It was great to talk to you guys on Christmas Eve! However it was quite a bit more difficult than I thought it would be speaking in English again. It is one thing to write letters to you guys once a week in English, but it is another thing to speak it. We speak Spanish all day everyday here and I haven't spoken English in quite some time. I felt awkward speaking it again being here in Mexico. But that's o.k. it was great to be able to talk to and see you guys. You look like you're doing well.:)
I hope you all had a great Christmas, we did here. At least I think it was Christmas...I'm still not completely convinced it was real. The calendar said it was Dec 25 but it was too hot outside for that to be true. We had our Christmas dinner as missionaries on the 23....Hamburgers and french fries, I felt right at home;). The dinner ended late and we had district meeting the next day early in the morning so we spent the night in Tapachula. We stayed at the sister training leaders house along with the other 2 hermanas from Cacahoatan. 6 sister missionaries, 1 bathroom and 2 beds...it was pretty crazy! To sleep we pushed the 2 beds together and the 4 of us laid across them horizontally. There was an extra twin mattress in the house that the other 2 sisters used. As you can imagine it was a night of musical chairs with the sleeping arrangements. After a little while I decided the floor was the best option if I wanted to get any sleep and that's where I spent the night. I don't think any of us got much sleep if any at all, but it sure made for a good story:) The next night was the 24th. Hermana Canul and I were so excited to catch up on some much needed sleep. However, the people here in Mexico are not aware that the missionary bedtime is at 10:30...at midnight the sky exploded with fireworks and people yelling and celebrating. I awoke in a panic from a very deep sleep thinking we were in the middle of World War 3! Apparently they celebrate holidays different here....Christmas morning I woke up and opened my Christmas package. As I was opening it I felt as if something was missing. I walked over to my study desk and picked up our family picture and brought it back to where I was. I set the picture up so I could see it and opened my package, It was just like I was right at home with the family:) After breakfast we went to work as usual. We were able to find several people to teach and share a message about the true meaning of Christmas and the birth of Christ. It was a great day. It was such a great opportunity to spend Christmas in service to the Lord.
Saturday night I witnessed the greatest Christmas present I could've asked for, Fausto was baptized:) Fausto is the 3rd member of his family to be baptized. His mom was recently baptized a couple months ago and his older sister a few months before her. I felt the spirit so strong as I saw another one of Heavenly Father's children enter into the waters of baptism. Words cannot describe how great of a blessing it has been in my life to work with this family and see as the gospel has changed their lives. My time spent in service to the Lord thus far has been the greatest gift I could've ever received and I wouldn't change it for the world.
Love, Hermana Peine
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