My blackout year

It was so fun to see you all on Christmas.  You all have changed so much.  I expect the Christmas picture of the family in one of my packages.  Today is the last day of the year.  That means I will finish my blackout year.  The blackout year is the year all missionaries have.  It’s the year where they don’t see their families at all.  2012 was my blackout year without seeing the family in person. 

Something that I forgot to tell you on Christmas was that President Wagner gave us $500 pesos to make someone else’s Christmas special.  A boy in the United States donated the money to the mission to do this.  We were told to do something for a family and we weren’t able to tell them or tell any other nonmember or member.  So we picked a really poor family.  It is a grandma with her three grandchildren.  The mother of the children was killed and the father ran off.  The oldest boy is eleven years old and deaf.  Then there are two younger girls that are nine and seven years old.  Sometimes for their main meal as a family, they only eat a couple tortillas.  They had also been wanting a tarp for shade for a long time over their dining area.  They hadn’t been able to afford one.  So Elder Montiel and I bought a quality large tarp, a bunch of vegetables, eggs and chorizo.  On Christmas morning we went to the house and threw it over the wall.  All the food was in a box that said it was from Santa Claus.  We ran off.  So we returned the next day because we had an appointment with them to serve them.  Well, the tarp was all set up super well and we played dumb.  They don’t think it’s us.  They actually think it was from Santa Claus or someone that lives close by.  They were telling us what happened and where they found the stuff.  They were just as happy as can be.  It was so nice to be able to have that opportunity. 

I also gave another talk this week on repentance.  It’s like we are giving talks every two weeks now. 

Nothing crazy happened here in Villa Hidalgo on December 21^st.  Was there anything on the news about suicides or crazy things that day? 

Anyway, I love you all so much.  Have a fantastic week and remember to stay strong, do good and be nice to your siblings.