Week 27--Christmas!!

This Christmas was so amazing!! Well first of all, it was a little stressful because like 8 families invited us over to celebrate Christmas with them and only half of them specified the 24th. so i just assumed that when people were invited us over for Christmas they were talking about the 25th. but NOPE. for hispanics, the 25th is the day were you just sleep to recover from all the celebrating. so that made things rather stressful and had some last minute appt switches but all was well.

I always thought that Christmas day as a missionary would be kinda of a bummer but let me tell you, we felt like the guests of honor at every house we went to! Everyone was so nice to invite us over and we loved feeling the spirit of Christmas in their homes. The food was all soooooo good, but I kid you not, after our 4th appt, or rather, our 4th feast, I almost resorted to crawling back home, standing up straight was just too much for me. we just laid in bed that night feeling so full and so sick hahaha 

the best part of it all was talking to the family!! It was crazy seeing them in a completely different house and all the siblings looked SO much older!! well especially the boys. A lot happens in 7 months and 40 minutes just doesn't cut it! 

the greatest miracle I think we have seen this week has been happening with the family of a recent convert, John. So he thinks he's like super hoodrat and tough is such a punk, but you just gotta love him. and he joined the church like 5 or 6 months ago. We work with him a lot because he struggles with going to church but he's been going quite frequently. As we have been working with him, his parents have started to really warm up to us. I remember our first visit with john, his mom was pretty against the church and leaned out the window when we ran the doorbell and said John wasn't home, but then John ran down stairs and invited us in. As time went on, we kinda of made it our goal to get her to warm up to us. So we would always give her a big hug when we came over and as time went on she would run to answer the door for us and talk to us until John came out and then she would leave for the lesson. One day she just broke down crying because John and his relationship with his parents is so strained and because he is their only child, she feels as though she is a failure as a mother. I felt that all she needed in that moment was someone to give hug and let her cry. The next time we came over, she was waiting outside for us to come in and gave us her number so that we could start  making citas with her! and THEN to top it all off.... they invited us over for their christmas dinner!! and thats not even the gran finale.... JOHNS DAD, DIEGO, TOOK THE LESSONS IN ECUADOR WHEN HE WAS JOHNS AGE AND HE WANTS TO COME BACK because he misses the feelings he had when he would read the book of mormon and come to church. We talked about how families can be together forever and the spirit was so strong. Its such a blessing to literally see the difference from day to night. To see how the spirit truly can change peoples hearts. when we were heading out, the mom grabbed our hands and thanked us for bringing a spirit of love and peace every time we come into the house. We are now teaching them and are so excited for the progress they are making! 

I just love being on a mission. I love serving my savior, especially in this time of year when we are reminded that He gave his life for us. The least I can do is serve Him with everything I have. 

Love, Hermana Mortensen

Looks like Hermana Mortensen was very good this year!