I couldn't think of a really creative subject this week, really because I just want to say MERRY CHRISTMAS! But I'm in Mexico so I went ahead and said it in Spanish too. You're welcome.
Christmas is very different as a missionary, and it's very different in Mexico. As a missionary, I didn't spend Christmas Eve with my family, eating pizza and playing bingo, and I didn't spend Christmas day in my pajamas flying drones with my little brothers. I spent it walking the streets of Acapulco sharing the message of why everyone was celebrating in the first place. Saturday was great. The BIG Navidad celebration is on the 24th. So we have this super awesome member, Hna. Karen, who gave us some referrals and went with us to contact them. It was great! We found this family that was baptized almost 30 years ago. A mother and her 7 children who are members of the church, but haven't been in years, who have all married non-members and have families of their own and all live in Jardín and are willing to listen. That's a Christmas miracle if you ask me.
On Saturday night we ate a turkey dinner with some of our favorite members. On Sunday we had church in the morning, which was good. We spent a couple hours trying to street contact in the afternoon, but everyone was either drunk, sleeping, or at the beach, or any combination of the three.
The next Christmas miracle came when Hna. Karen (remember her?) invited us over to use their computers to Skype home. So what had happened was we don't have hardly any members in our ward who have technology, so I bought a web cam and the plan was to Skype from the computer at the church. Well when we went to test the camera, it didn' t have a microphone. So the next P-Day I bought a pair of headphones that have a microphone. Well when we went to test those out, the microphone didn't work with the computer. So we were fresh out of P-Day's before my call home and we don't have stores in our area, even though it's the biggest area in the mission, so I was praying so hard all week that it would work out. Karen was an answer to my prayers and definitely got a high-five and a "Karen, usted es mi favorita."
Needless to say, my call home was the best part of Christmas. It was so good to talk to my family. I love them so much. They're the best.
PICTURES:
1) Mauricio, Santiago, y VaileriaThis is Hna. Maldonado.
2)She LOVES missionaries so she gave me a tie.
3) Some kids wanted Elder Starks to draw a tiger, but he didn't have a tiger to look at, so I modeled.
4) My mom sent me this really cool air hockey set for Christmas, so that's what Elder Starks and I did for P-Day today.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas as much as I did! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I love all y'all!
-Elder Aldrich
