Happy Thanksgiving

I'm afraid I did not have much of a turkey dinner this Thanksgiving. I ate Piroshki, chocolate crackers and chocolate wafers. As Thursday approached, I tried to think if there was any way I could procure for myself some manner of Thanksgiving dinner, even if it meant going to KFC and pretending chicken is turkey. But Thursday is a busy day for me, so it would have been hard. I realized, though, that I had much to be thankful for; the Lord blesses us with success and investigators and a good place to work. So I celebrated Thanksgiving by being grateful for all the Blessings the Lord has given me. 

I also celebrated by teaching my English classes how to use "I'm grateful" and "I'm thankful" and then had them share what they were grateful for.

I was grateful for an experience I had recently.  A few weeks ago, I bought a nice knit hat just to keep me warm. Ears get cold here in the frozen north. Well, last Tuesday I had said hat in my lap on the bus. The bus took a detour and skipped our stop, going one around it.  When we realized what had happened, we hurried off the bus so we could taxi home in time. Guess what didn't make it off the bus? My hat! The bus conductor later even saw us and said 'Hey you're the guys who lost your hat.' She didn't have it, of course, but I hoped some one found it who needed it and it's useful to them.

Well, the next day, after I lost my hat, I got a little packet in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Sims.  They had just returned from visiting family in Norway.  The package said on the declaration, "chocolate" so I thought 'Great! some tasty Norwegian chocolate,' and put it in my bag to freeze at home. That night I thought I'd open it up and see what was inside. Along with one bar of chocolate there was a great Norwegian hat! I was so grateful. It was just 24 hours after I had lost my old hat. It is no great or impossible thing, but I was thankful for such a nice surprise, both to the Lord and to Grandma and Grandpa Sims. 

We had a great Fast Sunday, and ended our Fast at the Branch President's yurt on some meat and noodle soup. I tried to explain chocolate chip pancakes (what my family eats every Fast Sunday at home) just for fun, but I'm not sure if they quite got it.