So it's the start of the new year! The year that I'll be in Mexico the entire year or as Bryce calls it my "black out year". It's kind of a lot to take in thinking that this whole year I'll be here on my mission, but with how fast the months have been slipping by I know that it's going to be a short year. I have so much that I want to accomplished before my mission ends, first being learn Spanish ;)
It has been really hard this week to find people to teach because of the new year and they have a holiday here called the day of the kings. It's basically celebrating when the wise men came and gave gifts to Christ, except it's really big here. They don't really celebrate Christmas here a whole lot, but the dia de reyes replaces it. Kids here don't get gifts fom Santa, they get gifts from the wise men. But because of the holidays it has been really hard to teach a lot. I'm excited for this week because school starts again tomorrow, so families should be home again!
This week I have really focused my studies on the Atonement. Even when just scratching the surface of this beautiful topic my appreciation for everything I have increases so much! As a missionary trying to learn Spanish I have had a few stuggles. It gets really hard day in and day out when you're just super tired from trying to understand people and still not understanding half of the conversations. I started studying a talk by Elder Bednar that talks about how not only sinners need the Atonement, but saints too. He used Nephi as an example when his brothers had bound him and he prayed for strength to break the cords. I realized that i too can pray for more strength to work through each day. Since I have started praying this way I have had a new energy in me, not that I can suddenly speak the language or that the work is easy. But I know that Christ suffered ALL things for us, even the things that seem small to us. But this has been a huge blessing for me.
We had a ward activity for the dia de reyes. There's a tradition where they have this big cake that they serve everyone. in one of the pieces is a little baby Jesus, the person that gets this in their piece has to buy Tamales for everyone else on the 2nd february. Guess who the lucky person was?
.......
I wonder if I'll still be in this area to buy everyone tamales...
They also did their piñatas and it was a blast to watch all the little kids go crazy over everything. I think as a missionary without a lot of entertainment it was probably a lot more hysterical than it normaly would be. But I really enjoyed it and i even got to break one of them, and I even got it all on video!
There are some moments on the mission that are really hard, and sometimes the alarm goes off and you wonder how you're going to make it through another day. But it always seems to be those days that I learn the most. I love this gospel so much and sharing is the most rewarding feeling ever! I really can't imagine what my life would be like without the knowledge of the gospel, but that's what I see every single day in other people. I breaks my heart to see how bad off some people are. The gospel really is an amazing thing though in how it can help anyone, no matter what their situation is.
It was a great week all in all! I look forward to this week though because the holidays are over and we can get back to our normal schedule. I love you all and I hope you all had a wonderful new years eve!
Love,
Elder Twede
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