Christmas Phone Call

We called Stephen on Christmas Eve on the phone first. The connection was not good but it woke him up. They are 15 hours ahead so it was morning for him. Then, we called back and talked for a few minutes and then we called him up on Skype which is much cheaper than the landline. We told him that we wished we could see him on Skype. He said that office elders do get to use Skype for their calls home. Sigh.

In the meantime, Laura and Job were hurrying over to get to talk too. Job's parents had just arrived from Mexico and they had to leave them and the babies to come over and talk.

Stephen said he shared a 1 bedroom apartment with 2 companionships. He thinks it is very large and feels that it must be a very expensive apartment. The apartment has 2 offices in it so that each companionship has their own office. He says he will send pictures.

They live in Fen Ling by Towlow Harbor. They have 2 bunkbeds squeezed into the space and there is no floor. He says he cannot see the harbor but he can see a grave yard. He thinks of all the dead who need to be saved. A chinese young man that he know pointed to the graveyard and said that his mom lived there.

Laura and Job arrived and she launched into a discussion about Pandora's Box music that Stephen used to have. The weather was cold but it seems colder due to the humidity. Then James and Dion serenaded Stephen with Jingle Bells in Mandarin, or, Ding, Ding Dang. Laura chimed in on the last line. Stephen said he had heard it before but that was in America in his Chinese classes. This particular copy of the song came from James's Mandarin class.

He had Chinese food for dinner last night. Ha-ha! It was Hong Kongized American food with rice, pork chops and chicken, they put tomato sauce on it which is called ketsap in Cantonese. They think they invented ketchup. They probably did come to think of it. They also think they invented Wyoming. I don't know how that could have happened.

We talked for a little over an hour which we justified because the last phone call was cut short by 15 min., because Stephen's calling card was not really a 60 min. calling card. We got to call him this time. It was much nicer this way.

We noticed that Stephen has a strange accent. He was happy enough and at one point started eating his breakfast which was a Swiss Roll. He said it was his Christmas breakfast. That does not make a mother happy to hear about. Everyone chimed in and talked to him and we laughed and talked about what is going on with us and with him and our old memories. It was a refreshing phone call and I think we can make it until Mother's Day when we get to talk to him again. In the meantime, we will be working on when Stephen will get off of his mission and when we will possibly visit him. Of course Tanya and Ross's new baby will be born early in the month. He should get off later in May or maybe in June. He has some say in what happens.

He was just telling us how that works when the call was dropped. Laura and Job went home and we called Stephen back to have a proper goodbye. Now we have to wait until Wednesday or Thursday to hear from him again. I do have an assignment. He wants "that Seely Girl's address" and Brannon's address. Katy is her name, but he calls her "that Seely Girl". He said she was living in England right now. We looked her up on Stalker.net and that is where she is but her family does not appear to be there too this time.

I got depressed because my stupid computer lost a portion of what I wrote down and now I have to go back now and then and add parts that were omitted.