frost bites, frost bleeds It's bringin' me to my knees oohhh baby

12/19/17

ah man things couldnt be more fantastic here in Chapel Hill!! such a crazy week haha we were both dead by the end of the week. but those are seriously the BEST weeks! we would get home with frozen hair and the insides of our noses are frozen haha ah i love it here SO much!! 

service has been so awesome here! we got to go far out in the countryside to help empty this ancient house and that was super fun! we drove over the frozen lake and that was so cool! apparently the entire surrounding waters freezes over to where everyone just skates to places instead of driving haha what the heck this place is just a big amusement park. even their money is colourful and smells like maple syrup. these people. then we got to help out with setting up the huge nativity deal they have out here and that was super fun! so cold haha we were dying out there. but it was awesome! and the nativity was so incredible. we got some less active families there and had our non member buddy there and it was an awesome experience! the cool thing about the crazy service days is after there are always SO many miracles that we get to see! like finding people that are interested and getting calls from this guy Ali Khan who wants to be baptized already? haha thats been super fun. we also helped this guy move and it was a bit frustrating cause we showed up outside and waited outside freezing for like thirty minutes cause he was asleep and when we came in he hadnt even started packing and the house was filthy haha so we were like yeah dang it but we hauled and got everything moved out that night and his mom came and helped and shes from Palestine so i tried out some arabic and she got all excited and wants to help me learn more and begged us to come for dinner sometime with her and her family and theyre not members so that was cool! service really is such an awesome opportunity! and i feel like the more frustrating and difficult it is the bigger the blessings can be haha. even when you break your legs at a service... miracles happen!! 

yeah so frostbite haha yeah its not fun. we were helping after the nativity to get everything put away because the cold would ruin everything and i was asked to put away the huge fancy lights that are like thousands of dollars for some reason? but yeah so there was no way id drop them so i took off my gloves to steadily carry them in and apparently theyd been sitting out in the cold for two days so they were like super ice and i could feel them being a little uncomfortable at first on my skin and then it like burned haha and i ran inside and my hands were like totally frozen. but man the response of the people there was amazing. i remembered from wilderness survival in boy scouts when we all like jokingly went over what to do with frostbite and all that running it under cold water would help so i did that so that was good! then some lady saw my hands and out of nowhere there were these ladies that happened to be nurses surrounding my hands and these random medical experts that this lady found and they fixed up my hands and i didnt have to lose any fingers! but man i still dont know who the lady was but yeah that was awesome. there have been members contacting us to see how my hands are haha and theyve been helping so much. its amazing how the Lord takes care of us through others. im so grateful for the members and everyone here! the frostbite is getting a bit better, apparently the calluses on the insides of my hands like saved my fingers haha so theres another reason to be grateful for all that rock i got to shovel and all the ditches i dug back home! 

but yeah service really has been so awesome. such an amazing time to do it too! what better gift to give back to our Lord than serving his family! and not just waiting for the opportunity but pushing forward and constantly serving! one thing we've been doing that i love is when we show up to a house that hasnt had their snow shoveled and their shovels are outside we just do it. every time there have been awesome blessings that come from it! but yeah, service is THE best!! 

yeah its been too awesome here! i love it so much!! the cold is INSANE and the snow is unreal and ah i just love it all so much!! such a beautiful place with beautiful people and everything about the mission is just beautiful. even the rejection and the frostbite and the death threats haha ah i love it all so much!! i love you guys so much! hope you all have an awesome christmas!!! 

-Elder Halliday

wok wok

riding the ferry with our car over the frozen lake

waiting for my hands to thaw out so we can go back to work. dang frostbite

OH MY AND I GOT THE SHIRT!!!!! I TOTALLY FORGOT TO TELL YOU I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!! hahaaha i totally called it to when we got it i had the package and was like i bet its a billy joel shirt and ah i love it so much

So today I went to Ross for Christmas presents and there were several elders shopping. I got the distinct impression I was supposed to buy their stuff, but they were still browsing, so i didn’t want to be all “it’s all on me today!” And have them go on some crazy shopping spree I couldn’t afford. 😬 so I shopped and forgot all about it but a while later happened to be passing by the registers and they were paying-I was too late. So in the most uncool way possible I ran over trying to get the cashier’s attention to stop the credit card from going through...and as I looked at the card reader it said “card declined” lol. So I took their card out and said I would pay, and had the rest of them give their stuff to the cashier to ring up. They were all super grateful...then she tells me the total and I realize I had strapped on this stupid fanny pack type thing so I wouldn’t lose my cash...(girl pockets are so tiny and stupid) but this is a travel one that hides under your clothes, so after she says my total everyone (including people in line behind us) watch as I have to reach up under my sweater and I’m like, “uh, um, I’m uh, wearing a fanny pack but it’s just um, just hiding under here...” I swear, I can’t even be cool when I’m doing a good deed. 

hahah ah thats so sweet i love it!! hahahah oh my youre so sweet to help out those elders. they mustve loved that!! such a sweet lady haha. yeah ill write reese a note! so crazy!!! christmas is in like five seconds!!!! so excited!!! the members have given us so many little christmas presents! theyre all so sweet and they LOVE missionaries! haha ah im so excited to open them! i got the tie box and ah the mary one is SO awesome!! i  may have cracked out a few other ones.... but its okay i forgive myself. theyre AMAZING!! elder Aylworth and i were both like noooo waaayyyy ah i love them so much!! thank you guys so much. sister park LOVED the idea! shes so sweet. that whole family is fantastic!! facetime we were thinking later in the evening? how does that sound?? and ah the new area mom i seriously love it all SO much. ill never get sick of this place or these people. i love it all SO much!! ive been so happy here. such a nice relief from my last area. but i learned A TON from that transfer. so thats been awesome! hmm yeah thats a bit hard with the watch... getting a used one would be cool but i wouldnt be able to set it up without the phone. thats why having my old one would be nice cause its all set up and i dont need the phone for anything. its not a huge deal! if we could send it to sister park that would be awesome! how much do you think customs would be?? haha ive been getting bigger for sure. not sure about 15 pounds but im working on it! yeah we make stir fry and things like that every once in a while! problem is that the members have been giving us SO many treats we just go to those hahaha but its so awesome