December 6, 2010

Family,

How is everything going? It sounds like you're all having a good time preparing for the Christmas spirit! The holidays are pretty different over here as a missionary, they're basically the same as every other day haha. I'm excited though it will be fun to experience Christmas in another part of the world. So I think I'll just get to answering questions now because I want to make sure I answer all of them.

1. What is your weather like? Are you staying warm or do you need anything else to keep you warm? Well the weather here is a pretty fickle thing. We got a bit of snow this last week, but mostly it's just kind of a mist snow so it doesn't really add to anything. It's been pretty cold like -25 degrees Celsius, which is pretty cold. Me and Elder Reeves both really like the snow though so we've been really happy.

2. Tell me about the areas that you tract. What is your apartment address? What direction from Vilnius Center is your area? Well no one over here has houses so we just go knocking in these huge apartment buildings. And we also do a lot of talking to people on the streets to the people in center. Because me and my companion live in Center actually, our area includes all center and all the area to the south and to the west. Areas are pretty big here because there are only 3 Russian speaking companionships in all of Vilnius so it makes for some pretty fun adventures. Our address is actually Gediminos Gatve 46 so it's right in town.

3. How many missionaries do you live with? How many missionaries are in Vilnius? How many of them speak Russian? In this mission the areas are so big every companionship has their own apartment, so me and elder reeves are alone. The other Elders live in an area called New Vilniu, and the sisters live next to the church building up in Fabioniskes.

4. What is Christmas like over there? Is it the big holiday? Do they do a lot of shopping and gift giving? Do they have Christmas trees? Will you guys put up a little Christmas tree? Christmas is a decent sized holiday over here, but it's not like in America. The big holiday over here is New Years they go crazy with it haha. But I don't think me and my companion will get a Christmas tree because we don't have the time and we're never home, because we're always out looking for people. I think that some people get Christmas trees though, I just haven't seen any yet.

5. Have they told you how the best way will be to call you on Christmas? Yes actually we just barely figured out how all the calling stuff will work out this week. Within the next couple of weeks I'll give you our phone number and you'll just call us. We have a little bit of time to do it on Christmas evening (well actually it will be in the morning where you are, but evening over here) so actually the time that I can talk to you is 8:30 pm so that means it will be at 11:30 am your time. I'm really excited to talk to all of you.

6. Do you have more pictures? We would love to see some. I actually do have some more pictures I'm just really terrible at remembering my camera so I'll make sure next week to send you a bunch. I'll tie a string on my finger or something so I can remember.

7. How does the branch work? Do you go to that branch each week? There is two branches here in Vilnius, one Russian speaking and one Lithuanian speaking. So yeah all 3 Russian speaking companionships go to the same meeting here every week. The branch here is actually way cool. It's hard to explain it all in an email but I can tell you all about them when I we call.

8. What is your favorite Christmas memory? Definitely just eating the Swedish pancakes I think I might die without that tradition this year. I really miss that time we have to just be together eating and talking about the Christmas to come.
But yeah I hope I answered the questions that you wanted answered. I'm happy that everything is good at. I love all of you, and I wish you all a happy holiday season. Have a wonderful week.


-Elder Pack