Zarahemla Week 15

There are icicles everywhere!

Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! It's been such a special time in the mission, and I know I'll never forget it!

Last P day, after emails, we went to get Elder Durgante a haircut from a member and visited Place Des Arts, a really cool underground shopping mall that was close by. We had a dinner appointment that fell through, so we decided to go to Schwartz, a Hebrew deli that was really good. Not too expensive either, which was great! We then went to Nicole's house with Elder Drysdale and Elder Torres to do her baptismal interview. It went really well, and she was completely ready! She's really amazing.

Schwartz's Smoked Meat Sandwich

On Wednesday, we were SUPER busy. We thought district meeting was on Thursday, but found out it was Wednesday. We scheduled a few appointments in the morning, so it got a bit complicated. But everything worked out! We passed by a potential that seemed interested; we only were there for a little bit but he seems cool! We then went by Francisco and had a decent lesson with him, and invited him to come to Nicole's baptism. We then went down to district meeting which was fun. The zone leaders and sister training leaders were there and gave a pretty good training. Then we visited Hermano Sanchez, the less active that we hadn't been able to see for a long time. He was doing well! We then were supposed to have an appointment with Jesus and Yeni, but they fell through, so we decided to do knocking on some social housing complexes nearby (hoping there would be Hispanic immigrants there). It was FREEZING cold, and super windy, but it was interesting. We were able to talk to a few French speakers, but couldn't find any Spanish speakers. It was nice though!

We had to take a "shortcut" through a park to get to Hermano Medoza...
Didn't realize how much snow there actually was!

Thursday was pretty good, even though we didn't get a ton done. Had all our studies, which we hadn't been able to do in a while. We went to the mission office to get a bunch of things ready for the baptism; got programs done and everything. Then we left and went to give a blessing to a member who lives way far away. It was a great experience, he really needed it.  We then went to Mauricio, and had a full lesson with him, which sadly hasn't happened in a while. He's been super busy with working on things for Christmas, so it's been hard to see him. Then we went to Javier and Christine to have a little Christmas lesson with them. We passed Christine to one of the sister teams in our ward, but they wanted us to teach Javier as a less active. We read Luke 2 with them, and were able to help them focus on the true meaning of Christmas.

Elder Durante, Me, Elder Colunga, Nicole
Nicole's family: Stepfather, Mother, Grandmother & Brother

Friday was mainly focused on making sure everything was ready for the baptism on Saturday. We passed by a referral, but he didn't have time to see us until after the holidays are over. Went to Rafael, the recent converts house, and talked about the temple. We're trying to get him a temple recommend and get him to come to the temple, and he's doing well! Went to the mission office again to do a few things we couldn't finish on Thursday, and got everything set for Saturday. We then went all the way up to Nicole, and got her ready for the baptism and told her what to expect and everything. She was super excited!

Saturday was awesome. The baptism was great! Elder Durgante and I went early with Hermano Farfan, our ward mission leader, to get everything set up and fill the baptismal font. Elder Colunga showed up shortly after to help us a bit and to get ready. Then Nicole came, so we took some pictures, waited for some more members to show up, then we started. It was an amazing meeting! Nicole was super happy, and she was literally glowing. Such a great day! After the service, we had a little party and ate a lot of food that the members brought. It was so much fun! She had such an amazing time. After cleaning everything up and leaving, we headed to Jesus and Yeni. Had a great lesson with them, it was great to see them after not being able to teach them in a while. It was an amazing day!

Our terrible cookies

Christmas Eve was awesome! Elder Durgante had the idea last week to make cookies for all of our investigators, so we woke up and made about 150 cookies! They were obviously not very good considering a couple of 19 year olds made them, but they worked out well! I guess it's the thought that counts! We wrapped them all up, and put pictures of Christ with notes on the back for each of them. Then we went to church, which was wonderful. It was Nicole's confirmation, so now she's officially a member of the church! We're so proud of her. After church we went back home, figured out who we were going to see that day, and left. We were able to deliver cookies to Javier and Christine, the Varaona family, and Fransisco. Then we had a DA to go to for the Noche Buena (which is the biggest deal apparently for a Hispanic Christmas) at the Escobar family's house. It was so awesome, there was tons of amazing food. We visited a bit with them, and shared Luke 2. It was my first Hispanic Christmas eve, and it was really cool!

My Vineyard Vines Christmas Pajamas (that match my brothers)!

Christmas was so amazing. We spent some time opening packages and getting ready, and then left almost right away to be able to visit everyone. We stopped by Jesus and Yeni, Eddy, and Hermano Sanchez. We visited with Hermano Sanchez for a while, since he had really no one to celebrate Christmas with. It was felt good to make his holiday special! Then we went to the Lemus family's house to skype our families. It was so great to see their faces and hear their voices! Definitely a great Christmas present for me, I couldn't have imagined anything more that I would have wanted. Then the Lemus family fed us classic Salvadorian turkey sandwiches that were SUPER good. They had a ton of missionaries over for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. They are such an amazing family, and they sacrifice so much for us. It was awesome! Then we went to visit Hermano Mendoza, who had been alone in a new hospital for Christmas. Despite being in such a difficult situation, he has the best of mood! It was great to see him and brighten up his Christmas, and it was such a humbling experience. We then went a super long way to finally stop by Nicole and her family to give them some cookies as well. They were really grateful! It was such an amazing Christmas, definitely one I will remember forever.

Nathan's Christmas present to me--he knows me too well! 

Again, Merry Christmas! I hope we can all remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas. Trust me, I love getting presents like everyone else, but it's so important that we remember the best gift of all, Jesus Christ. I know that He is our Savior, and that through Him we can live with our families forever. That definitely tops any other present I have of could ever receive! I love you all so much, and I hope you had an amazing Christmas season!

Elder James

I climbed a huge mountain of snow!

Elder Durante didn't even try.

Empty metro trains on Christmas Night