​Every time it snows outside the first thing Madeline asks is if she can go outside to play in the snow and build a snowman. Up until this recent snowstorm it had always been so cold that going out to play in the snow was not a possibility. So, she convinced Andrew to go out with her to play. Then I joined them for a little while. We tried to build a snowman on the first day, but the snow was so light and airy that we could not pack it very well. So, we just made snow angels, pulled Madeline in the sled, and threw snowballs at each other. One time when Andrew was pulling Madeline in the sled, he whipped it around so fast that she flew right out and landed face first in the snow. We picked her up and brushed her off and just laughed it off. She is such a good sport! The next day the snow was still around so Abby went out with Madeline and built a snowman and pulled her in the sled. Sometimes it just takes having a little one in the house to get the rest of us to go out and enjoy the snow!  

​Christmas is over. The hustle and bustle of getting things done is over for now. Truly, I’m exhausted from the last several months of mission and holiday preparations and kid’s activities and events. But I wouldn’t change that for quiet all the time. I love my busy life. It is a good, fun, and fulfilling life. I have thought a lot about what my goals would be for this next year…physical and spiritual goals are written down. Today’s snowshoe run was exhilarating but also tough. It taught me that despite the rough conditions, if I just took it a little at a time, I could get through it. That is exactly how life was for me in 2022. It was definitely rocky at times. I do hope that this next year is a little kinder to me in some ways. And if not, I will just take it one day at a time, applying the things I learned last year to make this next year a little better than the last! So, here’s to an amazing 2023!

I started out this month strong, consistently running with the Striders and doing all of their workouts. I had just come off of a 6-week peloton power zone build so I was happy to be running and not be completely exhausted. One of my favorite workouts was the lake intervals around Prospect Lake. The sunrise that morning was amazing. Shortly after that I got sick for a week but then popped back into the workouts and did the Bear Creek Tempo loop where I wasn’t going to really tempo it. I went out easier with Caryn and Dave and did an easier tempo pace but then the last mile I picked up the pace and finished really strong. After a week of being sick that felt really good. Over the week of Christmas, I was skiing with the family and took some needed days off of running so I was all pumped up to do my annual day after Christmas run with Dionne at Garden of the Gods. It is a tradition we started a few years ago and continue to do every year. Later that week we met up for a lunchtime snowy run at Bear Creek Park. I didn’t get in as much running this month as I would’ve liked but the runs I did have were pretty great. 

​While Mike and Emma were off to Utah for Josh’s wedding, the rest of us headed to the AFA to spend an evening bowling. It was a riot watching everyone bowl, especially Madeline who started out rolling the ball between her legs until she discovered the cool ramps she could use. Abby struggled to not get gutter balls until eventually we just put up the gutter guards for her. After that her mood improved drastically and she started laughing and having fun. There was lots of laughing and joking going on as that is just what should happen when one goes bowling. Andrew did pretty well but was shocked at how many strikes I was getting. I think all of the kids were shocked that I was so good at bowling. I told them that is what I did in high school on the weekends at the American Club in Tokyo. I ended up getting one of my highest scores ever. It was a great adventure out of the house and one that we need to repeat often!

​I always love the anticipation of Christmas morning and seeing the excitement from all of my kids as they sit at the top of the stairs waiting to run down and see what Santa brought them. Although we only have one little kid in the house, it is still so much fun as the older kids still get excited. This year none of the older kids had any idea what they were getting which made their excitement more intense than usual. All Madeline wanted was a robot dog and Santa delivered big time. Her face as she turned the corner from the stairs was priceless. The older kids were so excited by their big gifts too. Andrew got a subscription to Hello Fresh, Emma got air pods and a new Garmin running watch that is similar to an apple watch but does so much more, and Abby got an epic vocal recording system. Everyone was thrilled. This year I found the little pickle, so I got to be the first one to open up a present. Even though we had 10:30am church, we ripped through the present opening so fast. The kids all got things they needed and also wanted all in one. Madeline got a new matching lunchbox, backpack and water bottle, books, a princess Lego set from Mike which she loved, a Toniebox and Disney princess characters to go with it, an art easel with paint markers and a new apron, a set of instruments, and some new clothes. Abby got new shoes, new clothes, new paints, an everywhere belt bag from Lululemon which she loved and a new necklace from Albion. Emma got new shoes, new clothes, a GHD curling iron, and a necklace from Albion that she kept stealing from me. Andrew got new lunch boxes for school, new clothes from Kuhl and Vuori that he would never buy for himself, new skis, and his mission scrapbook that I finished and had printed for him. Mike and I bought new clothes for each other, mostly from Vuori, Kuhl and Lululemon which are our favorite stores. Mike also got a new work messenger bag and also his traditional Lego set. This year I decided on the Child from the Mandalorian series. He loved it. Of all the presents we received, the best was getting on the phone with Peter that afternoon and hearing his cheerful voice. It really put things in perspective hearing his positivity knowing that things weren’t much better than the day before but seeing how a good night’s rest can change one’s mood and outlook on things. I was immediately humbled and blessed to be able to have the most wonderful conversation with Peter. We sure did miss having him in person on Christmas but video chatting with him was pretty great. Family really is the best gift anyone can have on Christmas morning. I hope that our family never forgets that. 

Reading Santa's letter thanking the kids for the cookies and milk and carrots for Rudolph

Mom found the pickle first

Everyone kept stealing my favorite white water bottles so Mike bought me more

​This Christmas Eve started out like every year. I headed down to the kitchen after sleeping just a little bit to start on the Christmas dinner. One of these years I will learn to do the pies the day before. I started on the pies and had lots of good helpers in the kitchen. Mike is the designated peeler, slicer, and cleaner of dishes. With his help and the other girls at various times we were able to get most of dinner prepped quite early. I tried something new with the apple pie this year. I did a lattice top instead of the boring top I usually do. I loved the way it turned out. I also was able to get the cinnamon rolls done earlier in the day instead of doing them at 10pm. It was still an all-day affair to get everything done but between prepping dinner, I was able to enjoy watching the girls play the Wii together amongst other shenanigans. Mike put together an amazing charcuterie board for lunch and we gobbled that down pretty fast. I pulled out the Christmas pajamas early and let everyone wear them all day. I mean why not, right? This year I made custom shirts for everyone with my new Cricut machine. I had loads of fun picking out what would go on each person's shirt. In the afternoon we were able to talk to Peter and I wish I could say it was the most uplifting call, but he was really struggling and had been sick the week before. It was so good to see and talk with him, but it left us all missing him and sad for the situation he was in. We all ate our dinner in silence and after we had scripture study Emma gave the most heartfelt prayer for Peter. It actually made us all tear up a bit. There is nothing more real on Christmas than having to rely on the very person for whom the season is focused on. The only way we would get through Christmas this year was by having faith that God would watch out for Peter and being grateful for a Savior who knew exactly what we were all feeling.

Twas the Night Before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring...except for the parents who were diligently putting things together for Christmas morning!!!

​By the third day of skiing, we were all getting a little tired but the sun for the first few runs was a nice way to start the day. Then the clouds came in and the sun went away, and we immediately felt the coldness. Still, there was fresh powder on the runs this morning which was amazing. We ventured all over the place but stuck to most of the same stuff we had been skiing the past two days. I headed back over to the East River Express with the older kids and did the black mogul Resurrection run with Emma and then the Black Eagle mogul run with Abby, Andrew, and Emma. At one point we thought we saw Madeline by herself going down a run when we were on the lift, so we waited at the top for Mike and when we didn’t see them Andrew and I flew down Lower Treasury to make sure she wasn’t at the bottom by herself. Turns out that we had just missed seeing Mike because Madeline was so fast. That Lower Treasury run was amazing and the fastest I skied all day. Even on tired legs I skied more today than I did the past two days. That was probably because Emma wanted to go back to the top after getting to the bottom with Madeline. Abby had lost her ski pass, so she and Mike were getting another copy. Andrew was tired so he took Madeline back to the condo and Emma and I went back up Silver Queen to the top and skied the Paradise bowl again. After doing that once we realized that we were also tired, so we headed back to the bottom and called it a day. We skied 14 runs with over 17 miles and 16,772 vertical ft. 

​Today was another great day on the slopes with the family. It was a tad warmer than yesterday but overall, the weather was about the same with the cold temps but nice sun in the sky. We did mostly the Paradise Bowl again today but went over to do some harder runs off the East River Lift later in the morning. Andrew, Emma, and I did a black run called Double Top Glades. The tree section is definitely my favorite before it drops off into some very steep black moguls. I made it down just fine, but it wasn’t always the prettiest watching me get through the deep mogul section. I definitely need work on learning how to navigate those better. Then we made it back up to the top and met up with Mike, Abby and Madeline who skied Lower Treasury. We all headed back to the Paradise Lodge for some lunch. We have figured out the best things to bring for lunch and it was nice that there were three of us with backpacks to share the load in carrying all the food. The favorites were the chicken salad sandwiches on croissants, snap pea crisps, clementines, and of course, the Oreos and other little treats we brought. After fueling up we did more of the Paradise Bowl before heading back down and doing one run off the Red Lady Express lift. We ended up skiing 10 runs with 13.5 miles and over 13,000 vertical ft. 

Push up challenge for Emma's running club

Just because Andrew was crazy...he got back in the hot tub really fast

​We were a little delayed getting on the slopes this morning but that was ok. Andrew needed to demo some skis and we realized that we had brought one correct boot and one incorrect boot for Madeline, so we rented boots for her. The sun was shining on the slopes at Crested Butte which was good because the temperature read 7F with a real feel of -5F. With the sun we were perfectly warm riding up Silver Queen Express lift. One of the coolest things about this lift is the view of Mt. Crested Butte right before you get off the lift. Madeline was more nervous than other years to go skiing but she did really well on that first sketchy cat trail like run to get to the Paradise bowl. We spent a good deal of the day going down the Paradise Bowl. The snow tended to be the best on this section of the mountain because we were as high up as you could go. None of the black back bowls were open so we all stuck together and skied with Madeline the entire day. Before lunch we ventured over to East River Express lift to try some of the blues over there, but it was kind of icy getting down there, so we took the lift and then headed straight back over to the Paradise lodge to eat lunch. After lunch we just hit the Paradise Bowl several more times before heading down to the bottom to try some of those runs. One of my favorite things Madeline said after finishing another run down the Paradise Bowl and the Lower Forest Queen run was, “We crushed it.” She truly did crush all of those runs and had no problems on the steeper sections. Crested Butte was practically empty today and we never had to wait in any lift lines longer than 1 minute except for when we went all the way to the bottom and had to wait in the Red Lady Express lift with all the inexperienced skiers. It was kind of a mistake to try and get on that lift, but Madeline did enjoy skiing some of those green runs, so we went up once and then called it a day. We ended up skiing a total of 11 runs with over 14 miles and 13, 776 vertical ft. 

Mahupay Naaga! 

This is week has been a wild ride to say the least. I finally got into the field and its definitely difficult but also sprinkled with the tender mercies of the Lord. My first zone is in Tolosa which is just south of the main city of Tacloban. There's not much on the main street and most of the town lives in the jungle. It’s been very interesting proselyting under coconut trees and banana leaves, but I think I'm getting used to it. 

My trainer is Elder Ramos, and he is super nice! He's helping me learn the language and get adjusted to missionary life. It’s definitely been difficult but anyone whose gone on a foreign mission, especially Asia, knows that your body needs a few weeks to... adjust. Other than a few hiccups though, I have been trucking along trying to learn the language. Waray Waray is truly a different language than Cebuano, so it has taken a lot of effort to try and get off the ground in the language. 

Living out in the jungle is definitely a different experience than I'm used to. We don't have AC, but we have a couple fans which are really nice to come back to after a long day. We often come across oddities in the bush though. Like today for example we woke up to find a severed gecko head on our doormat. Very strange but I guess that’s just the Philippines. 

This week I also got the opportunity to baptize someone! Brother Charles has been taking lessons from the missionaries for about a month and decided to get baptized last week. My trainer asked if I could do it and he agreed! During the baptism he couldn't stop smiling, although he was nervous. He's a bright soul who has a love for the gospel. Even though we don't speak the same language, his attitude, and the composition of his character shine through. I'm excited to keep meeting with him as the weeks continue. I'm sorry if this email is a little all over the place but I'll talk to you all next week! Kita kites! 

Elder Wilhelm 
 

​Hey Guys!

The last week in the Provo MTC was good. We spent one day learning Waray. I wish we would've spent more time learning that language. I got a package from my mom with several mini loaves of poppyseed bread. Everyone loved the poppy seed bread. Maybe a little too much. There were some Elders close to tears (not joking). I also got a haircut from one of the other Elders which was awesome because there were no openings at the MTC barber. Everyone in our district was excited to finally be leaving for the Philippines.

I finally made it to Manilla. 30 of us missionaries arrived at around 1:00am to the Manila MTC after lots of shenanigans. The customs line in Seoul was really long and then we had to grab our bags and go through security again. That line was even longer. Our district was mostly together and after the last of us made it through security we realized that the sisters were nowhere to be found. We searched the airport but then had to haul over to our gate, so we didn't miss our flight. I was the last one on the plane. There were 10 Elders and Sisters that didn't make it on the flight because they had standby tickets. They were put on a different flight but missed that flight since it was on the other side of the airport. Almost everyone lost their bags by the time they made it to Manilla. However, the two Cebuano Districts (including my district) have been blessed with everyone making it and with all our luggage (for now). It was a super long flight, but I don't really have jetlag at all. I guess my body has adapted from all the traveling as a kid
 
The week in the Manilla MTC was pretty crazy. There was lots of language learning and some more shenanigans. The food was pretty great. Everyone loved the waffles. On our first full day we got paired up with a missionary already serving in Manilla and we got to go out tracking in the town. That was awesome. We didn't get a change to go and do a session in the Manilla temple, but we did get to go and tour the grounds one of the last nights we were there. The next time I write I will be in Tacloban!
 
Elder Wilhelm 
P.S. The food slaps here

PERSEVERANCE is the word I would use to describe Emma’s race at Garmin Running Lane XC Championships in Huntsville, Alabama. She came into the race sick. She was coughing, had a sore throat, and was very congested. It was already not an ideal situation, but she was still positive about being able to push herself despite that deficit. We picked up her race day kit (which included a cool hat, sunglasses, and backpack), bought a few fun things at the Expo, and then she did her shakeout run with some of her club-mates that were also there to run in the Gold Division. Coach Lisa was there and gave the girls a great pep talk about the course and strategy for the race. After their shakeout run, Emma and I headed back to the hotel for a relaxing day of rest and stretching. We headed out later that night to eat at an Italian restaurant called Mazzara’s to carbo load before race day. It was already slightly raining but what we weren't expecting was the overnight downpour. The course that is normally a fast course where most girls get their PRs, was a hot mess with mud and lots of water. The girls had to tape their spikes so they wouldn’t come off in the mud. And yet, she went to the starting line without one complaint. Since she was running unattached from a team or club, she just did her strides and warm up drills on her own. Never wavering. She knew what to do. She started and finished that race with her head held high. She didn’t PR, nor did she get close to what she is used to getting, but she came away with the knowledge that she can do hard things and what a character-building moment that was for her. I am prouder of her for what she did in this race than I have been for any other race she has competed in. It takes real guts to run a race like that feeling the way she did. When the race was over, we just looked at each other and smiled even though we were both covered in mud…her more than me. What a crazy experience this race was for the both of us and a memory we will never forget.

Traveling and being able to hang out in the Centurion Lounge is pretty awesome. They still were making Thanksgiving type sides which we loved!

This race had awesome swag...especially for those running in the highest Gold Division which Emma was entered into. The backpack was especially cool and also the winter running hat! 

Coach Lisa from Emma's club team was there with the Coronado boys team but she took the time to talk with Emma and some of the other club girls from Palmer HS. She gave them a great pep talk and talked about strategy and told me to grab 3/4 inch spikes which I did immediately at the Expo. 

Carbo loading at Marazzas

One of my favorite all time photos of Emma running