Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone! I’m sorry last week I wasn’t able to write. We had our P-day switched to Thanksgiving and we were so busy on Thanksgiving that we didn’t have time for anything! We literally went from meal to meal. It was crazy. We ate a big feast at a members house, then went to the church where Zaw, a Karen member, fed us a tooon of Pad Thai and fried rice, then Bu Htoo, another Karen member, took us to a really nice Asian buffet! Needless to say, I ate wayyyy too much. Then to make it even better, we went to a Jamaican ladies house the next day and she had us cook everything for a huuuge Thanksgiving meal. I’m tellin’ ya. She could have fed an army with all of that food. It was super good though! 

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I have been thinking about everything I’m grateful for. I am sooo grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and his sacrifice that makes it possible for us to return to live with him and our Father in Heaven. Christ gave up his life to give us the ultimate gift, eternal life and happiness. I’m so grateful for the knowledge I have of this amazing gift and that I have the opportunity to share it with others. I want everyone to know how they can return to live with our Father in Heaven. I’m also so thankful for my family. Being away from them for so long, especially during the holidays, makes me even more grateful for them. My family is crazy, and I love them all so much. I’m so grateful that we will be able to live together forever. 

The work is going pretty well. We are just trying to find and recognize those people who are truly prepared and ready to receive the gospel. 

The church has a Christmas campaign called #LightTheWorld. You’ve probably heard of it, but if you haven’t, it’s a video about helping others. Each day they have short videos and ideas to help others this Christmas season. There’s even a little calendar that has ideas for each day on it. The idea is to #LightTheWorld in 25 ways over 25 days. It’s starting this week! Check it out and do it! Here is a link. https://www.mormon.org/

Love you all so much!

Sister Brooklyn Hermansen

Our Christmas tree!

At the buffet with Bu Htoo. 

 Mom notes: Elder Woodland in the very front, came back and visited with his family. I'm sure it was fun to see him again and enjoy the buffet together!

Brooklyn sent us this photo after the first Thanksgiving dinner was down....two more to go! hahaha

Cuddle time with some tiny kittens! (I love the photo bomber)

Yoga mat on a treadmill....hmmm, I don't know how effective that exercising will be! 

More mom notes: I asked Brooklyn to tell me what her typical weeks were like now. She's our first and only missionary, so I've been curious. This is what she replied: "Man it's hard to tell you a normal week cause they're all so different. P-days we usually wake up, get ready, go do laundry and grocery shop, relax, email, nap, shop, play games or something with the elders. Then the rest of the week: So every Tuesday we volunteer at the Karen organization of Minnesota and teach people English from 12-2. But on normal days we wake up, get ready, plan, personal study, comp study, language study, have lunch, then go teaching all day pretty much. On Fridays we Skype the sisters in Salt Lake and teach them Karen for an hour. And on Saturdays we have district meeting, then meet with the Bishop to coordinate, then have language study with the elders. Then on Sunday we have church, a meeting with just us Karen missionaries, and a meeting with the ward mission leader. I don’t really know what else to say about the week haha. We help a couple people with homework usually like twice a week. That’s kind of fun since it’s always super easy homework. We wrote a rap last night about Minnesota with Mae Paw for an assignment haha. (I want to hear that rap! lol) Only 28 more days till we get to Skype with Brooklyn for Christmas, but who's counting!