The Best kind of Gifts

We had a Wonderful Christmas!  It was so good to talk to family over internet and to just relax and spend time together.  Our Savior's Bounteous gifts are beyond our comprehension.  He asks so litte of us in comparison.  And even when we try to give our best gifts to Him, it is because of Him that even those offerings turn into blessings and come back as gifts for us. We Love and Trust Him forever.
We got a Christmas tree and a little Nativity for our apartment!
You know that grandpa is not a shopper, (especially on a mission), but he must have sensed that I needed some Christmas in our home to ease a bit of missing family.  We were going out like always... but he took the bus to the stores and we came home with 2 little trees. It brightened up our whole apt! 

The best Gift for Christmas was the Baptism of Santhosh Kumar.  To watch someone learn about our Heavenly Father's Plan and His great love for all of us is a gift to be memorized in our hearts.  To see the light in someone's eyes when they understand that our Savior loves each one, is such a great gift.   Santhosh is a bright and thoughtful young man who has never known his mother, but grew up with his grandmother.  A few months ago, his uncle gave this almost 30 year old, a ticket to move from India to Portugal.  His uncle told him to go find what was important for him.  He chose to come to Evora where he was working 9:30 am to 8:30 pm every day of the week.  One day the missionaries gave him a pass along card and explained that they were teaching about Jesus Christ. Santhosh called them and he has  been taking lessons for 3 months now.  He is thankful and happy. Yesterday, on December 26th, Santosh was the first baptism in over 3 years in this little branch. A joyful day for him and all of us! The whole branch stayed after Church to witness this blessing and then we had cake and bolos de queijo!



Our new friends, The Schafers, are here growing acres of Almonds.  He grew up in a California family that has many farms in California.  They are so gracious and they help everyone in the branch.  We were invited to their beautiful home for Christmas Dinner.  Oh My!  It was delicious!  At the table with us are also Omar from Pakistan, and Roseangela from Brasil. Such a fun treat to visit with all of them.


Our neighbors, 2 university Veterinary students right next door, Juliana and Alice, brought us homemade cookies on Thursday, and our sweet Science teacher (lives in apt. below us) with her son, Andre and daughter, Maria (who made us a Christmas card) came to bring us treats on Friday.

 

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