Alec's Mission to Colombia: Christmas in Colombia

Hello Family & Friends of Mine,

So here is the low down on my Christmas this year, the truth is that it was kinda lame. With no snow and it being above 90 degrees it didn’t feel like Christmas at all. Anyways, here is a walk though of my holiday. Christmas Eve we helped the sisters make lasagna and then I made a chocolate cheese cake. It was the first time I have ever made cheese cake and it turned out really well. After we finished that up we went to a recent convert of the sisters and had a “party”. It really was just hanging out. We ate the lasagna then the cheese cake and then headed back to our house and walked the sisters home since it was dark but on the way home the sisters found an abandoned kitten and had compassion on it and found it a new home at a members house.

The next morning I opened my presents in the zone leaders house. It was super fun. I was also want to remind you that I DID NOT open my presents early last year. That was Braden. All the presents were super cool, but the Darth Vader candy dispenser with the Vader and son book along with the Batman shirt was by far the best. I also loved all the candy. I still have a stash in the house. I also took some of the money I got and bought gifts for other missionaries. We had a gift exchange so I got them small things. They all told what they wanted so it was super easy.

Sister Victorino: a tub scented lotion

Sister Quirog: giant stuffed teddy bear

Sister Mamani: smaller but softer teddy bear

Sister Apaza: Uno card game.

The Elders in my district did not want to participate so I did not bother asking them. It was nice to be able to have the gift of giving. The sisters have given me stuff but they have been really little, which is totally fine. I was just happy to make Christmas merry for a few here in Colombia.

After opening the presents we had a Christmas testimony meeting. It was super awesome. It was nice to have that small part of the day focused on the savior. The spirit was super strong the whole time. Since the meeting was at the church my next event was to sky home. None of us are allowed headphones so everyone could hear what everyone else was sating. The Sisters thought Dad and Lydia were super funny trying to say funny stuff in Spanish. They realized that my family is just as weird as I am. They said that they wished their families were that cool. Yep, we are awesome and I love talking to everyone back home.

After chatting with home, the sisters invited us to a members house to eat lunch. They had basic lunch like we always had so nothing to report there but it was still fun. After we chatted with the family a bit. Afterwards since the sister were nice enough to invite us to lunch, we invited them to dessert. We went to a shopping mall and found place to buy ice cream. The bad part was that the sister didn’t pay attention to the fact the it was going to be priced by weight, so they put everything on top of it. Chocolate, candy fruit, you name it so it ended up being super expensive. 25,000 pesos ,its like $12. I know that isn’t that much for 4 people for ice cream back home but here it's a lot to me. The sisters felt really bad that they made me spend so much when we paid, but they enjoyed it any way. Next we all had to head back to our house pretty quick. We had to be in early since every one gets drunk and likes to blow things up in the street for Christmas.

As for my area I’m in, I have also been really enjoying being district leader recently. Although my area is in the dumps for the lack of care of the members, I have been able to help the others in my district resolve their problems and strengthen them to be able to work a harder. So that has been really nice. Before I said I wanted to be transferred one more time before I went home but I have now changed my mind. I now want to stay. 1st, because I don’t want to pack everything up to and have it stay in my suit case cause no way am I going to pack again. 2nd is, I love my district and want to be able to keep helping the people here for as long as I can. Hopefully it all works out.

Well, I hope everyone has a great new year and a fantastic week .

Toodles,

Alec

My Awesome Chocolate Cheesecake

with Sister Victorino who ate the extras.