Merry Christmas from the California Jeppsens!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Our whole family was able to make it to LA for the holidays. There's nothing like a rainy Christmas! We made it up to Mammoth to ski for a few days and then spent Christmas at home. We got pajamas on Christmas eve, stockings on Chrismas day, ate Mexican food at Chevy's on Christmas night (a more recent family tradition) and enjoyed being together.

Some memorable parts of this Christmas were playing the new game we got called Killer Bunnies. We played it over and over again. We also played the Wii and everyone enjoyed riding the mini Penny Farthing bicycle the kids got Mom and Dad for Christmas. What did everyone else do for Christmas! We hope you had a good one and we can't wait to see everyone at the family reunion in July!

Mandy's Mission

Mandy is serving on the island of Fogo. She will be there untill February. She says Fogo is a volcanic island made up of steep hills. She is basically hiking everywhere so goes. The roads are just rocks, dirt and waste. There are random dogs, chickens, and goates everywhere. You walk outside and suddenly you see five dogs running around and you get chased by a chicken. Yesterday during a lesson a goat walked into the house looked at us then left. The people don't have doors. They use sheets to divide rooms and for the front door. We have water most of the time sometimes it doesn't exist in the afternoon. We don't have any hot water but we have clean beds. The people live without what I would say are the basic nessesities of life, yet they all have t.v.s and cell phones. They love American culture. The women always greet you by kissing your cheeks (think French people). Well I thought maybe it would be like people kid around in America when thy fake kiss your cheeks, NO! They plant wet ones on you. I feel like my face has cooties. On Saturday I got to see my first baptism here. I work in two branches here in Fogo. There are four Elders in the same city as us, one set in each branch and then four other Elders are here in Fogo but a different area. Total of 8 Elders and 2 sisters here. Wierd thing about the work here, it is completely with the youth. Basically all of our investigators are youth.We apparently have a ton of adult members, but most of them are not active. Beacause of this we work a ton with reactivating members. In fact 60% of Fogo has actually been baptized but no one comes to church so now we have to seek out the members and bring them back. I will have my first convert baptism in November. I love being here. It is sooo different from anything I have ever known, but I'm learning and doing well. The language is the hardest part, the people don't speak Portugues, they speak Creole, so I really don't understand anything anyone says. Pray that I will learn fast! Love you all Love Mandy (Be good- it's worth all the blessings in the world:))

Hello

Just making sure that we are finally on the blog. We will start to put updates about Mandy and her mission now that she has safely arrived in Cape Verde. Acutually she is now in the island called Fogo.

Another New Blog

I've moved my blog to a new location, and I've updated my link in the sidebar.

Does anyone still read this?

Welcome to the Blogosphere

Justin is up and blogging. Check out his link in the sidebar.

Happy 30th Anniversary!

Happy 30th Anniversary to Jerolyn and Todd last week! We had this fabulous cake at a get-together at Grandma's house. Guess who made it? :)

Cafe Rio and Razor Blades

On Saturday, Mandy and I went to Cafe Rio so she could have her last fix before heading off to Africa. We both ordered salads, which should come as no surprise. What should come as a surprise is that I bit into a razor blade while eating mine.

I took the thing up to the staff, and all they did was say sorry. So, I wrote to corporate headquarters this morning. Here's their response:

"Thank you so much for the information about a recent visit to Café Rio. We take this situation very seriously. And I will contact that location and make sure that this does not happen again. Safety and food quality is a main priority here at Café Rio. You can be assured that this will be resolved as quickly as possible.

Thanks again for your time."

At the very least, reimbursement for the price of the meal seems reasonable under the circumstances. Apparently, Cafe Rio thinks otherwise. So, those of you in Utah, spread the word.

Razor blades are deadly. From now on, I think I'll go to Barbacoa.