SEVENTEEN

Joyeux Noël tout le monde!

I hope that Christmas was just wonderful for all of you! You know, this was my very first Christmas away from my family! But we weren't all that far away, really. I was blessed to be raised in a family who knows and understands the meaning of Christmas, so as I upheld family traditions and remembered the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I could feel them close by. Oh! That and the fact that I got to Skype them!! It was so good to see my family still surviving without me!

Okay so here's the deal. Today is Boxing Day in Canada and that means that the Apple Store was packed and no one was at the mission office and the backup library we use was closed. I am finishing this email on one of the YSA's laptops but we need to clean the church. I hate not being able to tell you about my weeks here but I just never get enough time to do my emails. Here are a few quick highlights of my week:

I celebrated Christmas for the first time away from my home and family!

I donated blood for the first time... cool experience! I set a goal to donate 10 times on my mission!

I finished the Book of Mormon again on Christmas Eve! The very first time I finished it was on Christmas Eve back in 2005 (I think...) so it was fun to be able to do it again!

I built an 18 foot Eiffel Tower out of streamers for a YSA dance themed "A Night in Paris."

Alrighty, I have toilet duty so I need to get cleaning! I promise we'll make some changes on p-days so I can start writing some decent emails. Thanks for all of the letters and Christmas cards you've sent me! I really do appreciate each one that I get. I'm trying my best to write back! 

Elder Ellis