A long overdue update:  

(We didn’t get an email from Scottie the week of Christmas because we actually got to Skype with him!!! Seeing his face and his huge smile was our very favorite present. We enjoyed a long conversation with all of us gathered around but the worst part was saying goodbye – not a dry eye on either end of the call.  Now we wait until Mother’s Day for the next Skype/phone conversation.)

(Scottie via Skype on Christmas Day)

 This is Scottie’s email the following week):

Hey there! 

So I just can't get over how amazing of a family I have, y'all are truly the best. The love and support you show me is amazing. 1/2 pound Reese's cups, delicious and the greatest thing to ever come out of a candy thinker-upper's mind. Thank you! That CTR ring is beautiful and it fits perfectly, don't know how you got the size right but it's perfect and I wear it every day, thank you! (We sent him a nice CTR – Choose the Right – ring for Christmas)  The southern pride shirt is amazing, no lie it's the coolest thing ever. Y'all know me well!

At the Christmas party for his mission with missionaries he met at the MTC

 This last week has been exciting for sure. I got to conduct my first baptismal interview as a district leader, a lady named Kimberly. That was an interesting experience, and definitely a privilege. For New Year's, we're just hanging around with our district, and that's awesome! I love our district, we're all really close and it just makes the mission a more enjoyable 

experience. 

Scottie with the other missionaries in his District

Elder Balino (Scottie’s new companion) is the man! He's so comfortable talking to people and because he's a native speaker he's helping me improve my Spanish and learn slang phrases haha. I love it! 

Scottie's Companion, Elder Balino

I'm super excited for the upcoming year, although I hope it'll be the only year where I don't get to see my family and friends. But we're going to have a lot of exciting experiences. 

This last week, we had a little miracle one night. We had a tough time finding people one day, and out of nowhere Sisters Vang and Thurston (sister missionaries in his district) texted us and asked us if we could meet them to give a family they're working with a blessing. Faisal and Sonya were their names, and it was a spiritually powerful experience.  As I was giving the blessings, I just felt the spirit guide me as to what to say and it helped me to gain a stronger testimony of the power of the priesthood. I know with a certainty that our Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to be happy, and it's an incredible blessing to see miracles like that. 

I love y'all, I hope you're having fun on your cruise (our family went on a cruise right after Christmas to celebrate the holidays and Savannah’s 16^th birthday!), and I hope that you have an amazing New Year. I hope 2014 is even better than 2013, and thanks for everything you do for me. 

For chuckles, someone told me this the other day: My goal for 2014 is to complete all my goals from 2013 that I should have completed when I made them in 2012 hahahaa.

Mission - great

District - amazing!

A couple of last things: 

* the yak traks actually work super well and have kept me from falling and further injuring my iPad haha, thank you! (We sent him yak traks to attach to his shoes when he is walking in snow, kind of like snow chains for the shoes!)

* that ring (his CTR ring) is awesome, I love it!

* I love y'all, and I'm so glad Padre got to take a picture on that beach with the planes, I know he's always wanted to do that! (While cruising we were able to visit Maho Beach in St. Maarten where the planes fly VERY close to the beach when landing, one of the things on my husband’s bucket list!)

Scott (Padre) enjoying the view at Maho Beach, St. Maarten

* Y'all are awesome, thanks for everything!

I miss driving SOOOOO MUCH! (his response to finding out that his younger sister had gotten her driver’s license!)  We're not allowed to drive at all, so in over 7 months I haven't even touched a steering wheel. We walk 24/7 until the ice melts off the ground haha, so we're getting some good walking in :)

Hey, we’ve got to go now, we had some crazy schedule because we went to the temple. But I love you tons and you're amazing examples for me. 

Scottie and his District at the Jordan River Temple

I can't wait to talk next week, should be regular Monday pday (preparation day). 

Love you all!!!

Scottie

(from his emails to his Aunt Tammy):

It's below freezing every day, hasn't snowed in a little while though, so it's pretty icy. I'm still trying to find my footing down icy sidewalks haha!

New word: epale. It's kind of a slang word, because my new companion is a native speaker from Mexico. He says it in a really funny way to show excitement, and it's usually followed by the Spanglish phrase: mucho-take-it-easy hahaha. He's hilarious! 

A good word though is also redención, which means redemption. Christ can help us find that in our life. I know it's true, and I've gained a testimony of that. 

Life in the mission as a leader definitely is different, but I really like it. I have more meetings to go to, but they're usually really spiritual and I get to learn a lot. Every week I have to give a 1.5 hour training called District Meeting, so that makes me prepare a lot but I usually get a ton out of it, hopefully the other people in my district do too! I'm in charge of collecting weekly reports and numbers so logistically I have to keep myself more organized and keep track of about 6 other missionaries too, but my district is awesome and I love them and I'm loving it! 

New word: amparar - to protect. The Gospel is a big protection for us, and it can shield us from a lot of negative things in this world :)

I love you Tía Tammy, a whole lot!

Scottie