Lets start with Christmas. So it was a long hot Christmas Eve, and one unfortunate Elder was about to go outside with his companion, but the keys were sadly forgotten in their room. So when they left and the doors were locked up, they had no clue. They worked hard all night, and they were so very tired. The end of the day came, and it was time to go to bed so Santa could visit them. Little did they know, they were not going to sleep that night. They didn't have the keys! The landlord was on vacation, enjoying his time with his family, and wasn't there to unlock the door. There was quite literally no place for them to go. They scratched their heads and offered some sad attempts of getting in, but nothing worked. Well, it was way past the time they were required to be in their room, and they had to go to another companionship's room to sleep. Well, they didn't have much room to sleep, but at least they would have a room. So they found a nice place on the cold tile ground with a couple of plastic bags for pillows and attempted to sleep.
So that was Christmas for me, and yes I was the Elder who forgot the keys. In a way it was kind of my fault. It was a long, Christmas-sy, but not wintry night (summer Christmas makes for a difficult adjustment). I DID NOT GET ANY SLEEP. The next day we were stuck because there was still no way to get into our room and everyone was sleeping from the millions of Christmas Eve parties the previous night. Latinos party hard for Christmas. So we couldn't get into our room in the morning either. It was actually kinda really sad because I really wanted to shower and get into clean clothes.
On Christmas day, I had a wonderful call home with my family. I may or may not have cried a lot. It was something very special for me to be able to call home to my eternal family. I loved being able to hear their voices and to catch up on the last few months.
Later that day we had the bishop come and he broke a window and we got into our room, so that was all good. We just have to replace the window now. Haha.
Another funny story:
So one of the families here has twins, and they turned 14 this week. Well apparently Peru has some wacky traditions. We went to their house to say happy birthday, and talk with some of their family who aren't members, but we are working with them, and they had a cake and everything. Apparently it is tradition to sing happy birthday in English first, then Spanish second, and blow out the candle then shove their face into the birthday cake. On top of that, they crack eggs on top of their heads. I have to say, the cake face thing is funny but I do not like that eggs thing. Anyways, we went there, and there are these little girls who are crazy. They are like 4 and 5 I think. Anyways, they started throwing eggs and cake at ME! Like what the heck?! I got covered in cake, eggs, and just nasty things. I FELT SO GROSS. My pants and shirt were covered in food,and my OCD kicked in so bad. They thought it was so funny though, and I laughed, but we went back to the room so fast to shower and change. Haha.
This week has been a lot of reflecting on the Savior for me. The .Savior has so many attributes that we are trying to learn to become. It has been something that, for me, I am trying to focus on developing Christlike attributes. I know the Savior has infinite love for us and that He is there waiting for us to turn to Him and to take His hand. For me, sometimes it is hard to remember that He is there offering us help at every moment of the day. Heavenly Father is always there waiting for us to pray and talk to Him. Something I am working on is turning to the Lord in everything. Chances are, He is gonna do it a little better than I am going to do, so if I can tap into His guidance, then I can quite literally become an instrument in His hands. I am trying to develop enough faith to be that instrument. I know that this church is true. Many people don't listen or don't want anything to do with this church, but I know that this is literally the Church of Jesus Christ with all the truths needed for eternal exaltation. I know it is true, I know it, I know it! I am working on living every day as a true representative of my Lord and Savior. I am not perfect, but I know that through Him I can be made clean and whole.
I love you guys!
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