Snow Week & Christofferson

This week was a LOOOONG week. If you are unfamiliar with North Carolina, you probably don't know that snow/ice = apocalypse. People go crazy. It was insane.

Monday's Forecast: Snow starting at 5pm
Actual Weather: Light sprinkles around 6pm until 10pm, then just straight freezing rain.
Result: School closed 3 hours early (12:45pm). Grocery stores are out of milk and bread.

Tuesday's Forecast: Below freezing temperatures.
Actual Weather: Below freezing temperatures. We woke up and the roads in our apartment complex were about a half an inch of just ice. Tuesday was probably the worst day. However, all the roads everywhere else were pretty much fine.
Result: No work for Matt, school closed.

Wednesday's Forecast: Snow from 5-8pm, below freezing temperatures
Actual Weather: Brief snow from 5-7pm
Result: School closed

Thursday's Forecast: Below Freezing Temperatures, sunny
Actual Weather: Below freezing temperatures, sunny. Roads were completely fine.
Result: School Closed

Friday's Forecast: Below Freezing Temperatures, sunny
Actual Weather: Below freezing temperatures, sunny. Roads were completely fine.
Result: School Closed

I was out of school for FOUR DAYS. I was going NUTS. I graded papers for like 2 straight days and watched Chuck, but then after that I was like DYING. I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted to, but it was a nice break to sleep and relax.

People here are pretty paranoid. It was kind of ridiculous. Make up days for school have been scheduled for Saturdays and I am super bummed.

Most of our neighbors in our apartment complex are Indian. And they were absolutely enthralled by the snow. They were all out taking pictures... it was kind of adorable. 

Matthew got me a space heater for Valentine's Day. Perfect timing.

This is our backyard! Beautiful in the snow.

In other news:

• Matthew has a job! When asked how he feels about it, he says "It's fine." So there you go. Ha.
• I got my first (and hopefully last) root canal couple weeks ago. Awful.
• Three sets of plane tickets bought for future trips:
• Elise goes to Pittsburgh for when Rachel comes home! I will be there March 29-April 3rd. Stoked!
• Matthew & Elise go to Utah for Emily's wedding, weekend of April 11th, so for you Provo people, we are coming back! We already have a list of restaurants that we will be going to that we are seriously craving out here on the East Coast.
• Matthew & Elise & the McAllister's are going to London!! End of July (Harry Potter's Birthday week) So excited!!
• On Friday, our heater broke. As in it wouldn't turn off. It got to like 85-86 degrees by the time they came and fixed it. And when I say fixed it, I mean they replaced it and wired it incorrectly. Because then our heat didn't work. So we spent Saturday with a 55 degree apartment for several hours. Also, our toilet was leaking blue gunk so they came and replaced the tank. Which was also broken, so we had a soaking wet floor for a couple days before they came and fixed it. And when I say fixed it, I mean they thought they fixed it but they really didn't. So our toilet leaked for two more days, and finally they figured out it was missing a part from when they "fixed" it the first time and it couldn't get here till Monday. So we are waiting. Good thing we have 2 toilets. 
• I started watching the Bachelor Tuesday nights with some girls from the ward, and Matthew and one of his friends whose wife is part of the Bachelor group play FIFA Tuesday nights. This week however, he and Brad decided to do some paintings of... you guessed it, Lionel Messi. They turned out really good!

• Visit from Elder Christofferson

This past week we had the opportunity to hear the words of D Todd Christofferson TWICE. He held a couples devotional in Raleigh on Thursday night and attended a special Stake Conference on Sunday. Both times it was PACKED, but it was an unforgettable and incredible experience.

On Thursday, we headed down to Raleigh and arrived 20 minutes before the devotional started. There were no seats anywhere. People had taken chairs up onto the stage in the back of the cultural hall. We found some high council room chairs and pulled them out into the foyer to listen. We wouldn't be able to see, but we were as close as we could get. We sat down and were waiting, when about 10 minutes before it was to start, I look up and standing about 3 feet away from me is Elder Christofferson. He had just entered the stake center and I hadn't noticed. I had been thinking he had been in the chapel the whole time, and had considered just stepping inside to see him there. But no, he was just standing in front of me. He looked at me, smiled, and said, "Well aren't you guys sitting in the comfy chairs!" It took me so off guard to just look up and see an apostle there, let alone him speaking directly to me, that all I could stammer out was, "Yeah." So that was great! Why on earth would I say something eloquent or normal when interacting with an apostle of God? Why not just say "Yeah!" ? 

He and his wife are hilarious. And really just normal people. It was so cool to hear how normal they were. I recorded the talk on my phone (audio only) and if you're interested in hearing it shoot me an email and I'll send it to you.

Sunday was equally wonderful, though not quite as comfy as we were sitting on the metal chairs in the cultural hall. Somewhere in the middle of his talk invited all the children and youth to come and shake his hand after the closing prayer. At the end of the service I watched all the children line up at the stand to shake his hand- some grabbing him in a big hug. It was such a sweet, tender experience, and reminded me of the Savior blessing and ministering to children. It was a profound testimony to me of the authority that he holds as an apostle of our Heavenly Father. He is a sweet, kind person and I know that his words came from God. All around great weekend.