................Sister Lauren Holmoe..... .......Tallahassee, Florida Mission....: Week 25

DECEMBER? That is just crazy!! HEYYY everyone! So if you feel that this email is all about food.....just know this week was all about food too! Y’alls videos made me literally laugh out loud in the library and you will crack up when you get a CD from me because I took a video of me laying down in the relief society room in between 2 of our dinners hahaha! Same idea (:

Where to even start with Thanksgiving......we went to 3 MAIN dinner appointments. One at 12, one at 1, and one at 2:30! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? I'm not talking a little snack at each one, I'm talking a full course meal and dessert. I realized that it’s all about the dessert in the southern Thanksgiving! I'm coming home with diabetes! The first dinner we had was with Beth’s family! It was realllllly good! We had a fried turkey and it had the best flavor! SO GOOD! Other highlights from that meal were the sweet potato casserole and the peanut butter pie! It was fun to see them all again. We met even more of them and they asked a lot more about the BOM this time! We gave them some and it seemed like some of them were really planning on reading it! Awesome family. All the husbands were huge sports fans so we got to talk a lot about that! PS. HOW ABOUT BAMA VS AUBURN!?! Was that not just the craziest thing you've ever seen!? The Bama fans down here are CRUSHED! Like literally, some of them didn’t show up to church! BYE BYE to national championship and HELLO to #1 NOLES!

Our second dinner appointment was at the Church Pot luck! Sister Sam and I made peanut butter blossoms. They were not as good as Mom's.....but still pretty good! The Church was the only dinner appointment that had mashed potatoes....what’s up with that!? My mouth salivated when I saw Mom’s mashed potatoes in that video! The Carrot Cake was BOSS though!!! Yum. Afterwards we played a little BOM trivia game! It gets heated man! I love this Ward! We are already planning fun things for the Christmas Party on the 14th. Even thinking of leaving before then makes me cringe!!! So we were SO FULL at that moment that Sister Sam and I HAD to go lay down in the RS room for a little. AND THEN...

We went to the NEXT dinner appointment at our mailman’s house! There were probably 50 plus of the coolest people you will ever meet in this one house! It was hilarious!! This was a true southern Thanksgiving dinner. HUGE things of Mac N Cheese and Greens and more! At first some people were like who are these girls?? Then when they saw we knew Darryll they were all like OHHHH...WELCOME!! It was pretty fun! So yeah, then we like could barely move and on our way walking back to our apartment our NEIGHBOR invited us in and made us try her sweet potato pie! I was like ohhhhh boyyyy....I have no clue how in the world that fit in my stomach! It was a wonderful day though spent with great people! Very blessed!!

We had a Zone Training on Tuesday and it was awesome! Elder Rowan, one of our ZL's gave this awwwesome lesson on the Abrahamic Covenant and where we as missionaries fit into that and it was just like BAM, so powerful!

Some more highlights from the week were me finishing my first journal! That was the first journal I have ever completed in my life!!! I'm now onto the Owl one! We got some new investigators this week! We are now working with this part member family where the 13 and 16 year old son WANT to start coming and want to join our church but their less active parents are VERY hesitant, needless to say it’s tricky working with them! The boys want to be taught and start coming to everything but we have to work with the parents so it’s a little more difficult! One of the boys is in a picture with me I'm sending. I'm holding their new little puppy dog! Last night we went to the Cornelius Ranch for dinner. They have a missionary wall and every missionary that comes through draws a pic and puts it on the wall. Considering I've been here for 6 months, I have a lot of pictures up there (: We got to go to Lauren's bridal shower this weekend! She’s getting married in Georgia on the 21st. So happy for her! Sister Sam and I taught mission prep this Sunday! It was fun! We passed out TONS of Panera. Probably to 25 families! There was even an extra chocolate crescent for me (: Dad, do you remember in New York when you ran around everywhere to find me one for breakfast??? haha (:

Kaitlyn sent me SNOW!! It was awesome! We made some cool videos with it that you'll see one day! THANKS KAITBA (:

When we were driving around one day, we were stopped at a light and there was a lady on the street who was holding a sign that said, "I Love Jesus" and a bunch of crazy stuff below it. I dared Sister Sam to run out and give her a BOM and she did (: CLASSIC! The lady was like, I can’t take this because I believe in Jesus Christ. Sister Sam was like....we do too as she pointed to the words "ANOTHER TESTAMENT OF CHRIST"! The lady probably now wants to be baptized but we forgot to put our number in the book so we'll never know (: jk!

Shannon, do you know any Broadwaters in Kentucky?? They are in the Louisville 2nd ward and one of their sons is a YSA in our area!

This week I got sick! Everyone had the cold so I was bound to end up with it! It lasted like 4 days and now I have a cough! BOO! I'm feeling A LOT better though! The change from really cold days to really nice days and back to really cold days just mess with everyone!

I got the Big Christmas Package!!! I'm so excited to open it all (: Christmas season is SO FUN!! People put up lots of lights here in Lynn Haven which is fun! We will most likely Skype from the Morse’s house on Christmas so that will be great! Many people have invited us over so it will probably be Thanksgiving all over again. NEVER BEEN MORE FULL IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!! haha! Gabe’s baptism is this Saturday! YAYA! He is so excited! That would be awesome if you would send me that navy dress! They are probably my favorite things to wear, next to the sweatshirt skirts (: It’s always nice to get new skirts, so if you were to see any cute ones, go for it! I'm not in NEEEED though! Dad, I have seen Wicked! In NY with dance co! SO GOOD! Although I remember falling asleep because we were just exhausted! I LOVE SIS DAWE!!!! She was in the MTC with me, different districts, but we sat next to each other on the plane and became really good friends!! I've seen her twice since then and she’s the best! Love that girl! She was made the first Spanish speaking sister missionary in our mission last transfer! She had some background in it but she was so nervous! Love her!

So I have decided that one of my ALL TIME favorite talks, if not MY FAVORITE is "Safety for the Soul" by Elder Holland. I actually think we were at that conference if I’m not mistaken! THAT TALK IS SOOO POWERFUL! I do not know how anyone could deny the BOM after reading that. Chills up my spine!!

Thanks again for the videos!!! BEST THINGS EVER HAHA! I love and miss y’all!!! Thanks for all you do for me. I'm so grateful for y’all!!! I'll hopefully send the Christmas package home soon! If I find the last few things I need! ENJOY (: Love y’all to the moon and back! Have a great week!!!! <3/ Sister Holmoe!

Turkey Bowl