Well this week has been pretty awesome and it´s even starting to look almost like Christmas here! It´s been raining a lot lately so at least it isn´t blazing hot for Christmas. But this week hasn´t been super eventful actually. I was hoping to have a fun story but I can´t really think of one that I had this week. Ooooh, now I remember! I do have a funny story! Haha this week we had our Christmas Conference with the Mission President on Wednesday and we all had to bring a gift for the gift exchange that was about 50 pesos or so. I decided to bring a key chain thingy that said Tucumán on it and I was hoping to get a pretty good gift. Well when the gift exchange started, everyone was getting either good gifts or funny gifts and the majority were just funny. When they called my name, I went up and grabbed a gift, unwrapped it, and found.... dirty pajamas that fold up into a pillow/envelope thing. I´m going to be honest, I was pretty pissed! Hahaha my actual thoughts were,¨Who in the world would bring dirty, old, pajamas to a gift exchange?¨ But it actually has a good ending. I know, how could there be a good ending to that? Well, Elder Salvioli, my first companion, my trainer, my papi (as it is called in the mission), came up to me and said,¨Now you´ll never forget about your papi!¨ Haha the gift was from him! Then asked me to please wash the pajamas before I wear them. I was actually pretty entertained afterwards and now I think that I´ll wash them two times and wear them from now on. But, what message can we receive from a story like this? Well, I want to start off by reminding everyone of the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, whose birth is celebrated here in a few days. It is said that the tradition of gift giving comes from the 3 wise men who brought gifts to the boy Jesus. But I want to be more specific and say that for the most part we give gifts because we honestly enjoy the look on the kids/parents/friends faces when they receive them. I want everyone to think about the story again. When we look at Christmas for the gifts the we receive, we are always going to say,¨Who in the world would bring me these old pajamas?¨ There will always be someone with a gift a little bit bigger or more expensive or newer or more advanced.... Forget about the gifts that you get from friends, from your parents, or from Santa Claus. Remember that what matters is the love that follows the gift. My gift was aweful... But I will never forget the love that I have for an old companion because of those ugly pajamas. Christ gave us all the gift of His love. Why can´t we all just give a little bit more love to the family and to our friends? Well, I have a quote for an answer that is simple and prophetic (literally): Do it! In this Christmas, Discover the Gift, Accept the Gift, Share the Gift. The gift of love. I love all you guys! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! Our Father in Heaven loves you. I know it, I live it, I love it!
Elder Philpot
I´m really sorry that I don´t have pics this week! I brought my camera but the stupid computer won´t let me download the pictures.
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