Querido Familiar,
FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!! WOOOOOOWWWW!!!1 we are having a fun christmas in Peru that is FOR SURE! especially this past week. the best kind of christmas presents EVER!
well.... i am one happy hermana gonzales. This has been an outstanding week! full of Miracles! we had our Baptism! TWO! Sheila and Delia, mother and daughter, FINALLY baptised! and on their way to salvation. AL FIN! after lots of opposition, after lots of tears, they made it into the water and they are the most clean people on earth! THe baptism was beautiful. Hna Sheila gave her testimony first, and she just cried. she cried and she was so full of the spirit. its interesting to watch people feel the Holy Ghost so profoundly for the first time. you could tell she felt something she never had before. she thanked her mom for taking this journey with her, and they hugged in front of everyone. there wasnt a dry pruvian eye. or american eye for that matter. our Menos Activos that we just "rescued" were there, and you bet they were crying too. We were all seeing the Obra De Salvasion in accion! THIS is what the profet was talking, about, THIS is what God had in mind when he revealed the age change, the work of salvation seminar to our living profet. and it is REAL! AND the spirit of the Huanchaco Temple is among us. yes, its a strong spirit, and yes there is opposition in all things, but days like this, make it all worth it. Heavenly Father is truly aware of His children. And He TRULY does love us.
ALSO, because of this baptism, our consejo de barrio is going good. our ward is amazing! for this baptism we tried to use OTHER members. it seems like we use the same ones every time for the program, so we made extra effort to use different ward members to get them involved, and it was even more beautiful! I LOVE EL BOSQUE! yo amo este Barrio. es lo MAXIMO!
Plaza de Armas: EXITO! this week we had our big christmas concert in the bit Plaza. we were supposed to have it for two days, but... turns out there was a strike going on in the plaza on friday. peruvians trying to have more civil security. more safety. too many deaths. from crazy drivers, and robbers. so all the taxis, bus drivers, comvis, motos, anything with wheels, all didnt drive for a day. and a lot of people went to the plaza, stood in this over pass, and threw rocks at all the taxis or cars that were still driving. so if we went that day, we would probably get a rock to the face.... un poco peligroso. so we had the concert just one day. any way, over 250 missionaries and a program of chrismas songs. hymns, solos, hna downs and i did our duet! we arranged Venid y adoremos (o come let us adore him) and it was in english and spanish. it was SO SWEET! i felt good about it all. the TRUE spirit of christmas was there. and it was powerful . we sure do have a lot of talent in our mission. which leads me to my next point, El Show de Talentos is going great! i just spent 4 hours listening to a lot of talent. Hna Marler said i only have 1 hr and 10 monutes. we will see how this goes. but you can expect a GREAT show! I LOVE THIS ASSIGNMENT!
something funny: this last sunday, sitting in church, wating for the sacrament bread to come to me, i look up from my prayer to partake of the holy sacrament and find myself eathing PANETON! not bread..... the sweet, cakey, peruvian christmas treat. PANETON!!! wha??? like is that sacreligous? i couldnt help but laugh. i was dying. so was my companion. but to everyoe else its normal.... good old peru
since the show got canceled one night, we got to participate in our ward talent show too! lots of music, guitar, and christmas hymns in spanish. i love the holidays. we arranged a way in a manger and silent night and put them together in a cool song. wish i could attach videos.
we dedccorated our room for christmas. we wanted to hang snowflakes from the celing. but didnt have any sting,. so we used dental floss.
this week, i had a tender mercy moment, when heavenly Father blessed me with joy. we were contacting someone, and we got a long so well she gave us free peruvian snow cones ( not like american snow cones. they use different flavored jams instead of syrup) and the kids near by were playing this sweet jumprope game. except it wasnt exactly a jump rope. idk how to explain it but i learned a new game! and i had a snow cone, and these kids thought we were so funny with our american accents, and it was just perfect. i love peru. i love the people. ilove having summer for christmas, I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!
AND THE BEST PART!!!
got my CHRISTMAS PACKAGE FROM MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!
it was SO FUN to open! after the plaza de armas, we all got our packages, and went home. we came home with two other sisters whos area was too far away, so the five of us all celebrated christmas a little early and opened our packages in our jamies, one at a time and laughed and cried, and ate moms fudge. mine was the best, i opened it up and immediately our room was filled with the SMELL of christmas! thats right! MOM YOU ARE SO SMART! and you know i love the smell of pine cones and clove. YUMMY! muy package was awesome! everything i could ever want or need,. a piece of the simko home at christmas time all wrapped up in a box. im saving my letters to read for christmas day. but it was so fun to open! and i didnt realize how wierd chocolate christmas oranges were until i tried to explain it to my native comp. lol we are so wierd. hit a chocolate ball on the desk, open it up and it looks like a brown pealed orange. YUM! and you can expect one every year in your stocking. lol
life is good. i am so blessed, and i love reminding people why we REALLY celebrate. and where would we be with out the saviors birth. we would be nothing. and what joy we have. what reason we truly have to celebrate. we celebrate that the savior made salvation possible. thats the real reason. thats what its all about. and i hope that each and every one of you come to know your savior and redeemer a little more personally this season. He is your advicate. And he completes us. he truly does. I love my savior, i love this work. i am so blessed. thank you for your love and prayers.
Merry Christmas
Feliz Navidad
con amor
Hna Gonzales
No comments:
Post a Comment