It looks like Christmas (well...it looks cold at least) November 14 2007

Hello again! Thank you all for your emails. It was fun today to get on and, in total, have 18 new emails to read. It was especially enjoyable because my companion, who has already gotten 4 packages in the past transfer and a half from home, and who gets about 5 letters a week on average, only gets about 2 or 3 emails, so at least I beat him there. Take that, Higgins.

This was a fun past week. This Sunday, our Primary had their annual program, and they had us get up and sing Called to Serve with them (in Ukrainian, of course). It was a lot of fun. I love little Ukrainian kids. One little boy didn't want to sit up front without his dad, so his dad came up and sat in the little wooden chair with his son on his lap; later, the same kid had a line to say about how coming to church helps his faith grow, and after he kind of mumbled it out, he looked at the congregation and said, "Understood?!" (As missionaries, we realized that he was just taking a personal interest in helping our less active members appreciate the blessings of church attendance. Maybe we should take him with us on lessons--as long as he can sit on his dad's lap).

On Sunday also, it started snowing, and it didn't stop until we had about 5 inches of snow. Then, on Tuesday, it started snowing again, so there's a lot of the white stuff all over. On Sunday night we were walking to a member's home for a meeting with them and we had miscalculated the distance, which made for a thirty minute walk through unshoveled dirt roads in what felt like a blizzard, every so often passing drunk men in t-shirts and jean jackets. Those of you in somewhat warmer climates (ie, anywhere else), think of me. Ah, Ukraine!

Also, before I forget, next week is Thanksgiving; first off, happy thanksgiving!, and second off, we'll be having our P-Day on Thursday (turkey day itself), so my email will be a day late again. We'll all be going to a big church building in Center to have a good homecookeed Thanksgiving meal, courtesy of Sister Davis and our senior couples. I'm pretty excited.

All right, that's it for me. Have a good week! I love you all!
--Elder Hurst