Hola!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

It doesn't really feel like Christmas down here, which is kind of a bummer but probably a good thing, because if it did, I would miss you all a lot more I think! Don't get me wrong, I do miss you, but, I'm just busy with a lot of things here so I don't have too much time to think about it. :) We are doing well, we had a good week. Christmas conference and singing in the school which was a really cool experience. I love the singing and the focus on the Savior... We really should remember Him all the time, not just at Christmastime.

Our investigators.. Have not been progressing so much lately. :( So that's been hard. But we are not giving up. We're praying for them and doing what we can to keep in contact with them. Also, we are continuing to find new investigators. One good one that we found a couple weeks ago is Felipe. He's 23 and more curious than anything else. He came to church yesterday, and really liked it. Then afterward he told us that his family is 7th Day Adventist and that he was going to keep going to that church with his family, and that he didn't want to dissappoint us but that he did like church. Well we talked for a bit and reminded him of the importance of following the direction he receives from God when he prays. We also invited him to invite his family to church, so they could experience it too! Of course we would love for everyone to see what it's like and be able to feel the Spirit and learn more. We'll be seeing him again this week so hopefully he keeps progressing! We saw Patricia for the first time in 2 weeks. We had called her a few times but she never answered, and we passed by her house once or twice too. I was getting really sad for a bit! But then we were out walking and she drove by! She was so excited to see us as we were to see her. Turns out we were calling the wrong number, and that's why she hadn't answered. She said she thought we had forgotten about her, and when were we going to come over? Yay! So we put a time to come by but then it didn't work out. Sooo, we are gonna wait until after the holiday because everyone is crazy busy, but we will try again with her. We are teaching this other great family and a few more people, this girl Carolina who is 15 and living with her grandma and uncle here. She went to church a couple weeks ago and really liked it, and said she wants to get baptized! We gave her a baptism date for January 12th and she accepted. The problem isss she went back to where her parents live and we don't know when she's coming back. Darn. She said she was going to live here for awhile, but she misses her family. So, who knows if she will come back. Hope so! So yeah, we have a few other investigators but I will update you more on them when they start progressing more...

I heard Holly Starr got engaged! Wooooo Holly! I miss you girl! Congratulations. Um, if you can wait til May to get married, I would really appreciate it! I want to be there!!!!!! But if not, I understand.... But really. May isn't that far away. :)

I MISS THE TEMPLE! My companion just went like 4 weeks ago, I am so jealous. She talks about the temple and I miss it so much! But, like I said, May isn't that far away and I will go again soon!!! But I am also freaking out a bit because people keep telling me things like I have no time left in the mission and it's almost over. And I'm just like ''nooooooooo!'' You could say I'm in denial.

Okay, this week: Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Part 2.

So I talked about our Heavenly Father, about His plan, and about Prophets. This week will be focused on Jesus Christ, His ministry and Atonement. So we all know that Christ came to the world as the son of God, born unto Mary. He lived a truly perfect life, the only person in the history of the world who was able to do so. Everything He did, He did for us. He showed us His perfect example. He was baptized by someone with the authority of God (John the Baptist). He established His church- calling apostles and prophets and teachers (Ephesians 4:11-14), giving His apostles the Priesthood authority so they could teach the gospel and perform ordinances like baptism (Matthew 10:1). He healed the sick, loved, helped, served, taught, obeyed. Most importantly, He performed the Atonement, which I talked about in an email a couple weeks ago. He, miraculously, took upon Himself all of our sins, also our weaknesses, sicknesses, temptations, everything. He did this so we could be forgiven, so we could be happy, so we could live again after this life.

Let us all remember Him this Christmas season, and always. ''I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life'' -John 8:12.

I love my Savior Jesus Christ, and I know he lives!

Have a WONDERFUL Christmas, I'll be there for the next one!!!!

Love and light,

Hermana Anderton

                            Hermana Zapata and I Thursday when we sang at the school :)

                                              Catalina's baptism  12/16/12

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