Happy Day of the Kings family! Today is a bigger holiday than Christmas. The people here receive their presents today from the kings (the 3 wisemen). So, Santa Claus doesnt bring gifts for Christmas, but the kings bring the gifts on the 6th of Jan. The past week, instead of Santa Claus, there were tons of Kings in the malls where the kids could go and visit and tell them what they wanted. Funny huh?! Granted, there are TONS of South American people here and this is not in South America so many families still do it our way where Santa brings the gifts and what not back in December, but the Spanish tradition is that the 3 kings bring the gifts on the 6th of January. So today the whole country is a ghost town, everything is closed and everyone is with their families.
Although I LOVE holidays and the Christmas Spirit and the family love that is all around still, I am not going to lie, I am ready for the holidays to be over. Literally the past 4ish weeks have been so so slow work wise because when there is a holiday here everything just shuts down, no one can meet with us, and they just party till their hearts are content. So since before Christmas, until about another week, work has just been sloooooow. Everyone we contact on the street, several of our investigators, ward members, and just everyone tell us to not bother them till after the holidays. jaja. But, that being said, it was such a good week this last week! here is a quick run down...
Ridel... I am not sure if I have ever mentioned him in my emails but he is the husband to Olga (la mujer that just got baptized a few weeks ago) and way back when we first started teaching Carlos and Reinier and Duglas he was always there and would chat with us but the second our lessons started we would leave. Then, Olga became our investigator and todavia in the beginning he would leave. But, then after a few lessons, we would stay in the tent when we would teach but he would just be in the background (but I knew he was listening and often times we would prepare lessons more for him and not necessarily for her bc we knew he was in the background listening) and then we had a temple tour with the both of them back in the beginning of Diciembre and wow! since then things have changed a ton with him. He started to listen in on the lessons. He would never participate but would always come over and listen in. THEN! her baptism is what really did it! Ever since her baptism the 21st of decimber he has been so much more open with us and we have had some really great discussions with him. Well, on tuesday we just felt so strongly that he is ready for baptism so we had a lesson with just Olga and Ridel (we taught them eternal marriage) and we asked them to come to the chapel instead of meeting in Sol in the tent and we invited Ridel to first become an investigator and second to be baptized and his response..."I know this church is true, I want to be sealed to Olga for eternity, I want to have an eternal family, so yes I will be baptized. I have already thought about it and I want to be baptized the 14th of January, Olga´s birthday!!" To say the least we were super emotional and super excited! So we are preparing him to be baptized the 14th of January and we couldnt be happier. Olga of course is beyond happy as well. But at the very end of our lesson she looked at me and said, Hermanita, when do you go home? I told her December of 2014. She started crying and said, you wont be able to come to our sealing on January 14th, 2015 will you??... Yeah, about broke my heart right in half. This might be the hardest thing about serving a mission outside of the states is that coming back for big things like this just isnt as easy. Makes me so, so sad. but I am filled with so much love for them and I am just so happy that they already have a goal to be sealed exactly one year from his baptism. There is just nothing better than serving a mission. Ahhh, all of these people are so special to me.
And speaking of all of these people being so special to me.... ME QUEDO!!!!!!!!!! Wahoooo!!! I did not get transfered. Hna Scheu, Yo as you all call her and I are staying together here in Barrio 5. We are both so so happy! Although of course I would have gone where ever I was sent and I would have loved it and I am so so feliz to be staying here for one more transfer. Because.... Family, I LOVE THESE PEOPLE! The past few weeks I have gotten so close to a few of the ward members and all of my recent converts and investigators are SO wonderful I couldnt have imagined leaving quite yet. I feel so blessed to be able to serve here for 6 more weeks. But, this probably means that next transfer when I will for sure be leaving it will probably be harder to leave, but it will be worth it!
Yesterday at church we had several of our investigators come and it was just such a special Sunday! We felt so blessed to have so many people at church. Our BEAUTIFUL family, Enrique, Adriana, y their kids came and let me just tell you, they are wonderful. They came late because they have a car and there was an accident that they got stuck in so they only came for the last two hours but thankfully they made it for Sacrament Mtg and it was so good! Fast and testimony is such a wonderful sunday for people to come! Javier also came for the 3rd week in a row and although we have to go super poco a poco with him, we are sure that soon he will have a baptismal date as well. He is so great and has one of the most sincere desires I have ever seen to follow Christ and do what God wants him to do.
And to answer everyone´s questions about new years eve... just a normal day of lessons and what not and in bed by 11! haha! Sounds like I stayed up longs than the Iversons though. jaja. But I serve in Sol, which is like the New York of Spain so here is where they have their big stuff, comparable to teh ball drop at time square, so the metros and buses aroudn my area closed early so we jsut made all of our appointments close-ish to home so we could just walk everywhere. And our last lesson was with Jessica and her boys. And we knew that they dont have family here so we brought over Mac N Cheese (hne scheu got it for Christmas) and made it with the boys and ate mac and cheese (the boys LOVED it!), salad, and some other food that Jessica made! It was so much fun!!! Hahah A fun tradition that they do here and in practically all south american countries is that they eat 12 grapes at 12 oclock. They ring a bell twelve times and at each rign you eat a grape, one grape for each month to bring you good luck throughout the year. So the week before grapes sales and signs and stand were everywhere! haha. Also, their new years festivities BEGIN at 12! haha they dont end at 12! So at twelve they do their whole "time square" thing and then they eat a huge meal and stay up dancing and partying all night long. So for example, the JAS (YSA) activity/dance started at 11pm and ended at 8am the following morning! And speaking of dancing, have I ever mentioned how I SO wish I could be latin so I could dance like them?! I love the way they dance!!!!!!
Ok, I hope you all enjoyed the novel! jaja I came to the locutorio this morning thinking, shoot this is going to be a small email, I dont have anything to say this week. jaja.
Thanks you family and friends for everything! I am so thankful for each one of you! Les quiero muchisimo!
And fam, can you please tell these few people how truly grateful I am so them! There are so many that have emailed me and sent me things so I almost dont want to mention names in fear of forgeting someone and as a result hurting them but a few people that I jsut truly appreciate.....
-Debbie Wanless... every two weeks I get a little note from her! Love it!
-Cara Meidell and Jenni Amundsen email me every once in a while with an update about their family and to say hi and both of their emails make me so happy! I am so thankful for both of them.
-Jenny Clark, I recieved her Christmas package this week and she is just so wonderful!!! How did our family get so blessed to have her and Pete as part of our family??
-Grandmere, with out fail I have a few emails every week from her telling me how much she loves me, what she has been doing, and how much she has been praying for me, my companion, and each one of my investigators.
-Dev Dev! She emails me also all of the time with updates and to say hi. You all have no clue how much those small emails me to me on the mission!
-Natalie! You all know everything about her but man I love her so much!
LES QUIERO!!!!
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