

Sister Lovell

Link to the photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hH8UuZNVov71FYot7

Link to my email blog:

sisterhannahlovellwisconsin.blogspot.com

Pictures: