Christmas in Siberia

Hey there! I am glad that I got to talk to you all.  That was great. I honestly didn't even realize that we Skyped for so long! It was just good to talk to all of you I lost track of the time. The other elders took about 45 minutes to an hour. Yeah, I was a bit tired during Elder Tracy's Skype time. I was the first to go and he was the last - haha. It was good to have everyone there again and to be able to see you all.  I hope the Woods family is okay. How is Susie? I didn't have a chance to talk with her a lot.

Fabulous Lamanite Headbands

It was weird waking up on Christmas morning in the middle of Siberia with some guy I’ve only known for a few months. :)  We didn't have a Christmas tree, we only had the stocking you sent me, and our Christmas dinner consisted of eating subway with the other elders at the church and having a ping-pong tournament. Oh and by the way, I won the tournament :) Not too sure how, but I have gotten almost good at ping pong! I will send you a video some time.

Snow on my frozen eyelashes

Yeah about the eating thing, we haven't been eating too well. We made a plan at the beginning of the month that if we ate simple meals at home then we could go out to eat a bunch. Well our plan worked except it wasn't as nice as we thought it would be. We made the decision already that eating at home is more important than eating out - so don't worry, our diets will be improving. 

I miss you all this holiday season but it is reassuring to know that in three days it will be 2016 and that is the year I will get to see you all for real :) It is weird to think that the Gardner Clan keeps growing and I will get to meet all these new little baby people soon. That’s cool :)

We have been doing lots of service projects here in Irkutsk and I love serving people. It is such a nice feeling every time you help someone who can't help you back. I hope you too will all find a way to serve someone this holiday season. Even though Christmas already passed we still are in the Christmas spirit and we will be able to serve just for Christmas's sake.

Yes I did receive the Vladivostok T-shirt! That is so cool. Where did you get it? And the music on the card was very cool! Thanks for that :) I love it a lot.

I love you all so much! Please stay warm in the fierce Arizona winter J

Love

Elder Gardner