That evening was our Christmas Family Home Evening. Bill and I were in charge. We started off by singing and sharing family traditions in the commons room.
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| The Coacallas singing. |
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| Sister Casos sharing a family Christmas story. |
After the program, we went to The Hawses apartment to play Christmas Bingo, exchange gifts and eat treats. Everyone brought something to share. I made my black bottom cupcakes, Jan made rice krispie treats with fruity pebbles (there are no rice krispies down here), Nelly Gomez made Peruvian donuts, Sister Nield made corn flake wreaths, Sister Casos made cupcakes with nutella icing and Sister Coacalla brought chocolate. We had lots of prizes for the bingo (Papa Noel) game and everyone won something. We all had a great time.
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| Bill, President Casos & Wayne. |
On Tuesday, we worked the afternoon shift at the temple. After the temple closed, our coordinators hosted a little party in the Comedor. All the temple missionaries were invited. They served little sandwiches, hot chocolate and that pane ton cake/bread that you see in all the stores.
We had never tried the paneton before and we are not big fans of it, but the Peruvians sure do love it. Their hot chocolate does not taste like ours. The chocolate is dark and bitter and they make it with canned milk. It isn't as sweet and they spice it up with cloves and cinnamon.
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| The Tuesday PM shift. |
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| Making the hot chocolate. |
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| Stephanie & Brenda Leyva. Both girls speak perfect English. Stephanie graduated from BYU and Brenda has one more semester at BYU. Their brother Juan is going to BYU in January. Their whole family are temple workers and come often. Their father was a stake president and a mission president in Lima. His family came from La Esperanza. |
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| Passing out sandwiches and hot chocolate to Hermanas Aquino & Zamora. |
Another highlight for Tuesday was Sadie (17) flying to Utah from Missouri, safe and sound. She is going to live with Heather's family and go to school for graphic arts. They are excited to have her and she is ready to start a new phase of her life.
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| They all went to Temple Square to see the lights before heading home to Providence. |
Christmas Eve
We had a great day Christmas Eve. We first went to the Plaza de Armas to see all the decorations in the daytime. Many schools and organizations helped to decorate around the square.
Next, we went to RealPlaza, another mall in Trujillo. We went to KFC for some delicious fried chicken, American style.
After lunch we bought tickets to the movie Star Wars. This is the first movie we have seen since we've been here. Most of them are dubbed in Spanish but we found one in English at 3:40 in the afternoon. We thought we might be the only ones in the theatre but quite a few came and read the Spanish subtitles. The theatre was very nice, actually newer than any we have in Logan. We also bought popcorn in a Star Wars tin. They don't serve butter with their popcorn and looked puzzled when we asked for it.
At 9:00 pm, Hermano Baita picked us and the Nields up to participate in their Christmas Eve celebration. It is tradition here to eat your Christmas Eve dinner at midnight. Papa Noel will bring presents to the children while they eat and after dinner they will open their presents followed by hot chocolate and paneton.
The Baitas don't have small children so we didn't have to worry about the Papa Noel part. They had a special Christmas program before dinner which was served at midnight. The neatest thing was all the fireworks that went off around the city at midnight, celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus. They lasted for more than a half hour. Most Peruvians put their baby Jesus in the creche at this time as well. The Baitas live on a hill above Trujillo, in Florencia. We could see fireworks all around us. We didn't get home until 1:30 am. We were tired but it was fun to celebrate a true Peruvian Christmas.
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| Hermana Baita painted this picture of the Trujillo Temple. |
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| The Baitas made this fireplace for us so we would feel at home. It has lights for the fire and logs. The tree stand is an old tire wrapped in green paper. They are very creative. |
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| Hermano Baita, Bill & Elder Nield |
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| Us with the Baitas. |
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| Sister Nield and I with the Baita girls. |
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| Turkey & Pork. |
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| The Baita Family singing during the program. |
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| Siblings at midnight. |
Heather called on Christmas morning and we were able to talk to them and watch them open their presents.
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| Ellie, Sadie, Micah & Max in Providence. |
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| Max sees his presents & is ready to open them. |
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| President Casos |
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| The Fackrells & Bill |
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| There were ten of us. The Gomez and Coacalla couples were with family. This meal was all in English. |
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| Game time. |
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| Sandy Nield coordinated our activity. She used to be a school teacher and knows how to get everyone involved. |
We received a few Christmas gifts and cards this year.
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| Candy from the Casos's. |
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| President & Sister Marler gave us envelopes (sobres) for our temple clothes with the Trujillo Temple embroidered on them. |
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| From the Coacallas. |
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| A temple worker gave us this Papa Noel. |
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| Small rice bag on the left from the Nields and sweet picture of Christ with the Lamanite children from the Hawses. This picture hangs in our temple and we all love it. |
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| The green snowman and Santa on the tree on the right were made by the Baita girls. |
As we contemplate the true meaning of Christmas this year, we are grateful for the birth of our Savior and the opportunity we have to serve the sweet people here in Peru. We feel blessed and we hope our family will be blessed as well. We had a wonderful Christmas here in Trujillo. We are so grateful for our friends and family and hope all had a very Merry Christmas. We also wish everyone the happiest of New Years.
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