Feliz Navidad!

I can not believe it is almost Christmas, and let me tell you, it's the most wonderful time of the year! Ha ha, I love this time, especially as a missionary. It just makes you want to get out there even more and tell people about Jesus Christ. I have been reflecting a lot on what I have learned the past year. As I woke up this morning, I realized it was exactly one year ago that I was flying to New York City, I found out I was going to the Bronx and I was put in a van and driven to my area. The missionaries there all greeted me at the chapel with the other new missionaries and I remember meeting Bishop Zamora. He welcomed me and then asked me about my Spanish, I am pretty sure that is when the panic set in, ha ha. But I still can not believe that was one year ago today. Time has flown by and I am so grateful for this last year that I have had. I feel as if I have grown closer to my Savior in every way possible. I am so grateful for the miracle of his birth and for his ministry here on the earth. I know that he lives and that because of him, we are all able to receive ALL the blessings of eternal life and exaltation.
This week has been a very busy one but a WONDERFUL one! Let's see, where to even begin....oh I know. Thursday we came to the church to eat lunch and an episode of Law and Order was being filmed right outside. They were using the church as a place where the actors can go and use the bathroom or just a warm place to stay. I have never watched Law and Order but I want to find that episode one day and say that I watched them film it outside the church. It is one of the first like "new yorker filming" things I've seen here so I acted excited, although it would be cooler if I knew who the people were!
On Friday we did a zone blitz in our area. I am pretty sure it went great. Hna. Anderson and I did a little training on "finding by the spirit" so that we could all work hard and find new investigators. It seems that we find a lot of people but no one that really wants to do anything. But it was fun and a good blitz. We made hot chocolate for everyone afterwards. I am pretty sure every burned their tongues on it though... woops.
Saturday was Mildreds baptism and it was AMAZING! I was so happy to see her baptized. The spirit was very strong and I just knew that this decision is was going to bless her so much! I got to see Maribel and that was awesome as well. It was just amazing to see the gospel bring families together. I can't believe it was almost a year ago that I met Maribel and started teaching her and then I got to help with her mom. I love the mission, we are allowed to have the COOLEST experiences... it is just wonderful! Her confirmation was also great and the spirit was strong. I love her so much and I was just overfilled with joy at her baptism. The church is true!!!!
I am getting excited for Christmas. Christmas eve there is going to be a baptism in the ward! This man just showed up at church and had been investigating the church for 10 years and wants to get baptized this week! We actually thought he lived in our area but after his baptismal interview yesterday we found out it is in the elders area, but it's a Christmas miracle nonetheless so we are excited. We are also going to bake cookies and bring them around to different people we visit. Then that night we are going to be Christmas caroling so I am so excited! Then on Christmas we will be traveling to Scarsdale to have a big Christmas dinner and program. I got put in charge of the musical number our zone is doing (why they put me in charge I will never know) We are singing "What Child is This) and it actually sounds pretty good so I am excited! And then I get to talk to my family! I can not wait! This is going to be an amazing week! I love Christmas and I love all of you! Thanks for all the love I feel from you every day! Have a very Merry Christmas and don't forget to remember Christ in it! He's the whole reason I'm out here :) Love you all!
Con Amor- Hermana Passantino

Breakfast after Maribel's first time at the temple for baptisms!

Pura Vida!!!!!

Well, to explain my subject line... On Sunday Sister Walker sang at a fireside with the Ambassador of Costa Rica. Pura Vida is their motto type of thing, it means Pure Life. It was a pretty cool fireside until he made a snooty rude comment about America, then my American Pride kicked in and I was grumpy the rest of the time. Ha ha, It's a good thing Heavenly Father sent me to a stateside mission, my American Pride would have gotten in the way too much if he didn't. It already gets in the way now and I LIVE in America. Ha ha, good times. I am glad I have a companion with such a wonderful voice because I get to go to all these cool things she sings at. The refreshments were really good so I left the fireside happy and with some yummy American food in my tummy (which does NOT happen very often!)
It's been a good (but wet) week. We have THREE people with a baptismal date! We are so excited. One is Soledad and her daughter Luz. They are so humble and she set a date her first lesson. They come to church every Sunday and totally love it. The other one is Maribel! We couldn't be more excited for her! We love Maribel so much and we are so excited for her to be baptized. March 13th is the date for Maribel and March 14th for Soledad and Luz! Woo hoo! Santos is doing awesome it you can totally see the change in him since he was baptized. Sadly, his friend Luis, who we were sure would get baptized before Santos randomly told us he didn't want to talk the lessons anymore. We are going to still try to work with him but he has been MIA since the baptism.
We have a couple of new investigators that seem very interested and Sister Walker and I are hoping that we stay in the Bronx for another cycle after this one at least, we just feel there is so much we have to do here still!
Sister Walker and I are still so close and getting along great. We have decided we are the same person! Pretty much everything about us is the same, all the way down to eating popcorn with a glass of milk :) It is wonderful. Every other Tuesday we do service in the Bishops storehouse and it is so fun! We love doing it mainly because we love the senior couple missionaries that live there! Elder and Sister Wilhite are so awesome! Sister Wilhite is like a firecracker and she is so fun to be around. They are like are mission mom and dad because they live next to the church and if we are ever having a bad day they will take care of us. It is so nice! (And nice for me because they speak English :)
They have still not told me if we are moving or not. It is hard to find a good place close to the church. The building all the elders live in is really nice but they are obviously hesitant to put the elders so close to the sisters. So as of now, keep sending letters to the mission office. I get mail from there every Friday. The bed bugs are still enjoying feasting on my legs and arms but I am becoming used to being itchy all the time. Ha ha
Funny story of the week: One day Sister Walker and I were standing waiting for the single to change so we could cross the street and at the same time we were looking for a street so we weren't really paying attention. All of the sudden a car drove through this huge gross puddle (we like to call the gross water here Bronx Juice) and all the Bronx juice splashed ALL OVER US! We were soaked and just started laughing so hard. Then this lady starts yelling at us to pay attention but she was yelling in Spanish. Little did she know we understood everything she said... it was some good times.
I was sick AGAIN this last weekend with a fever and body aches but I am doing better now. It has turned into a really annoying stuffy nose. I don't know why I get so sick here. Oh well, I'm happy so it's good!
I love you all! I have really seen the Lords hand in peoples lives here, especially in preparing them. I hope all of you are taking care of the missionaries in your home wards... Next time you feed them ask them what their favorite meal is, it's fun to get normal food sometimes :)
One thing our mission is doing is reading the Book of Mormon together as a mission and it is awesome. Could that book be any more true? Every time I read it I gain new insight, I love it! Well, I love you all! Keep on keeping on!
Love, Hermana Passantino