Happy New Year! Week Nueve.

Me gusta naranja! (I love the color orange!)

So I realized they don't have gas stations here... a truck (like a pick up truck) drives around with tanks of gas for people to buy.

Also, in the church, we call people by their first names rather than their last names. For example, if I were a member here I would be Hermana Sara.

Leche con rico...mmmmm! It's like rice pudding but better!

This week was super cold! My third day here, some members gave us gloves and scarves and I thought it was a joke, but it actually gets really cold here and that fact that there's no heating in houses doesn't help.

There are these steps that lead up to part of our area called Montecillo. They remind me of the steps by the R.B. at BYU for those who would know.
Man do I feel out of shape when we climb them! My goal is that someday I'll be able to climb them without panting like a dog for five minutes afterwards.

I gave a talk in church yesterday. Well, it really was just me sharing a scripture and bearing my testimony. It was super scary, but I felt confident. My Spanish isn't super good yet (what's new?) but I did my best. I received a lot of compliments on it (maybe people were just being nice...) but a lot of people said my pronunciation was perfect and that I was understandable. One hermano said that the only part he didn't understand was when I said my last name. Haha. They have such a hard time with my name here. :)

Outside church after giving my talk.

A wonderful thing about life is that there are constantly things for us to learn. That's what I love about being here, the fact that I get to learn so much every day. The learning never stops.

Christmas was a hard day here. In the first place, it felt nothing like Christmas because I wasn't doing the usual: waking up late at home with my family, opening presents, listening to my dad blast Christmas music and watching "A Christmas Story" a million times. Talking on skype with my family was such a blessing and it was exactly what I needed. Christmas marked exactly eight weeks on my mission and today is exactly two months! It feels like I've been a missionary WAY longer. Haha.

The next time I get to talk to my family with be in four and half months. I know that's going to be hard, but it will be worth it in the end. I know that I can make it here. I know I would regret going home early (if it weren't for a legit medical reason) just like I would've regretted not coming here. My mission president said in his weekly email to me that I can never make going home an option or it will be an out when I'm having a hard time.

Singing the 12 Days of Christmas, only in Spanish and about missionary life. Jaja. Left to right: Mission President's son-in-law, Elder Rich my district leader, Mission President's daughter, me, Elder Richardson, Elder Chandler, and Mission President's son.

EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON!!!!! I know this and I know that a lot of the times we don't know the reason until after the fact. That's because God wants us to show our trust in Him. And the next life will be so beautiful because we'll see the reasons for everything and how there was such great purpose in everything.

I was touched by the lyrics of the song O Little Town Of Bethlehem when it says "Yet in they dark streets shineth the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight." I've sung that a thousand times but never really thought about the meaning. I think it's absolutely beautiful! Christ is the light that shines in the darkness!!

One of my teachers in the MTC said that dogs are on the 

roofs of some houses. I didn't believe it until I saw it. Jajaja!

Another song I really like that my companion has goes like this: "Live like you believe, live like you know, it's one sure way your faith will grow. Listen to your heart, search in your soul, and you'll find the strength that you need." I love that.

Well...Adios until 2014!!! :) I'm gonna be on my mission for all of 2014...that's weird to think. :)

So I never really was into spicy stuff, but ever since I've been here, I love everything spicy! The members here know me as the American Hermana who loves spicy food and lots of it. Jaja. In this picture I'm about to eat a glob of Valentine sauce. Apparently it's supposed to be really hot, but it wasn't to me.

My favorite little girls! Ruth and Valeria Garcia.

Ramirez Family... I love them! They're less active and I really wanted to do something for them, so I gave them a stocking full of Christmas things because I knew their girls would like it. Each girl in the picture is wearing a Christmas headband. :)