Dec. 30

Hello friends and family!!

I ever-so-hope that you all enjoyed Christmas!

We enjoyed Christmas here. We spent the evening before Christmas with a
family in our ward. We walked up to their house, and outside there was a
table all set up with table cloths and nice square plates, which make food
look really good and arty. They had little Christmas lights in the window,
and there was even Christmas music playing! It was like a little peace of
home. It was very nice to have a little bit of that Christmas Cheer for an
hour or two.

Here, Christmas is less like Christmas, and more like another holiday to
party. Some people eat with their families, or go to the canal, but it´s
not really special. Just another time to party. Something that was
different was when they open their gifts. Everybody waits until 12:00 that
night and then, the minute Christmas arrives, they open their gifts. They
also have fireworks  at that hour, as well. Not that they are legal
fireworks, but the people do them anyway.

Although my package has still yet to arrive, I did get one gift for
Christmas. That family, who we spent Christmas with, gave Elder Farnsworth
and I each a "Mate"(mah-tay). If I haven't explained mate, it's basically
chopped up Mate herb that they put in a special cup, add hot water and
sugar, drink with a special filtered straw, and pass the cup around with
everyone who's there. And everybody does it. Everywhere. People drink mate
anywhere you can think of. On the bus, in the street, even in the summer.
It's part of being an Argentine.

As missionaries, we're not allowed to drink mate, which would've made my
mate cup in vane, but I had an idea. So when I got home, we made
"Missionary Mate", as I deemed it. I took a few little tea bags, of herbal
tea, which we ARE allowed to have, cut them open and poured them in my mate
cup. Genius. Haha, it was really strong, and hot and first, but it was fun
to do one time. (See photo)

I'm excited for the New Year. We get to pass a few hours with the members,
again, as a gift from the mission president. I'm sure they'll have some of
the same things as Christmas: Fireworks, mate, the usual.

This week is Transfers, so I think that I'll finally be leaving Plottier.
I've been here for about 4 months, and it's going to be sad to leave, and
hard to readjust to a new area where I don't know my way around or all the
people, but I'm excited for a new chapter in this little book we call the
mission.

Thanks for all of your emails and prayers,


Love,

Elder Bradley Turek