“Joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her King!”- Joy to the World
Dec. 26, 2011
Well, it turns out that Santa Claus does NOT come to Paraguay. No, it’s not because all of the children are bad but because the Paraguayan tradition is to set off fireworks at midnight and I don’t think Santa Claus wants to risk getting in the line of fire. Christmas was AWESOME! In Paraguay, they have a huge family dinner on Christmas Eve, instead of Christmas day, usually at midnight, and then they just sleep in and do nothing on Christmas. Instead of Christmas trees they build huge nativity scenes in their front yard. We helped a family gather tree branches and leaves to build a little shelter for their glass figurines of the nativity scene. It was really cool. They have a holiday on Jan. 6th, called “Three Kings Day” and the three kings bring little kids gifts on that day. So Christmas is more centered on Christ, it seems here, or maybe that’s just because I’m a missionary so it’s easier for me to focus on Him.
I spent Christmas Eve (la nochebuena) at a member’s house, the Suarez family, which was complete with a delicious family dinner, family home evening, ice cream and a family visit from Santa Claus. We went home and went to sleep and woke up to LOUD fireworks and ran to the roof to watch them. In every direction you turned you could see huge, colorful fireworks. It was so cool!
On Christmas morning we woke up, opened our packages from our families, ate a huge breakfast and then ate lunch at a member’s house and then I called my family. It was so good to talk to all of you! I’m so happy you are doing well. We made a few visits, and had Sacrament meeting at 7 pm. I got to sing in the choir! Then we helped out with a baptism (how cool would it be to get baptized on Christmas?) It was a great day and it was interesting to see the difference in their holiday traditions compared to the states.
Oh, I almost forgot- I am staying in Loma! Fifth change/transfer and second change with Hermana Tua'one. I am super stoked to stay here through the holidays and help move the work along. We are trying to visit all the neighborhoods I haven’t been to yet, which are actually still a few. The work is changing here in the mission- instead of clapping houses, we are looking up the less active people from the ward list of 800 members and trying to reactivate them and baptize other referrals. We are also using references from members, instead of random street contacts. As a result, we have been learning the area better but we are struggling to find investigators. I am getting kind of tired of hearing the same excuses of why people don’t come to church but I am learning patience, right?
We found an investigator- this 6`8 giant who walked into the church and started playing basketball. His name is Victor and we taught him. Turns out he is the first Atheist I have ever taught in Paraguay. I have to admit, we didn’t really know how to go about teaching him because how do you get to any kind of doctrine when he doesn’t believe in the basic principle that there is a God and a Savior? It made me a lot more grateful that I am serving in Paraguay, where the majority of people have a strong faith and love for Jesus Christ and God. We left him with the challenge to pray to know if God exists and we will see how it goes.
Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I am happy and content to be here in Paraguay and excited to see what the New Year brings! Happy 2012- Dos mil doce!!! I hope this letter finds each of you well.
Thanks for your prayers and love.
Hermana Brittner
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