Queridos amigos y familia,
We had our mission Christmas party. It
was basically a flop and kind of good. We went to Bradenton Beach (first
mistake. Everyone knew it should have been siesta). It was crazy windy and super
cold. We tried for beach volleyball. That didn't work. It just resulted in us
running in our ugly sweaters in what felt like the Sahara Desert with sand in
our eyes. But, you know.
Hermana Newbill (who's going home this transfer) gave
us homemade pumpkin cheesecake. That was probably the best part of the day
besides buying matching (go comp unity!) cat onesie pajamas. Yup. We went to
Walmart on our way home from the party and bought matching onesies and a can of
Christmas popcorn. When we got to our apartment we had a movie party and watched
Jonny Lingo (the one movie on our iPads that isn't the restoration or the
testaments). Basically, the greatest thing ever.
The rest of the week was chill. On
Thursday we painted a member's living room with Oscar (our recent convert). We
listened to Spanish Christmas music for the first time (huzzah!) It was
fun!
Friday we had another Portuguese family
home evening. They made us stuffed mashed potatoes. Yes, it's as good as it
sounds. It was a mound of creamy mashed potatoes the size of the plate STUFFED
with cheese and pork. We watched the same classy 70s seminary video about agency
and had a great time! We want to learn Portuguese so bad!
Saturday... Was spiritually exhausting
and one of the best days. It started off with a tender mercy. We found a present
from God in the most unexpected places: the library. Haha, we saw a basket of
lame Christmas CDs you could check out and in the mix was... The David Archuleta
cd with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!! We love it and listen to the one song in
Spanish over and over and over and over again. (Los pastores a Belén!)
Also we received our transfer emails. I'm staying with Sister Paulsen in Sarsota, yay!
Also we received our transfer emails. I'm staying with Sister Paulsen in Sarsota, yay!
We had a really hard day that day. We
went and saw Danny (one week before his baptism!) and his parents said they
didn't think he was ready to be baptized. We had a solid lesson with him anyway
and asked him to pray for a confirmation of his date (December 20th) so he did with us. The
spirit was overpowering and dispelled all the darkness that was in the room
before. He said after his whole body just became warm and knew he wanted to be
baptized. It was cool to be part of that experience with him.
Then, we crashed the Sarasota ward party
and got tons of referrals for Spanish work. After that legit party (we were just
happy because they had salads with lettuce in them!) we went to the relief
society activity for our branch. It ended up being a huge party too! They had a
white elephant and we got nail polish, shampoo and conditioner, and a mug with
hot chocolate mix.
Sunday was good. It was hot! We were
sweating which makes us feel a little weird to go around showing a Christmas
video. I'm pretty sure it's still summer.
Right now, we are driving around with
the windows down, breeze going through our hair, trying to decide if we should
buy us a little baby Christmas tree. We just went out to siesta beach to get
Christmas gifts and we walked along the white sand. Haha, I love Florida. Also,
we have listened to Los Pastores a Belén three times so far. :)
Con Amor,
Hermana Mathis
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