The Villagrans

December 22, 2014

This week was so different but so fun!!!  Monday and Tuesday were normal, but on Wednesday morning, my whole zone headed to Montevideo (oh my goodness I just love Montevideo)!  Our zone had a capacitacion with Presidente y Hermana Smith Wednesday morning, a delicious lunch Wednesday afternoon, a capacitacion with the assistants and our zone leaders in the late afternoon, and interviews with Presidente in the night!  All the hermanas slept in the temple hostel and it was just so fun. 

Thursday we went to the temple!  We got to do all the ordinances for an ancestor...I did the endowment for Hillah (our ancestor), and helped out a hermana in my zone who had two names with all the other ordinances.  I hope one day you guys will be able to go to the Montevideo Temple because it is a very special place.  After the temple, we had another delicious lunch and spent some time at the mission home with Presidente y Hermana Smith.  We played a little Christmas game, ate Christmas chocolates, sang Christmas carols, and received gifts and stockings from them.  They are honestly the sweetest!  After our little Christmas celebration, we headed back to Colonia, and Hermana Ventura and I stayed overnight in Nueva Helvecia with Hermanas Tate and Lopez! 

Then, the next day we woke up and headed to Carmello to practice for the Charla Fogonera (aka Christmas choir)!  We got back to our area at five in the afternoon, did some quick visits, and then went to our Actividad de Rama!  We had a pesebre with all the kids in our branch (I got to participate as the angel), watched some fun Christmas videos, and ate yummy food!  All the little kids got gifts, so that was awesome to see as well:)  

On Saturday, we spent the morning in Juan Lacaze, but then headed to Carmello for a practice and the Charla Fogonera!  It went really well!  I had the opportunity to sing a “Silent Night” (“Noche de Luz”) duet with Hermana Tate from California!  It was a cool experience for sure. 

On Sunday, we went to church (Hermana Villagran, the friend of Uncle Tom, gave an AMAZING talk about Christ), had lunch with Hermana Teresa (we live right next to her house), and then headed to Nueva Helvecia for ANOTHER Charla Fogonera!  I loved the Charla Fogonera yesterday because some people from JUAN LACAZE came!  Alba came with her neighbor, Monica, and it was just so fun to see them in the audience!  I’m starting to fall in love with this little branch in Juan Lacaze...the people here are so strong and made so many sacrifices to go to the Charla Fogonera--Juan Lacaze is about forty-five minutes away from Nueva Helvecia!  I love singing Christmas hymns in Spanish!!  Next year, we can all sing together in my Spanish hymn book:):)  

And today was a super fun P-Day!  We got together as a zone, and Presidente gave us permission to watch Frozen and How to Train Your Dragon 2!  Anyway, sorry this letter was so scattered, but it was kind of a scattered week!  I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH, and I am so excited to Skype with you this Christmas at six my time:):)  If I have any problems, I’ll just call the home phone or someone’s cellphone.  HAVE A GREAT NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS!

Hermana Dixon:)