Dec. 27, 2010

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS, WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! Wow so Christmas is already over and new years is this week! Que loco! It was my last Christmas in Paraguay! Ha they did so many fireworks!!! And new years eve is just going to be even crazier, I love it. It is so Paraguay. I think one of my favorite parts about Christmas this year is that we made these cute lil gifts baskets with pan de banana (banana bread) and boiled cookies and some Paraguay candy and we put one of those pictures of Christ (that you sent to put on the lil Christmas tree) on every plate. They were so cute, yall´d be proud. And then we went out and Christmas caroled! Ha Christmas caroling in Paraguay is the BEST! Ha they loved it but they had no idea what was going on. We would clap at the door and they would come out and before they got to the front gate we would start singing and they would like try to come up and kiss us (to greet us) or they´d be like, here just come in the shade, you don´t have to stand out there in el sol (in the sun), haha. They didn´t really understand that they were just supposed to just sit there and listen. But it was way fun, and we had to wait for a lot of colectivos, so we would just bust out our hymn books and start singing Christmas songs with our lil santa hats and reindeer ears on. It was actually really cool, I felt the Spirit really strong everytime we would start singing. Ha I almost decided to just take my santa hat off, put it on the ground, stick our colectivo money in it, and just start collecting change, lol but then I decided maybe that´s not so missionary appropiate. Good times. Ok and let´s just talk about Christmas morning...so good! I LOVED all my lil regalos! They were all soo good and exactly what I needed and the 12 days of Christmas thing was soo soo cool (ha even though I did it backwards), I loved it! Thanks soo much! I loved the testimonies and the pictures of yall. So creative! And all those cards, PERFECT! I could go on and on! Yeah and oh...Gregorio, our recent convert- his son just got in a really really bad moto accident and so we got permission to go visit him in the hospital yesterday, yall could pray for him! Man, hospitals in Paraguay are pretty scary, I don´t think I would trust them. That was quite the experience. Aver... yeah but it was SO GOOD to talk to yall and hear yalls voices. Ha that is so fun! And DAD you are a stud!!! I am so glad you figured it out to work so I could talk with Ty too!!! I loved it! Ha just like old times. Yeah I was telling everyone how cool it was that I got to talk to my brother even though he´s on a mission, yeah pretty sure that never happens. That was a huge blessing! Mom, you about killed me when you told me what you did after you hung up. Talk about trunky! Ha jk, I´m fine, It´ll just be a lot of fun to eat cute lil american appetizers and sit down and play dominos! But man can yall believe it is going to be 2011?!! I remember writing last year and saying, holy cow, it´s going to be 2010 and I´m going to be in Paraguay all of 2010, and now OPA 2010! That was fast. Que pucha sheraá. But I love putting metas (goals), new years resolutions, empezar de nuevo and commit yourself to being better, that´s great. Ahhh and it´s Kylee´s birthday this week!!! Cute, 2 years old...really?! Wow that is crazy! Ahhh and it was so cute to hear Nate´s lil voice on the phone, I can´t believe how much he talks, that is adorable!!! I wish I would´ve been able to talk to Kylee and Tyler, yall just have to give them lots of love and tell them it´s from me. But it sounds like yall are going to have a super fun week all together. So fun. Everything is going good here, there is SO MUCH work to do! We are trying to find more people like Gregorio because he was the perfect investigator, really ready and prepared to receive the gospel and to commit to living it. He will be such a great leader. Once again I am just so greatful to have witnessed that miracle! It was the best Christmas present. That is what Christmas is all about. That is the reason for the season. To come unto our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And it was so amazing to see that happen in Gregorio´s life and see the change take place in my life as well. Amazing! I love it. Alright I love yall and otra vez I loved talking to yall and hearing yall, and it was really cool to read all your testimonies because I could just read it and hear yall talking, thanks so much for your love and your support. Talk to ya next year haha. Stay safe.

Love,
Hermanita Nelson