Dear family,

So on Saturday, we had a branch Christmas activity that was pretty cool.  All the different organizations presented different things that were Christmas themed.  Afterwards, when we had returned home, I got a call from the branch president to give a talk the next day in church.  So I didn't have too much time to prepare, but it wasn't too bad.  It's not like I had anything else to do before church the next day.  I did find out however that Isaiah 9:6 in the English Bible is actually Isaiah 9:5 in the Albanian Bible I have.  That was annoying.  Luckily, the same scripture was in 2 Nephi, so when I saw that Isaiah 9:6 in Albanian didn't say what I wanted and I didn't see verse 5, I just went to 2 Nephi.

It snowed last Friday.  Usually, from what I've heard, it never snows here in Durrës.  It snowed a pretty good amount, but around noon, it was all slush, and by the end of the day, it was all gone.  It was kind of cool in the morning as we were walking to a meeting we passed different snow men, which I found out people here call them "Pleqtë Dëbore" or Old Men of Snow.  Singular is just plaku dëbore.

We had a special training this week on Wednesday and Thursday.  That was fun.  Wednesday evening we spent in Lushnjë with 4 other missionaries, and I learned how to make eggnog.  I also recently learned how to make this rice pudding stuff.  I don't know how much of each ingredient we use, but it has something to do with mixing boiled rice with milk, sugar, cinnamon, and starch.  I don't really know how to make it, I just know what goes into it.  It's pretty tasty though.

Our English course will be interrupted for a little while due to the holidays.  It'll start again in January, so hopefully people remember.  We invited them all to come to church and told them where and when it was, so they at least know if they want to come.

Anyways, that's about it for this past week.  We'll talk this Christmas!

Love,
Elder Wallentine