New Coats ~ Taking the Polar Plunge!

Had a super happy moment this past Sunday afternoon when a sweet boy, that I miss like crazy, from Middleton sent me a Facebook message with these two pictures of our missionary daughter, Danielle.  Just so happens, that the other girl in the photo (dark haired one)  ;)  is friends with this boy, Colten...

She and my Danielle met each other and made an instant connection and the rest is history.

Below is Danielle's letter to all of us for the week ~ Enjoy!

The pictures from Colten Miller were taken with his friend Regan Smith, who grew up in Middleton! I was on exchanges in the Singles Branch and walked into Relief Society and the girls all asked where we were from, and I said Boise, Idaho, and they asked where (usually when I tell people where, they have no idea where Kuna is) and I told them and Regan goes, 

"NO WAY! I grew up in Middleton!" 

And so I said, 

"NO WAY! I grew up in Middleton too!!!" 

And then we took some pictures and sent them to Colten while she facebook stalked me. We had 40 mutual friends, hahaha. She's a doll. 

This week has been so weird with the weather!! 

Tuesday was the coldest day in either 20 or 30 years. 

I'm not really sure which though because people kept telling us a different number, but it was in that range. It was only single digits while I was outside, which doesn't sound too bad, but it was really bad. It's amazing what humidity does. 

Breathing was a trip! 

And I kind of felt like I was doing a polar plunge, or something along those lines. 

We kept our day booked with appointments though so we wouldn't be outside for more than a few minutes at a time. 

Funny enough, in Maryland they will CANCEL school due to cold weather. 

How crazy is that??? 

That would never happen at home! 

They cancelled it, but then wound up only delaying it for a few hours, so it was a late start instead. So funny. 

While it was so cold, my companion was complaining about how she needed to buy a new coat so that she wouldn't have to layer so much. And there were a few members that were in on how she was needing to get a new one. 

And so they decided, out of the goodness of their hearts, to give her new coats. 

She is now the proud owner of two of the UGLIEST coats I've seen in my entire life. 

One looks like the Michelin Tire guy, only gold with a tiger sewn to the hood. 

And the other is a brown detective style coat that's about double her size and just terrible looking. 

I learned the value of not complaining this week because of it!  hahaha 

We died laughing over them. 

One of the neat things we've been doing in our mission is practice teaching the missionary lessons to active members of the ward we live in. 

We've been asked to teach at least one active-member lesson a day. 

And it's been so neat! 

We've had a lot of really cool experiences doing it. 

This week we were teaching a lady the Law of Tithing, and she said, 

"One of the blessings I've always believed comes from paying an honest 10% is that all my daughters have husbands. And so I thought, 'Great! Now I can stop paying it!' and then I realized, 'No, I really want their marriages to last and for my granddaughters to get married.'" 

And then she proceeded to tell us that Sisters who have boyfriends at home obviously have parents that pay 11%, or else maybe the ones who are single have parents who need to get on the ball with paying tithing. HA!!! So funny.

The rest of the week was just wonderful, and we're seeing all kinds of miracles. 

But now for quotes of the week! this week was packed full of stuff. 

The zone leaders were talking about how the one companion was BEGGING to go to the horse track on Monday, and Elder Green says, 

"But Elder Hitchcock, there won't even be any horses there..." 

"I don't even care. I just need to see it." 

Yep... he's from Idaho. 

Oh the phone trying to set an appointment with a couple in the ward, 

"Well, we have an old dog whose back legs collapse and a lot of cats so we have cat hair all over the house and so I don't invite missionaries because sometimes they think it's too gross. Should we call it dinner?" 

"Umm.... no. How about 7:30?"

And my favorite.

*Making a phone call* *ring.ring*

"Man, I need to change that ringtone."

"Why, what is it?"

"It's that one that goes Du du du- and then has the rushing noises."

"Huh. why is it on there?" (Special ring tone for the sisters???)

"I just haven't gotten around to changing it is all"

"Okay, well, this is the Sister missionaries and..."

"OH MY GOSH. I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY WIFE."

Nope. For sure not. For sure not. 

HAHAHA. 

Anyhow, have a wonderful week!!! Lots of love!

SisterLytle

Snow Days ~ News from Danielle

It's Monday...News from Danielle!

This week has been crazy! 

The weather is so nuts... 

some days we are allowed to drive, 

others we get grounded. 

And we also had a few no-pros days with the holiday, so it was a slower week for us. 

But it was still good. 

We saw several miracles! 

We began teaching a few families this week that are super awesome and I'm so excited for them. 

We went over to the Schneiders home to shovel their drive way on Saturday, and that booger had already shoveled it after telling us he'd let us do it!! 

"I told you I'd leave a snowflake or two." 

Nope, he didn't. 

No one ever lets us shovel snow. 

One day we went out and just begged people to let us... and everyone told us no!

But that's okay :) 

Quote of the week (not so funny this week, but it made me think a lot)

"You may be the only Book of Mormon that person will ever read." Mary Halsey. 

2nd Quote of the week, "So what have you heard about Mormons?" 

"All's I know is y'all have a lot of wives and a lot of husbands" 

Yep, that's all they've ever heard haha. 

Have a wonderful new year! Love you all! 
Sister Lytle