Denver to Dallas: Los Mejores 18 Meses : Pancakes, Ping Pong and Parties

Merry Late Christmas and Happy New Year! Wow this week has been crazy and really just flew. After not having talked to my parents for 7 months, it was so weird to see them on Skype for Christmas Day. I feel like the longer you are out on your mission, the less real your family feels, they become more like a dream/memory, but hey I still love them!

Throughout this week we did a lot of service at a food pantry, sorting food and helping them organize everything for the start of the New Year. It was a lot of fun, and I feel like service just helps you really feel the Christmas spirit. The people were so thankful for all the work that we do there as missionaries. I think all the missionaries in our zone serve there, so it is a lot of fun! The Stake President and his family were there as well serving, so it was good to talk to them for a little while.

Christmas was great! My companion and I woke up early and opened our presents that we had and then we got ready for the Christmas Zone Meeting at the church. We decided to do a pancake breakfast and ping pong tournament, so we all met up at the church at 9 am. It was just so relieving to be around missionaries that are in the same position as you, where they don't have their families so all you have is each other. Our zone leader, we only have one this transfer, did an awesome training and then we acted out the Nativity. Afterwards we all ran home to Skpye our families. It was just so weird! I can't believe that that was my last Skype session with my family on my mission, it seemed like just a few months ago I was doing my first Skype with them.

For Christmas night, we went and ate dinner with a family in the ward and then stopped by some less actives. We also wrote thank you cards for the members in our ward and passed them out as well. It was cool to get such a positive reaction from some many members about the thank you cards in church on Sunday. Hispanics love to throw parties, so we were invited to so many and when we knocked on doors even Hispanics that didn't know us invited us in for some food! (Kinda weird but super awesome!) We were knocking on doors and we decided to stop by an old investigator and right when they opened the door, they let us in and gave us a huge plate of Flautas (one of my favorites!) and invited us to watch soccer with them! Hispanic people are just so funny and so welcoming!

The rest of the week was pretty normal, except for the fact that on Saturday night our ward mission leader told me that I was to give a 15 minute talk in sacrament meeting, in Spanish, the next day! Oh goodness. It actually turned out pretty well and I got a lot of compliments from the ward members. I love serving in this area, the ward is just so welcoming and they love the missionaries. It is a pretty small ward, but that just means there is a lot to be done! I love you all and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Hermana Cattich

COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT