Dear Friends & Family,
Well this week has been as eventful as ever! Let's just start off with the fact that we have had a mouse in our apartment for the last 2 weeks named jimmy. He have had all sorts of traps and poison out trying to catch him but we were unsuccessful... UNTIL THIS MORNING! Poor little jimmy got stuck on a sticky trap and Sister Fransen decided to be super brave and put him in a plastic bag and throw him in the dumpster! Goodbye Jimmy! Now I can actually sleep in peace without thinking about little mice nibbling on my toes in the middle of the night haha !
The highlight of the week was being able to go to the temple on Saturday afternoon! One of the Spanish speaking sisters is going home right after Christmas, so all 6 of us got permission from the president to go do a session together in the temple... in Spanish! It was one of the coolest experiences! First of all the temple is absolutely gorgeous! Inside and out! Being in the temple was just such an incredible reminder of why I am here on a mission. I love the church with all my heart and know that the gospel is true. There is no doubt in my mind that this is Christ's church on the earth! I want to share that knowledge with everyone I meet and share that same happiness that I felt inside the temple!
It has been so incredible preparing for Christmas because we are trying to focus more on service. Serving just makes everyone happier. Being on the mission has changed my attitude about a lot of things in life and every day I want to wake up and find some way that I can serve. I absolutely love the Christmas video that the church has put called "Light the World" which is all about following Christ's example and serving others as he would. I hope everyone watches it and finds some way to serve others this Christmas season.
So many other things have happened this week but overall the most important thing I need to mention is that is so dang cold here. When we leave our house at about noon after lunch, it is usually -25 degrees Celsius which is danggggg cold. Lots of coats and gloves and hats ha ha! But I love it. We can always see our breath in the car ha ha! Lots of snowball fights too!
Random but funny story... I ate fried cactus last night at dinner! We get fed almost every day by the members of our church Branch which means we get to try all sorts of cool food! A lot of the Latino people in Canada have migrated from other countries so we get a big variety! I have never eaten so much in my life!!!! I love it! Every day the members tell me I need to eat more ha ha!
Well that's about all for the week but thanks for all the love and support!
-Hermana Thorstenson
Here are some fun pictures from the temple! My comp is crazy and wanted to take a pic without her coat hahaha
If you would like to email or write to me, my contact information is below:
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Mark boxes as "Missionary Supplies"
Hermana Rachel Thorstenson
Canada Calgary Mission
7044 Farrell Rd. SE
Calgary AB T@H OT2
Canada
Email Address
Email Address
rachel.thorstenson@myldsmail.net
Calgary Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Rachel and her companion in front of The Calgary Temple.
It's Winter in Canada! And well below ZERO!
