For Christmas this year, we have learned to use our $ more efficiently when deciding what to get our overseas missionaries. They have a UK Amazon.com as well as a UK PhotoPix. We simply went online, made Jake a picture calendar and had it sent to the mission home for FREE! And then we also got him a really cool, UNEXPECTED shoe warmer/dryer to help keep his shoes dry in all the rain and snow (also shipped free in 2 days!). It was a huge success on both accounts and both presents cost less than the shipping for one present last year! We also loaded his debit card with some Christmas money so he could get some needed white shirts and other necessities. A great way to go!
PART 1: The main letter from Jake
I had a sweet, relaxed, sunny/cold Christmas.
COCO HAPPY 22ND BIRTHDAY! See I even remembered which one it was. The universe is in harmony again because you are two years older than me again.
How was your birthday?
What did you do for your birthday? I'll tell you what I did. I went birthday shopping for... Me?
I checked out some sweet suits and stuff that I'll probably purchase today.
Lots of stuff happened and we saw our families! Family it was so good to see all of you and laugh at random stuff.
Ah man, It felt like I was just chilling in the living room with all of you. Thanks for sharing your stories. Kori, I'm so excited to talk more mission stuff with you. Missions are so awesome! They are definitely an adventure. Yay England. I love it here.
Those babies are real! Eden and Holly. They aren't just pictures in my photo album any more. I saw them move and stuff live!
Josh, that story you and Courtney told was so awesome. Thanks. Funny enough, there is an investigator in the Notts 4 Sisters area from Armenia. They need some words to use. All that I remember is Shnork, hajo-gutteral sound-ootsoon, and yerets and berev. I have 0% confidence in my spelling of those words. Any tips that I can pass on?
On Christmas day we went to the other Elders flat to hang out and played some games. Then we went to Dean's place for a few hours to have dinner/skype. I love Dean. He is such a great guy. We had a good time.
Skyping was awesome too. I loved it so much.
Coco it was good to see you for the first time in... 18months? Something like that. We've got some serious mission-talk to do.
I hope everybody had a great Christmas and did some service for somebody! Happy New Year!
-Elder Jacob Packer
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| A shoe/wellies/sock/glove warmer--caught him completely by surprise! |
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| Family Calendar we made for Jake--he loved it! |
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Elder Winder and Jake enjoying SNOW in Nottingham! (we were informed to not say "ham", just a "mmm" at the end of the "Notting") |
PART 2: A quick note to Mom and Dad from Jake that had some fun information in it:
Dear Padre y Madre,
I've been using a lot of Spanish lately. And Portuguese!
It was really good to see you both. Man, I'm glad it finally worked out. Thanks for doing all of the preparation work for it, it made it way less stressful on our side.
By the way, it snowed here. It actually factually snowed here! What the shnork? It totally snowed in England while I was on a mission here. I just didn't believe that it would ever happen and that the locals were just trying to "scare" me.
The snow here is incredible for snow ball fights. We naturally had one as soon as there was enough to make a snow man.
Bikes are super dangerous on the ice though. Way more exciting! Just kidding, we don't really ride much on it, we get lifts if we can and we take the tram also. President would rebuke us if we got injured because we were riding on the ice. He knows we know what NOT to do.
The SHOE WARMER was beautiful on the night of the 26th, because that is the night we got the snow and the night when my sunday shoes needed warming. Thanks for that:) The usefulness and the awesomeness collide!
Yes, I went shopping on Friday, but didn't buy much because I had a tough time getting funds. I think the new debit card has yet to be cleared for international use. I ended up just using the ATM card to pull out the money. You want to know something dumb. I got a fine for not having a ticket on a tram. £50. Ouch. But that is what I get for forgetting to buy a ticket.
I just plan on getting a suit (probably grey, maybe blue I'm so indecisive!), and then some more shirts and trousers to use. The suit is more for fun than anything. The shirts I actually need. Luckily they are only £5 at Primark!
Love you both! Thanks for everything!
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| Nativity program 2014, had to make due with an exercise ball for the Donkey since Jake was gone! |
I love the fact that you've upgraded to a yoga ball for the donkey. Our family never ceases in it's creativity.
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