Buenas tardes todos!!!!
(Good Afternoon All!!!)
Primeramente, a mi primo Elder Brush en Buenos Aires- lo siento por ser una stinky prima y no escribir por tanto tiempo... pero que tenga un MUY buen navidad y todo el éxito en el mundo! Hay muchos personas que vienen de La Plata acá y siempre pregunté si conocieron vos, pero después aprendí que es una ciudad gigante... jaja te quiero mucho y espero que tenga un navidad llena con asado y sin pan dulce con frutas, a menos que le gusta, por su puesto ;)
First, to my cousin Elder Brush in Buenos Aires - sorry for being a premium stinky and not writing for so long... but I hope you have a very good Christmas and all the success in the world! There are many people coming from La Plata here, and I always ask if they knew you, but I later learned that it is a giant city ... haha. I love you and hope you have a Christmas filled with roasted sweet bread without fruit, unless you like it, of course :)
Pues, to the rest of my dear family and friends- MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Can you believe it´s already here?! yeah, I can´t. I look at the calendar and realize that I almost have 6 meses en la mission- HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN!?! Yep, 2 de Enero, mi cumple mez. but its not here yet, so I will keep denying for a few weeks that I´m grande en la mission.
These past weeks have been crazy crazzy, like, I didn't think that my mission could get crazier, then it did, and I love it dearly :) Did ya´ll know that there are gypsies in Argentina? no, there really are! They wear long skirts and live in extravagant houses... I knew there were some of them in Bahía but, Here in Trenque too!
Okay, that´s completely besides the point of everything... but it´s argentina, and I love it. What I REALLY want to talk about in my letter today is that sweet Dalma was baptized this week!!! This girl is so wonderful. With the water low and freezing, she went into the font with the biggest smile I've ever seen. And after, shivering, still smiling, said "I´m baptized!" Her mother is a member of the church recently returning, and made a lovely cake for Dalma. It was vanilla, with dulce de leche and peach filling, covered in fondant. And the members stayed after church to watch and to welcome her into the branch more fully! :) It was beautiful. It meant the world to our companionship for so many reasons! After 7 weeks, both of my companions are getting transfered. Hermana Boyce to Santa Rosa and Hermana Burgos to Tandil. I´m going to miss them SO much! It was wonderful to be able to end our time together with the celebration of Dalma´s baptism.
I´m actually writing all of this from Santa Rosa! Our tiny zona in Trenque came here to celebrate Navidad with our mission president and all the missionaries in this area :) It was so great! We got to go to the hospital and Casa de Ancianos to sing hymns of Christmas and share a little message. It was lovely to talk to the little abuelos and to hear about their lives and to share a little more of the chirstmas spirit!!! After, we had a talent show that was IMPRESSIVE. Like, one of the elders is a master in kung fu, and showed us some of his routines, with nunchucks and everything. His dad has taught him since he was little! And other hermanas danced, and my zone shared the song of our mission that one of our elders wrote :) woah, it was just beautiful.
More than everything, my favorite part was the message that our president shared. I´m so grateful for my mission president and his wife, "mamá y papá noel". They help us with EVERYTHING and woah, what I learn from them, it´s amazing. I´m so grateful to know that we´ve been called by a prophet to serve here in Argentina, and I´m so so so grateful to share the message of christmas with the world! It has suprised me beyond belief to find so many people that don´t know what the reason of christmas is. I hope you all have a wonderful christmas, centered firmly in Christ and his teachings :)
I love you all!!! Feliz Navidad!!! Que Dios les bendiga y quida :)
Besitos!
Remember how I said that Argentines are quite the partying people? WELL, we´re still celebrating Christmas! We continue to eat a lot of pan dulce. And, most awesome of all- we can still use the little cards from the Él esla Dádiva! It´s wonderful :) We ask "can we give you a card-cito de navidad?" and they accept, and it´s still a great way to spread the gospel! We´ve found so many people to teach that way. Usually people don´t even want our cards, but they take Christmas cards! So It´s a great thing that the christmas trees are up until 3 kings day, or the day of the wisemen :) which is like in, January 6th or something. We´re gonna use the Christmas spirit for all we´ve got! Hey, who knows, maybe it will last till Easter. ;)
I´ve got my new compañera now! Her name is Hermana Mercado, and she´s from Nicaragua :) She´s so great! Her hardworking and excited attitude are contagious, and it´s great, cause we´re able to work hard and see lots of miracles together. AND she´s a whole lot of fun in a tiny little body! Her head hits right below my shoulders :)
