Hey yall!! It's been a few weeks...again. But what better time to send an email than for my favorite Savior's birthday, Jesus! It's been such a good Christmas. I'm in a new area, I thought it was going to be tricky this Christmas moving to a new area right before, but it was so good!
Christmas Eve we celebrated "la noche buena" with this family from Mexico. We had tamales and estilo Guatemalteco, which were super fire. Ponche, which is a hot, fruit drink. Also fire. Green noodles, and costillas de puerco. (Bbq ribs). Only downside of this dinner is that they have this 7 year old kid named Santos. He is quite the opposite of a santo. Literally everytime we go over his first words are, "hey I wanna fight you”. And then he'll proceed to unleash the nastiest combo for the next 20 minutes. Doesn't matter if your back is turned or anything. You walk in his house, you're not safe. For Christmas he got boxing gloves and plástic katanas. This is a cry for help.
Christmas day was awesome, we had a lunch with this awesome family, the Ochoas. The wife is a member but the rest of her family aren't, so we had a really awesome lesson with them about following Christ. The spirit was super strong, even after having slammed 3 tamales, 2 serving of beans, and a slide of Apple pie. Fire visit.
We went to go visit our mission president cause my comp had a Christmas gift that was accidently left at their house. I love my mission leaders so much. They’re so loving and fun to be around - I love it. We got some cherry pie and ice cream, and just talked for a little bit before we headed back out. We went caroling with a bunch of other missionaries for a little bit - fun - but just a subtle reminder that I don't have a music career in the near future. We had an awesome dinner with the Lash family. We had Pazole, some choco flan, and played this card game that took a LONG time. Super fun visit tho, and the members here are so rad.
Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, top 2 fosho, especially because it's such an amazing reminder of the birth of our Savior. It's also really nice because so many more people are willing to listen to a nice, uplifting Christmas message. Something so special to me, is that my life for the last 20 or so months has been dedícated and focused entirely on the Savior, and sometimes when things remain in focus for so long, they can feel mundane. But I have never felt, not once, that my time growing closer to my Savior has been any less special over the time I've been out here. It's the most joyous time, being able to talk and rejoice in Christ every day and help others see His light!! I know my Savior lives and loves me. He was sent to earth for me, for us, and he continues to walk with us today. I love Him and I love you all too!! Hoping you've had a very merry Christmas, and I wish you a happy new year rn cause idk if I'll get an email out before that. My blackout yesr as a missionary is almost through...one of my favorite years of my life, I feel truly blessed.
Love you!!
Elder Blankenbiller
