Merry Christmas!!!

The bedroom in the Pergamino pench. Eric's bed is against the wall with the navy blanket

Hey everybody, Merry Christmas!!! Wow, I can't believe it's already Christmas. Of all the Christmases I've had in my life, this Christmas season has been the shortest ever! I can't believe that in 5 days it will be Christmas! A combination of hard work, hot weather and being in a country where Christmas just isn't all that important make it hard for me to believe it's almost here. Either way, I'm very excited for the phone call, and feel like it has been FOREVER since my last phone call, even though the time has gone by fast. (Eric last called us on Mother's Day.) I think it will maybe be around 5 my time that I will be able to call.

Christmases here are a bit unique. Christmas Day we have to be in the pench the whole day for safety reasons, except we can leave to go and call our families. And Christmas Eve is just a normal day of working, the whole day! I was afraid that the members wouldn't really want the missionaries hanging out with them on Christmas Eve, but to my surprise lots of people in the ward want us to pass by on Christmas Eve. So we're trying to plan it so we can pass by to see many people, and I imagine we'll be well fed that day. Definitely not the same as Christmas back home, but I expect it will be enjoyable and fun.

Regarding our pench, we have no decorations or anything like that, but just the same we're enjoying the season. I still have my gifts which I just took out of my bag and have sitting on my desk waiting for Christmas morning. For Christmas, we plan on opening our gifts in the morning, eating tacos for lunch, and making the phone calls later!!! I'm very excited!!!

Our ward is also going to have a Christmas party on the 23rd, so that should be pretty fun. Regarding the Christmas traditions, they're somewhat the same as they are in the States, except just reduced about 20 or 30 times. Everyone has a tree, but they're just usually one foot tall, and many people have like one string of lights, or maybe they have one star in a corner somewhere, and most kids know who Santa Claus is. Many people treat Christmas just like any other free day from work, to dance and get drunk, but some take it more seriously. Fireworks are thrown wildly from what I've heard. Of course, there's fireworks or explosions almost every night in this country, and often right outside our pench, too!

Church is going good here, we're still needing to help out a lot with the Sunday meetings. Just about every week now we have to teach Sunday School and/or Priesthood, or give talks in Sacrament meeting without warning. At this point, however, I just know it's going to happen, so even though we act like it's a surprise that we have to teach classes and give a talk that day, we're already expecting it. I enjoy teaching the classes, especially because we get to teach to our recent convert, which is always good. I really liked teaching a class about Christmas (since I just so happen to love that holiday!) One thing that I mentioned in the class is that we could think of "Christ-mas" as Spanglish for mas-cristo, meaning more Christ, which really is what Christmas (more Christ) is all about!

Normally each companionship cooks separately, but for Christmas we're doing all together big Christmas meals, like tacos and stuff like that, so it will be fun. It's crazy to think this will be my only Christmas like this, with a fan instead of a fireplace, and fireworks instead of family, but I'm going to enjoy the season however it is. I'm definitely excited to be able to call home this Christmas, so it'll be good. I'll be sure and take lots of pictures, I promise, of all the Christmas stuff I do, as well as the gifts and all that. Also, we have zone conference in two days, so I should get the package you told me about then!!!

Well, I hope you all have a great Christmas together!! If there's one thing I've realized being here in Argentina, it's what a great family I have back home. I miss you guys a lot, and love you too, and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Love,
Eric



The following paragraphs are a few excerpts from the letters that Elder Larson (Eric's companion) has written to his family in the last few weeks:

José is doing great. He should be receiving the priesthood sometime in the next few weeks. He has been reading in the scriptures and a lot of the other pamphlets we gave him. We went over to his house on Friday to watch a movie with him. A big storm was rolling in and we went inside and talked for a little bit. José asked what movie we were going to watch, and Elder Hanson jokingly replied, "Transformers 2". Not even a second later, a huge bolt of lightning struck super close to where we were, and it made all of us jump in surprise. He then said, "I'm just kidding, we're watching The Testaments!". It was pretty funny. I always thought God had a sense of humor, but I guess not when it comes to missionaries joking about watching worldly movies. Haha.

The weather here is getting pretty hot. It's also really humid, pretty much like Texas. I am actually surprised at how much the weather here reminds me of Texas. A lot of times there will be not a cloud in the sky, and then an hour later it will be raining. We have a fan in our pench that we keep on all the time when we are there. It helps the heat to not be so bad. Also a lot of the countryside looks just like Texas.

I have a funny story.... Earlier this week, Elder Hanson and I were walking down a road and I felt something hit me really hard in the back of the leg. I realized that it was a rock from a kid's slingshot. (Every kid here has a slingshot they carry around to shoot birds with). I turned around but whoever it was had already hidden in their house. It hurt a little bit, but it just left a little bruise. Then, yesterday, Elder Hanson got shot in the head and he turned around and yelled at the kids "¡Ojo!", which means "eye" or "I'm watching you". Then the kids ran away. He was okay, too.

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