Tues dec 31. Today we woke up at had the leaders meeting. We had a good time meeting the new missionaries in the zone, and the oros. We have two oros. Hermana Smith, who is only here for 6 weeks. She is the presidents daughter. Elder Mackinlay, who is from Mesa Arizona. We went back to our area after and went to the Villegas and MAtias house. We had chicken and pig at the villegas. I was stuffed. We went to matias and they fed us more. We watched fire works and snacked. It is crazy to think about this past year and everything that happened this year, all the people I met, and memories I had. It is also crazy to think that I will spend this WHOLE year in the service of the Lord. What a great year this will be. I cant wait to see how I have progressed, and what I have become when this year comes to a close. Even though I wasnt able to receive a new years kiss ;) , I am happy to be here and to be doing what I am doing.
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> Wed Jan 1 14. Today I was tired alll day. We had lunch with matias and we had a really long and good talk with him about his potential and how he can help us in the branch,. We also visited the Villegas, Hma Rey, Olga, Hermana Sonnia, and hma estela perez. It was hermana perez bday so we were gonig to get her something, but everything was closed. We had great weather today.

> Thur Jan 2 today was a great day. we had our district meeting. it was pouring rain and we decided to run through it and splash since we were soaked. We got confirmation for the temple tr4ip feb 8 since our last one got cancelled. we had a good lesson with mirta. After that, President Smith called us. It was mainly for E Chalis new glasses, but he asked to talk to me too. just his voice made me so excited. He is amazing. He just asked how I was doing. He also said he was very impressed with my letters I send to him, and the work we are doing.
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> Fri Jan 3 Today we bought elder Chali new glasses and I bought a hat. It is a sombrero that has clips to make it look like a cowboy hat. It was 100 pesos, which is about 5 bucks. It is amazing! I look like a dork, but dont all missionaries?! We made panchos completos for lunch. They were bomb. I had to run the noche de hogar with our branch because E Chali was talking ot people about callings ibn the branch. It went pretty well.
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> Sat Jan 4 Today we had lasagna for lunch with estela perez it was made of pancakes, meat, cheese, ham, and corn. It was amazing. We had a lesson with mirta too. It takes her a while to learn, but she is learning. We played soccer for our activity. My team won, but I had to stop playing after one game, because I dont have the most patience with people who cant play very physically. Needless to say, there was a lot of "flops". I am working on my patience though. But of course, learning how to have patience even takes patience.
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> Sun jan 5. Today was fast sunday. I taught Elders quorum. It actually went really well. I am officially the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency and the Elders quorum president. I also had a great experience sharing my testimony in sacrament meeting. I felt like I didnt even have to translate what I was saying, it just came out! That was really cool! Mirta didnt come to church, so her baptism is postponed a week. Hopefully next saturday. I traded a US soccer shirt for a worn soccer jersey with jorge villegas. I asked for a uruguay or penarol jersey, but I will live ;) jWe visited a ton ñof people today. I am getting used to about 1 meal a day now. But thanks to the lack of excercise, I am not growing the direction I want to.