December 1, 2014, I'll see most of you soon!

Greetings.

We've had a busy week.  We had two boys, Ben and Ken, get baptized on Saturday.  Their mom got baptized back in August and their dad has been a member for a long time.  They're funny kids.  When Ben gets nervous he scratches his head and so when he had to stand up and bear his testimony he had his hand on his head the whole time.  Neitaak and Johnny sat behind me and they were cracking up laughing.  

We had a branch fireside last night that we missionaries put together.  We were basically getting everything ready for it this last week.  The RS stake president came and spoke about studying the scriptures and that was really good.  She's a good speaker.  One of the counselors in the stake presidency came and spoke about family home evening.  I think that's the talk that everyone really listened to.  It was really good.  All of the young women sang a musical number that we had taught them and then we missionaries also sang.  Afterward everyone hung out outside and socialized and we ate cake and koolaid.  Luckily there was enough cake for everyone.  We got a whole lot of people to come which was good. 

On Wednesday night I had dinner at the mission home with the Weirs and some of the other missionaries that are going home in december.  Only some were there because about half are off island.  The idea of being "off island" is so funny.  We had originally asked the other counselor in the stake presidency to speak at the fireside, but Saturday night we found out he was off island so we called the other and asked him to speak.  Being off island isn't just like being in another state...you can't just go back whenever you want.  You've got to wait for a boat or airplane.  Sometimes people go to other islands and say they'll be back in a few weeks and it turns into a few months. Anyway, dinner at the Weir's house was nice.  We ate really yummy homemade pizza and we watched a conference talk by Elder Holland and sat and talked.  And we ate banana splits. 

It's Sister Chaming's birthday so we might go get lunch somewhere.  Our car is getting worked on (it says it's empty even when we have a full tank of gas) so we get to drive a big 12 person van today.  That should be fun.

Okay, that's it for this week.  I'll see most of you soon!

Sister Ellen Butler