December 30, 2013
Hello everyone!!
It was so good to talk to you on
Christmas, and a whole lot easier to explain things in person than try to write
them in an email :) haha
I can`t remember all I told you on
Christmas so I will just give you a little summary of what we did for
Christmas.
So on the 24th we had the big party
in the offices with all the missionaries. The elders played soccer and the
hermanas talked and then we had a barbeque for lunch and then a special program
followed by watching the movie Monsters University. That was a LOT of fun. Our
mission is pretty small so I know the majority of the missionaries (especially
the sisters) and I absolutely love being able to see everybody together and
talk with all of them. Then, that night we received special permission to spend
Christmas with the other Hermanas in the zone, and that was really fun. (They
had the Christmas tree in their apartment that we all bought together when we
lived together so we decided to go to their apartment :)) So in Peru, everybody
celebrates Christmas the 24th at midnight. At midnight is when they have their
huge special Christmas dinner and it is also when about a million fireworks go
off. Seriously. Everybody and their dog does fireworks and the night sky literally
lights up with fireworks. And then after the dinner and fireworks
everybody opens their presents and then goes to bed and sleeps all day on the
25th
So we went up to the roof of the
apartment building at midnight to watch the fireworks and it was so awesome! I
have a video of it I will try to send. But...what we didn`t realize was that we
closed the door of the roof behind us and accidentally locked ourselves up on
the roof. oops. :P We were thinking that we just might spend the night on the
roof, but we were able to yell down to a neighbor who lives across the street
and we dropped the keys down to her and she rescued us. Funny coincidence,
turns out that she has two sons that are on missions, but she isn`t a member.
So the hermanas are now teaching her and she accepted baptism! Woo hoo! I`m
thinking that that really wasn`t a coincidence :)
And so then on the 25th we went and
did service in the morning and then talked with our families! We also had to go
back to the apartment a couple times because my companion was sick and throwing
up. That wasn`t so good. She blames the Paneton and Chocolatada. Oh yeah! That
is another huge tradition here in Peru. Paneton is kind of like fruit cake but
it actually tastes good. And everybody (not even lying, EVERYBODY) eats paneton
and chocolatada(hot chocolate) the whole month of december, but especially for
Christmas. It’s really good but I think I ate so much that I will be ok with
not eating it again for a year. And you can`t even mention the word `paneton`
to my companion without her gagging :P
And then that night the whole zone
got together for a special Christmas dinner and we ate Pollo a la Braza and
french fries with mayonaise, and had a really good time together. Elder
Peterson brought christmas music from home and gave us `special permission` to
be really trunky for the night :) Hermana Nelson and I had a lot of fun singing
along to all the songs we missed out on hearing this year.
So that about sums up my only
Christmas in the mission! It was definitely one I will always remember,
especially because we received three very special `Christmas gifts` this
Sunday. We were able to baptize A. last night, and let’s just say that
it was a miracle that everything went smoothly. A lot of his family who are inactive were there and I think it was a really good experience for them. And
then, our other two christmas miracles. First, our `family` P. and Y. (who
went to the temple with us and that we have been teaching for a long time)
FINALLY came to church! yay!!!!! Not even kidding, I was fighting back tears of
happiness all throughout sacrament meeting I was so excited to have them there.
And then another family we are teaching who aren`t married (she is a less
active member and he isn`t a member) told us yesterday that they have decided
to get married! We put the goal with them for the end of this month and we are
so excited for them. Next step is getting him to accept baptism. He has said he
will get baptized, but only when he knows FOR SURE that it is true. We know
he`ll get there and we are praying that he will be ready by the time his
wedding rolls around.
It is very, very possible that I
won`t be here to see their wedding, or be here to help P. and Y. progress
and get married and baptized because cambios (transfers) are in two weeks.
And....since I`ve been in Independencia my whole mission I will probably be
leaving. But, we will see. They are putting two new sisters in another ward and
everyone is joking that my transfer will just be to that new area in the stake
(since I have served in two different wards in this stake) and that I will serve
only in the mission Peru Lima Norte, Estaca Independencia. Haha, but we`ll see.
It’s all in the Lords hands.
Well, I hope you all had a wonderful
Christmas and that you have a wonderful New Year! Next week I will have to tell
you about the crazy new year’s eve traditions they have here :)
Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hermana Shelton
Pictures:
Doing `fireworks` (sparklers) in our
apartment for Christmas Eve
My MTC district back together again
for Christmas :)
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