Christmas

A lot went on this past wek so I will do my best to sum everything up.(Can't remember if this was mentioned in the last email, but I don't think so)
Last Thursday we headed down to stay in Verona again. This time I was driving and there were only 8 of us there so I got a bed. Then Friday we continued our journey to Bologna. We had an amazing Christmas conference. We got to meet the whole Wood family. Their grandchildren did the nativity as we sang the songs. And we got to hear all of their children's testimony on the Living Christ. It was such a great time complete with food and Christmas games and only one person got hurt! 

On Christmas eve we got to eat with the Campos family. It was a typical Peruvian Christmas meal. It was so nice of them to have us over and we felt very loved. Then on Christmas we went to church (where I got to do the Sacrament again, with HUGE improvement. Very excited for next week). I did have some stage fright as there was a family visiting from Germany. We had another family visit from the UK (although they're originally from Oregon). The family from Germany brought gifts and candy and we played bingo after Sacrament to win all of them. We also had lots of cookies, cakes, chips, and other treats. It was a blast. Then we went to our branch Presidents house. We went with 4 other missionaries and just played games and ate some food. We may have stayed past curfew....oh and I also got to test my German out on a dog. Although I don't know if it understood "wollen sie mit mir bleiben?". 

Then on Monday we got to visit a family that hasn't been to church in a bit (they also happen to be the Relief Society president and Elders quorum president, and the son is our branch secretary or something like that). They live farrrr away in a little town called Sexton. They also have more snow there. And ski resorts come right up to the road to get there. It was a very beautiful drive. We had a great meeting, we brought some cake and got to know them. We're going to try to see them regularly and they sounded excited about that. 

And as for p-day we went to Brenner today. I got to step into Austria, did some shopping (although I only bought chocolate and Dr.Pepper). We then took our car to the test and started up a mountain to go to a restaurant we found. After a few minutes we decided to ditch the car and hike the rest. It was breathtaking and the food was very....traditional. The waitress was so nice to us even offering us free shots. And after we declined, she then gave us candy. Luckily she told us it was candy with Alcohol before we ate any of them. I also left my hat there so we might have to go back at some point. We then hiked back to the car slipping and sliding down the mountain and took some pictures of our beautiful world. 

I'm so thankful for the opportunity I have here. The views, the language, and especially the people. I feel so lucky to be in this tiny Branch full of people I already love so much and I'm so excited to help strengthen them and grow. There's not really a spiritual thought in this email other than an invite to think about just one thing you could sacrifice, stop/start doing, or just one thing you can do more diligently and then look for a miracle or blessing. It will come.Tschüss!!

Jackson front row at Christmas Party with President and Sorella Wood and their families










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