It
was so fun to see you all this week; we had a really great Christmas here in
Paraguay. I have been thinking a lot this week about this past year. I
spent the whole year here in Paraguay as a missionary; there is no greater gift
I have ever received in my life then my mission.
We were able to go on Christmas Eve and buy food for three families
in our branch that don’t have very much. We were able to buy them a lot of food
for their dinner and it was so cool to see the look on their faces as we gave
them the food. One family I love a lot, Familia Mercado, were so grateful. The
mom held me so tight and told me she loves me. They didn’t know what they were
going to eat for dinner, here it’s a big deal your Christmas dinner. They had
this gross looking soup cooking over the fire. They basically just throw whatever
they have in a pot with water, they buy bones to give it the taste of meat. I’m
pretty sure that’s what they were going to eat just like every day. I know that
what we did was so small. We just fed them for one day but they were just so
grateful to be able to make their Christmas special. This same family we had
visited a few days before and we found the mom down in the river. It’s funny,
they have these wooden seats that are so tiny for little kids here but a lot of
people don’t have a lot of chairs so it’s common for adults to sit in them too.
I sit in them all the time you’re only like a foot off the ground. I will try
and get a pic of me sitting on one. The mom was in the river sitting on one of
these tiny chairs washing her clothes. I asked her if the whole neighborhood
didn’t have water. Many times when it rains a lot they don’t have electricity
or water. She said no just my house. I thought that was weird then I realized
you have to pay for water. She told me they hadn’t paid in 5 months so this
week they had shut their water off. When I went to give them the food on
Christmas I asked if she knew how much she needed to pay to get her water back.
It was like 40 dollars. She said “I know that’s a lot. It’s fine. You have
already done so much.” I pulled out my wallet and started looking in the money
my family had sent me for Christmas. I had exactly 41 dollars. I told her “Look,
I have just enough!” It was such a miracle.
It was so beautiful to spend Christmas in the service of others.
In the night we went to the hospital with our branch president. We sang to the
patients and gave them dinner. My favorite part of this was going to the
maternity unit. Well, it was like two rooms of maternity, haha there were two
newborn babies and I wish you could have seen the dads’ faces as they looked at
their little babies. It made me think of Christ and his humble beginning in the
stable. I hope that you all were able to remember Christ this Christmas and the
sacrifice He made so that we can all return to live with him. I love you all so
much I know it’s hard to be apart during the holidays but I know that it’s
worth it. I’m learning so much from the people here about what really matters
in our life and what doesn’t matter. Too many times we put more importance in
the things that don’t matter.
Que tengan linda semana (I hope you have a great week)
Hermana Ball
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