Feliz Navidad!

So, we got back late from NY on Saturday and are only just now finding a quick bit of time to send an email home, but it probably won't be that long because hey, I get to call home in 3 days!

New York City is amazing! I will never live there but it was way fun to visit. We woke up on Saturday morning at 3:30am in order to catch the 4:30am train to Penn Station. Then we (Hna Andrews, Minetto, and Binning) got lost for about half an hour trying to find the right subway to take us to the temple in Manhattan, got on it, and come running up the steps to the sight of the angel Moroni in the middle of the city at 6:25am (and the session started at 6:30am). Luckily they waited for us. It was ALL in Spanish! I loved it! I just love the temple, basically. We got out of the temple at about 9:00 and had a little over an hour to kill in NYC before one of Hna Andrews' converts from Jersey City, Enrique, met us there to do baptisms. So guess where we went? We wandered around Central Park! It was so neat! Call me a sinner, but everything I saw made me think of the scenes from "Enchanted" but whatever. :) Then we went back to the temple to meet Enrique and afterwards, met us with the elders in our district, Davis and Lebaron, to take taxis to Times Square and find a pizza place. It was way fun. We decided to walk back to Penn Station and on the way, Hna Andrews and Elder Lebaron had a little competition on how many people they could get to say hi or Merry Christmas to them as they passed. In the 20-30 blocks we walked, I think they got 30 people total to even acknowledge them! Dang, people here are intense. Oh the east coast. :)

As our train pulled up into Morristown, we were greeted by a light dusting of snow...which over the next couple of hours turned into a little over a foot. Yeah. I definitely slipped as we were walking to an appointment when I had trouble distinguishing where the curb was on the sidewalk. Hna Andrews just laughed. Haha, oh well. The snow storm caused them to delay church for 2 hours on Sunday so then we just held Sacrament meeting. Plus they had cancelled the branch Christmas party the night before so they pulled out all the food after church and we had our Christmas party then. I don't know how kosher that was but hey, they had roasted a pig and they were not going to let that go to waste. :) (See the picture... :)

We had a lesson with our new convert, Jose, and his family on Sunday night where we taught them how to hold a Noche de Hogar (FHE). It was so cute! He invited his parents over (both members) and they brought the dessert, arroz con leche...my favorite :) He and his wife prepared a lesson all about faith, and Hna Andrews and I were in charge of the activity. It was so amazing! They wanted to take a picture to remember their first of many noches de hogares. He was talking to his little son about serving a mission and everything. It was just really neat.

Ok, I have told way too many details and now I won't have anything to say on Friday. I guess mostly this was for those who aren't in my family...hm, oh well. :) On the phone, don't let me forget to tell you how yesterday, receiving no inspiration was inspiration in and of itself.

Thank you so much to everyone who has sent me a letter/card recently to make my holiday season! I really appreciate the love and support. It means a lot to have that from home.

I hope everyone in doing well and that they have a wonderful Christmas. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Feliz Navidad!

Hermana Jackson