True Spirit of the Season

hey everyone, merry late christmas!! for unknown reasons, we weren't allowed a p-day last monday, so here we are on december 28th. :) i miss you all and hope you had a great christmas!!

a random nativity in IQUITOS

the upstairs room where i now live! :)

so, i got transferred!!! i'm in the city of iquitos, zone "28 de julio," with hermana arteaga, who was my old neighbor in pucallpa!! she is the best, and i am so happy!! she's my other half - the latina me!!!! we are always laughing, and honestly, it feels weird to laugh so much - IT'S SO GREAT!!! she's awesome, but we sort of have no investigators right now, haha (we're working on it).

me and hermana arteaga :)

all the sisters in my zone

my desk and christmas wall :)

 our room - so small we can't use a jump rope!

apparently christmas is sort of an unknown holiday here. when we wished people a happy christmas on the 25th, everyone was like "oh yeah!!" so funny. on christmas eve, we went caroling in a couple of plazas (in the pouring rain - that's christmas in the amazon).

when it rains it pours!

we found a llama while we were caroling!

and on christmas day, we got to make french toast with buttermilk syrup and watch "the polar express!" it's even epic in spanish. also, we got to skype with our families!! we had to go back out to work at 6pm, but i listened to christmas music like a mad woman whenever we were at home!!!!

 making breakfast at the mission offices

my christmas morning breakfast :)

my christmas dinner :)

also, the week of christmas, we had a small devotional in president gómez's house (aka "the mansion"), which was cool. they surprised us with a video made from pictures that our families had e-mailed to the mission home, we were given books of mormon and some treats, and we ate lunch - it was all super fancy.

but, i learned to feel the true spirit of the season in other ways on this mission, since there were very few familiar indicators that it was christmas. i really tried to focus in on the spirit of christ, which made me super joyful, and i was then able to share that joy with these people i've come to love. :)

the piano in our sacrament meeting room says est. 1823,

and it's busted. so, of course, i tried fixing it. :)

all is well here, and im happy. thank you SO MUCH for your love and prayers!!!! have a happy new year!! :)

hermana wood