Last words of 2013... Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year family and friends!

Mud :)

I hope that you´ve already made all your goals and written them down and hung them on your fridge to look at them everyday (at least until February right?) 

So wonderful to talk to you all on Christmas :) It was definitely a boost that I needed. So glad I got to meet little Aaron and that he is feeling better! I felt like for a few moments I was close to home :) Thank you for all your love and support and prayers that you continue to give me. Christmas here in Honduras is mostly celebrated on the 24th. It´s a lot like New Years, at midnight they celebrate with fireworks and firecrackers and bomb´like things. Let´s just say it was like a war zone! Earlier in the day on the 24th we went Christmas Caroling to contact people and it turned out to be pretty positive and we found some good contacts to go back and visit later. We got permission to have a sleepover with the sisters that live above us and we all sat around the Christmas tree and listened to Christmas music and then opened a few gifts that we had gotten. It was simple, but it was sufficient! Christmas day was so strange. It was like a ghost town! Everything was closed and there weren´t any buses. Everyone was in their houses sleeping. It was soooooo quiet.... haha A tradition here in Honduras is tamales - we ate so many tamales! They are yummy, I´ve just never eaten so much food in one day... haha I think they have Santa Claus, and I think they exchange a few gifts, but at least from what I could see they don´t put so much of a focus on gift giving as spending time as a family and eating good food. 

My New Year´s resolution is to put all I can into this work. I think I´ve let myself fall into a rut for the holidays and am determined to get out of it and take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity to the fullest of it´s potential! The time in which I get to wear this nametag and represent my Savior is so short in the whole scheme of things. I´m determined to open my mouth more and preach to everyone that will listen to me. I´m determined to love a little more and see these people for the potential that they have to become. I´m determined not to let one more opportunity pass me up because of the ¨fear of man¨. All in all, I´m determined to be a little bit better, to look for the good in every situation, and see the tender mercies and miracles that are all too often overlooked.

The key to this work is patience and love! We will continue moving forward and teaching and inviting to the best that we can, and hope that people will use their agency to accept this Gospel and the blessings it can bring into their lives and the lives of their families. 

Sorry this letter is a little short. I forgot to bring my post-it and this week I have been slacking on writing in my journal so things just aren´t coming to my remembrance! That´s another new year´s resolution I have. Make sure to  write in my journal even when I´m tired.

I love you all so very much - may 2014 be filled with lots of happiness, success, joy and lessons learned. Until Next Year!!!

Hermana Angilyn Bennett