CHRISTMAS in the Mission

From President and Sister Philips        

Dear Family,                                                                                                       Oct 19th 2017

Hi everyone. We know that it is only October and many of us are not thinking about Christmas yet, but I decided to send out a quick email to the families of our missionaries about Christmas packages.  Having been a mother of three missionaries so far, I know that it is important to many of you that your son or daughter gets their Christmas package on time.  Here are a few tips that may help:

1.  Make sure that you send things well in advance.  Any letters sent from our home in Idaho take two weeks to get to the mission home.  If you send mail or a package to the mission office, we collect those packages and take them to the respective zones about once a month.  It may be more often, but sometimes it takes that long.

2. We would prefer that you send Christmas packages directly to the mission office.  The postal service will often not deliver to an address that does not have the correct name associated with the package being delivered.  Leases are not set in your missionary’s name.  The address for the mission office is:

Canada Montreal Mission 

470 Rue Gilford

Ste. 300

Montreal  QC   H2J 1N3

Canada



3.  We will be delivering the packages at the December zone conferences.  The first one is Dec 11th.  If your missionary’s package is not here by their zone conference, we will not be able to get it to them. The farthest zone is 3 hours away, and some missionaries are 6 hours away from the office.  We cannot make another trip to bring your package to them.  Sorry J

4. A great alternative is Amazon.ca.  There are no customs associated if you order from them and they will deliver what you purchase directly to the office.  Prime works J

5. If you send a Christmas package, please clearly mark on the package that it is for Christmas.  J

6. Customs is tricky!  Be very cautious about the dollar value of what you send.  I have talked to the Canadian postal service and they have told me that any value over $100.00 will end up in customs and your missionary will be charged when the package arrives.  We have had several missionaries have to pay large amounts, up to $125, for packages sent from home.  Customs also delays your package by several weeks.

7. On a personal note, with my children who have served in Switzerland, Mozambique and Ecuador, I have often sent two small packages instead of one large one to avoid customs.  If you decide to do that, make sure both packages are clearly marked for your missionary for Christmas

8. Last note…no matter how hard we try, sometimes the postal system does not work like we wish and our missionaries do not get their packages on time.  I sent a Christmas package to Ecuador the first of November and my son opened his Christmas package on Valentine’s Day.  Sometimes that is what happens, and we just have to smile and know that we tried our best.  The most important thing is that our missionaries need to know that we love them and that we are proud of the service they are giving.

If you are planning on sending Elder Hadden something for Christmas (and thank you, in advance, if you are!), please mail early (BEFORE Thanksgiving) and send it to the mission office.

Rose and Todd Hadden