Dec. 2nd, 67 degrees with a light breeze

 

I am loving the holiday season so far. Every time we visit any elderly ladies I just get taken straight to my favorite place in the world (grandma's house) because apparently she isn't the only one who likes dipping toast in hot chocolate! They each have their own variation but so far we have gotten gingerbread toast dipped in arroz con leche (warm rice in sweetened condensed milk with cinnamon), Mexican hot chocolate with little toaster strudels, and hot homemade fruit punch with butter toast. I feel right at home. It is strange how the longer I am out, the more I feel like this is normal life--how life has always been and how it will always be.

Our Thanksgiving was great. One of our less active families invited us over to eat Thanksgiving dinner about a month ago and we accepted with gusto because the way to soften hearts here I have learned is by eating and raving about their food. It was awesome to see a Hispanic woman who usually makes us rice, tortillas, beans, go to extreme lengths to cook our regular turkey, stuffing, rolls, potatoes. It was funny how exotic and different that food was for them--they look forward to Thanksgiving as a cultural experience. It was funny because as Hermana Hale and I were gobbling up the stuffing, which was good and hearty and definitely not from a box, we were like, "Wow! This is so good. How did you make it??" And she responded, "Oh, I just made the cornbread last night and crumbled it and then mixed it with the gizzards and liver this morning..." (swallow. followed by much slower eating.) It was a good day.  I was thinking to myself how grateful I am to have this opportunity to be away from my beloved ones, doing all my favorite things and pleasuring in my own comfort, in order to be learning about sacrifice and selflessly serving others. Let the holidays begin! 

Mom and family, thank you so much for fasting and praying for our investigators by name. I know that will help them progress so much, and bring the Spirit into their hearts to change them and help them understand the Gospel.

The Spanglish is getting really bad. I think in Spanish and English simultaneously now. Sometimes my sentences come out just really horrible--especially if we are teaching a family with english speaking teenagers and spanish parents. I am also losing the ability to translate clearly between them...I forget English equivalents. For example, Hermana Hale asked me what a "vidente" is the other day (seer/revelator) and the only response I could come up with was "......a vision-ater."

.