Christmas in Argentina = 4th of July in Provo

                   These pictures go with the last letter. 

Marta's baptism by Hermano Garcia

Baptism Day

Loutador, Luna, Emanual

Hermanas Bosco y Frias

gringo elders in zone

Rosedal District

working hard

The COCKROACH that took 45 minutes to kill

 FELIZ NAVIDAD

Yesterday was the best Christmas because I got to speak to my most favorite people in the whole wide world!! My family!! Ah. It was SO good to hear your guys voices. Many tears were shed but mostly because I was overflowing with happiness.  The first time I called home my family didn’t answer...and so when I hung up the phone to try to call again I started crying. haha (it was an emotional day....ha) but then the second time I called I heard my dads voice and started crying again. Its crazy how much one voice can do to a person or in Joseph Smiths case to a whole world.  I got to talk to my family for an hour and a half but I still felt like I had so much to tell them! I was only getting started! haha But really it was such a great Christmas. One of the greatest things about it was that I was more focused on the birth of our Savior then gifts or presents or anything like that. What an incredible experience! So to not have to worry about buying anything or receiving anything or anything like that was such a stress reliever. Honestly I am so grateful for my Savior and that Heavenly Father willingly let his son come down to earth to suffer for all of us even though he could have taken the pain away in a second.  He was willing to let Jesus Christ suffer all sorts of pain for each of us individually and was a special holiday where we get to focus on the birth, an incredible gift from heaven, of that incredible man, our Savior Jesus Christ. I will forever be so grateful for him and everything he did for me. 

So Christmas here in Argentina is well....really different. Their Christmas is actually our Fourth of July. haha For Bueno Noche or Christmas Eve there are huge celebrations!! We went to a family’s house for Bueno Noche and had a fabulous dinner with fabulous food (the brother of the host spoke like perfect english so he talked to me for most of the night in English and it was the perfect Christmas present. ) and then after dinner they opened presents and then the celebrations began.  We waited until 12:00 and had a toast and then the fireworks started! So fun! Seriously I loved it so much. I was feeling trunky (a word they use for when you feel homesick...I don’t know if its a mission thing or an Argentina thing. haha) and I missed the Fourth of July so much! Christmas eve reminded me of the summer and Fourth of July, not Christmas haha. We also set off the floating lanterns like they do in Tangled and I was so excited about it because I wanted to do that before I left on my mission, but we were never able to find any...so that was another little Christmas present.  Seriously it was such a party and I loved it. It helped that there was a lot of commotion because then I didn’t think about home too much.

Then yesterday we went to Church and I brought some of the gifts that you gave me mom to pass out AFTER the sacramental service and the kids were so happy and so cute and it is a true statement that when you are serving other people or thinking of other people you are SO much more happy! I only cried a little bit in the morning but put myself together and got to church and made it through the whole service without crying. haha then after we were invited to a family’s house for Christmas lunch/dinner. We got there, helped put a swimming pool together  and then ate delicious food. I thought I was going to be ok and that I wouldn’t cry until I talked to my family, but boy was I wrong.  After dinner I was asked to share a scripture and a thought and so I grabbed my Book of Mormon started reading and then started to bear my testimony and lost it. I couldn’t even talk- it was so embarrassing. So I tried to get some words out to finish my testimony (and if I don’t already sound gringo when I speak Spanish...try speaking Spanish while crying...man So ugly! haha) BUT I finished my testimony and everyone was really nice about the whole thing.  The dad then brought out some of his mission pictures and we looked at those until it was time to call! Then I got to talk to my family and seriously it made this Christmas one of the best. (although next Christmas will be the BEST Christmas ever because 1. I’ll be able to speak Spanish. and 2. I’ll be home just 2 months after!!)

It was actually kind of sad because the phone cut out before I was able to really say goodbye to my family, but then when I was thinking about it, it was WAY better that I didn’t have to say goodbye because I’m awful at goodbyes and so it was kind of just a talk to you later conversation.  BUT I do want my family to know that I love them with all of my heart and I wouldn’t be out here in Argentina if it weren’t for them. They are truly my everything. I’m talking all family. Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins (2nd, 3rd....) sisters, brothers, brother in law, parents, friends, and neighbors. Seriously all of you. I would be such a different person if it weren’t for all of you. There are so many people here that remind me of each of you. You are all such a strength to me during this time in my life and I am so grateful for that. Thank you for your examples and your testimonies. A testimony is such a priceless gift. You can argue facts and what not but when people bear testimony you can’t deny it. There is nothing you can do to argue against it and I love that. Because right now that’s really all I have in spanish, is my testimony, but I am so grateful for that gift I’ve been given. 

We have a lot of investigators who aren’t willing to make the little sacrifices for the gospel, such as go to church or read just one verse every night or say a 4 minute prayer every night. And it absolutely breaks my heart because I know how much I’ve been blessed having this gospel in my life and I just want the same for them. I pray that they will one day realize how important this gospel is and how much God wants to bless their lives. Maybe I’m just starting the process for them, but in the future I sure hope that they want this gospel in their lives and much as I love having it in mine. 

I love you all so much! Thanks again for everything!

Enjoy the little things, and I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Take care!

Love, Hermana Karissa bosco