many thanks to all the christmas emails--jen u (got your dear elder), gee, aunt aliece (congrats to julina and enrique!), mark o, hna patiño, the waltons, grandma harris, jmag and dave, ma, pa, and rachel--so good to hear from you all!
we had a christmas zone conference this week. was really good. pres. levrino gave good training on getting referencias (referals) and being an overall better missionary. he talked about peter´s experience of walking on the water--we need to have the faith to "leave the boat" and do things that may be a little scary. but if we do, miracles will happen. it´s a good story to revisit in the new testament if you haven´t read it in a while. (matt 14, i think) sis. levrino also spoke. i really like her. and we ate a gangster lunch and had a visit from santa (one of the zone leaders) and a gift exchange. i received a bag of candy and a little toy that came in super handy this sunday when an investigator came to church with her toddlers. the best gift was a humongous watermelon. i gifted colored pencils. it´s true that we give to others gifts that we would like to receive, yes? hna levrino took a bunch of photos. and i heard that she has a facebook account for the mish (mision argentina salta). ma, maybe you need to check it out? and we all got budín, a traditional christmas bread (similar to pound cake)--way better than fruitcake. :)
recent convert silvia bought us a mini christmas tree and decorations this week. our apartment feels a bit more festive. christmas eve is the big deal here--everyone gathers for dinner at midnight (christmas morning, i guess) and so the day of christmas eve everyone is busy with preparations for the meal/festivities. if we have a "dinner" appt, we need to be home by 10 pm, otherwise we have to be home by dark. lots of drunks/crazies, i guess. silvia invited us over for christmas eve. we´ll leave before the meal, but will help with the food prep. all the native missionaries are sad that they´re missing out on all their traditional festivities, and all the gringos are missing the snow. i made sure to buy facturas (the argentine equivalent of a donut, i guess) today for christmas breakfast, en lieu of scones. i´m set. we work both christmas eve and day, though have plans to sing as a distict at some hospitals/rest homes on christmas eve afternoon.
dulce was baptized this saturday. dulce is the greatest ever. her mom came to the baptism and her dad to church the next day. her parents are divorced and she lives with her gma so i´ve never met them. and several of her friends and neighbors came to the baptism too. she is our most faithful book of mormon reader and wants to serve a mission someday. wahoo! school is out for the summer, so we´re going to have her accompany us on some of our appts during the day. it will be so great.
i taught gospel principles BY MYSELF on sunday! it was my first time ever, and it wasn´t even an easy topic (like baptism)--it was about the second coming. we had 4 investigators at church--our record. dulce´s dad, a mom and her teenage son that we´ve recently begun teaching, and natalia, who we´ve been teaching for awhile. natalia lives/d with her boyfriend, but he just went back to using drugs and being abusive, so she has a restraining order on him. the sad thing is they have two little girls, one who is handicapped, and natalia is young (23). but she really wants to get baptized. but her situation is a bit messy right now because she wants to wait to marry the boyfriend. dah. not sure what will end up happening. thank goodness the ward mission leader is a lawyer.
thanks again for all the christmas love! it´s good to be on a mission and help people access the greatest gift anyone could ever receive--the blessings of the atonement.
love, hermana magnusson
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