Christmas Lights and Palm Trees

Hey Family!

Que lo que!? I hope that this week was good and that everyone is handling finals week well. I remember this time last year was pretty stressful with all of the projects, tests, and papers due for school, so I hope that you all are still able to enjoy the pre Christmas time even with the craziness. Here, it still doesn´t fell like Christmas so it is crazy to think that Christmas is only 15 days away, wow, insane. We sometimes see Christmas lights wrapped around palm trees or on cactuses and it makes me laugh a little. We´ve had a few cooler nights, but in general it is still pretty hot here. I think I will be in shock when I come home to snow and colder than 85 degree weather.

This week was a great week. We decided to go searching in a different part of our area and we have found a lot of amazing people, I want to tell you about a few of these wonderful people. One is Jeoly, she is about thirty years old and is from Haiti but has lived here most of her life. She lives alone but visits her parents and little daughter who lives with them almost every day. She came to church this Sunday and stayed for the whole three hours! Woohoo! She has a difficult life and works super hard to support her family, but has so much faith. It has been amazing to me to see how much faith the people have here. 

We also found a little family, N (the mom), Y (the 13 daughter), and her two little brothers yesterday and are super excited to teach them this week. We have also run into a lot of menos activos, or less active, members and have been working to help them. I have realized that mostly and most importantly, they just need to feel loved and welcome. 

Hermana Neil and I have been listening to a lot of Christmas music and every night we try to do a little Christmas activity, like singing Christmas songs, making cookies, or sharing our favorite Christmas memories. We also made a Christmas skit as a zone today for our big mission Christmas activity (we´ll see how it goes, I´ve never been that great of an actor). I´ve been reading in Mosiah and I love Mosiah 3: 3-10 about Jesus Christ and his life. It has been fun to be on a mission and get to remember every day why we celebrate Christmas and invite others to recognize the real reason we celebrate Christmas too. Of course, the reason we celebrate Christmas is because of Jesus Christ, but I think Iforget what that really means. I´ve realized that the real miracle is that through Jesus Christ, we get to repent every day and have the chance to change and have the hope of one day being like our Savior. 

 It is crazy to think that in two short weeks (we get to call on Monday) I´ll get to talk to you all. I can´t wait! It sounds like you´ll all be home so it will be a fun Christmas, and I´m excited to hear from you all. I am thinking the best way to call would be to use Google hangout, because we are going to use the computers here in a internet center and they can´t use Skype or Facetime. We´ll see how that goes, but I wanted to ask what time would be best for you guys to call on Monday? Luckily Christmas falls on a p-day so we are pretty open time wise before 6:00 (or 3:00 for you guys). 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! Only 15 more days!

Hermana Schriever