FELIZ NAVIDAD!

¡Familia!

Wow, I can´t believe it! I am SO excited to talk to everyone on CHRISTMAS! Can you believe it? Time went by SOOO fast – I want it to slow down a bit!

The Christmas Spirit is wonderful – and SO backwards when it´s HOT outside and I´m sweating looking at Christmas trees and decorations! J We´ve been eating all kinds of things, Pan Dulce and treats, I´m stoked for Christmas!

We have 1 hour to call on Christmas! I want to call Dad, Mom, Biffy, Abby and Jack AND Ben and Jackie. So maybe 45 minutes con la fam and 15 con Ben and Jackie? Or however we can do it! I´ll try to let you know, but for now, our cell phone number is… 2236023330 … I{m not sure about the country code ni nada! Also, what´s our number? I´m thinking about calling to set up our appointment to see if our system works a day or two beforehand.

Wow, what a week! Very slow and difficult, but always SO worth it!

I am sitting next to Hermana Freeman in a cyber with the cars going by and the busy city (what a blessing Hermana Freeman is in my mission life!) just thinking about all the wonderful blessings I have recieved. The other day we talked to a return missionary/boyfriend of a recient convert who talked to us about the mission. He looked at me and said, Isn´t it true that even for that ONE person we were supposed to meet and help bring to Christ, it´s all worth it? I looked at him and said, teary eyed, Yes. It´s ALL worth it!

I truly believe that. Oscar is worth EVERYTHING – all of the challenges and hard times, all of the crazy citas and contactos and investigadores and problems with the laws and ordinances of the Lord, in this horrible world that´s full of sin… Oscar is worth all of this. And hopefully others – like the familia Roberto.

They are… .well, in a pickle. Bigger than the pickle in the Sand Lot.

Claudia (the mom) and Kevin (the 9 year old) went to church (woohooo!) but Jennifer, Nadia, y Bryan didn´t go. ALSO, the Dad is working on a boat for a month and won´t be there for the baptism. We feel like it is very very important to them to have their father there. We want him to be there to feel of the Spirit and stop smoking and decide to get baptized too. Jennifer said that she wants her Dad to be there on this special day. I really think so, too. So, we´re probably pushing their baptism back to the first week of Enero, maybe the second. Oh, I just want them to get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost as a family and feel the difference it makes in their lives!

We had 3 people at church – Claudia, Kevin, and a new investigador Oscar. He was a random contact we did on the street. One of those, we passed by him and me, being me, said, wait, let´s go talk to him! So we went back and talked to him about Christ. He said he´d go to church. We went back to visit him on Saturday to remind him. He walked out of his house with his shirt off, and slowing putting it on, smiling at us, and he said, Yeah yeah, I´ll be there. 9:30, right? Hermana Freeman said, ohhhh dear, but surprisingly, I didn´t shake my head in disgust and say (like I normally do) CHAVON (aka Punk o ridiculous man why did you do that to us? Don´t you know we are servants of the Lord?) I just said, We´ll see if he comes…. AND HE DID!!!!!! Biggest surprise EVER!!!!!!! We didn´t get to speak to him very much because our Líder Misional was SO great and sat by him in Sacrament meeting and helped him out with church. He said he loved it and wants to bring his son next week! Luis (the LM) thinks he has problems with drugs, but Luis said, He told me he really really wants to change his life around for his son!

Christ loves us all! It´s SO true! He literally paid the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual price for ALL of our physical, mental, emotional, spiritual strife. I´m trying to read the prayer Christ offers in Gethsemane that´s found in John while I take the sacrament. It´s beautiful – remarkable the love He has for the Father and for ME, for US! Through Him, we have the potential to become AS God – as HE has done! He is ONE with Heavenly Father – in every aspect. And we must be ONE – like the word Atonement : AT – ONE – MENT with God.

We ALL can be forgiven through His grace, mercy, and love. Oscar can, la Familia Roberto can, every person I meet here in Mar del Plata can. I hope and pray everyday that these wonderful people accept the gospel message. I also pray every day for all of you! I miss you and love with all of my heart!



LOVE YOU!!!!! FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Hermana Tingey