Osvaldo Cruz Week One (a day late)

Note from Elder Pinkney's Mom:

We did receive an email from Elder Pinkney. It arrived the day after Christmas.  Here is it...

Christmas in Brazil:

I was transfer to a different part of the city this past week. I am now in area that is a lot more city like and with a lot more people. My new campion Elder Jerezm, is from Gutelmala. He is a super awesome guy and we get a long really well. He has about one year in the mission. I am still living in a house with four Elders, which is really cool.

This past week, I spent a lot of time getting to know my new area, where everything is, and what buses to take to get places. We did a lot of visiting with the members. Elder J  loves to sing so we did a little musical number for each house we passed through. It was bascially Christmas Caroling and was super awesome fun. 

Christmas Eve here in Brazil was really good. A member invited us over and we ate a lot. It was super good. We ate beans, rice, turkey, salad, and the eqivalent to an ice cream cake. 

All night long for Christmas, there were fireworks in the city. Really loud and made it hard for us to sleep. 

Christmas day rained just about the whole day. We had a regular lunch appointment with a member family who had just returned from visiting some friends in Utah, so they gifted me an authentic Brigham Young Root Beer. (See picture) It was super good. They don´t have Root Beer here in Brazil and for those Brazilians that have tried don´t like it. They all say it tastes like medicie. My compaion from Guatelmale also was not really a fan. 

All and all it was definetly a Christmas to remember. I had the opportunity to reflect a lot on my purpose and to remember the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. More than anything that helped me remember Christ during Christmas.  I am doing the things the He would do to help the people around me. There are many here, just like anywhere, that need the Light and Love of Christ. There are many that are going through trails in their lives and need just a little extra to make it through. I hope and pray that we were that little extra help for the people here as we preached and rejoiced in Christ during this Christmas season. I know He live. I know He loves us. What joy this knowledge brings to me. 

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year,

Com amor, His representative  

Elder Pinkney