Week 13 - Feliz Navidad!

 The week we were waiting for finally came! We were so excited to see Ethan! We had no idea when he would be able to Skype home, so we patiently (or not so patiently) waited around until about 2:00, when we finally got an email from him. The internet connection was not very good. He told us we all looked a little like minecraft people from his end. There was about a 5 second delay too. We got the hang of it after a while. What we could see of him was fabulous! He looked good and sounded good. A little homesick on Christmas, but other than that, he sounded great. Very positive. It was hard to say goodbye, I think we all ended up in tears. It was such a blessing to hear his voice and see his smiling face again. Man, we miss that kid!! Here were some highlights of our Skype.

- Ethan was sick all Christmas eve from eating raw fish the day before. He said he ate it really fast
         because he wasn't quite sure what it was.
-They had a mission Christmas eve dinner (I snagged some facebook pictures from his mission pres.)
-He gets along well with his companion, even though they can't communicate perfectly yet.
-He finally has hot water, although if you touch it the first 10 seconds you get shocked. I'm not sure
     their water heater is a real water heater or if it's even hooked up right. Ha ha!
-They met someone and started teaching them, but they don't believe in God, just in the sun, air and          water and plants. (That might prove a difficult teaching person)
-He has had a constant stomach ache for 3 months and just figure it may go on for 2 years.
-Wild dogs and cats can be scary!
-His ward is small (only about 50 people) but he says the ones who come and are active are really
      good people.
-It's hot during the day and cold at night. They've been eating their dinner on the roof lately.
-There is no "normal" breakfast. Normally some kind of bread with jam. No cereal!
-He misses "normal" food. He said he'd give anything for a big plate of macaroni and cheese or even
          Ramen noodles!
-His apartment is pretty nice compared to lots of places. With rent, water, electricity, it costs about
         $100 American dollars a month.
-Not many cars, lots of motorbikes and 3 wheeled taxis.
-His Spanish is getting better. He promised to speak it for us next time we skype on Mother's day!

Here is Ethan at the Mission Christmas Eve get together. 

Christmas Eve dinner.

Here is Ethan's Skype call. He was fuzzy, but we loved it!!

Elder Smith's mom sent me this. After we hung up, he pulled Ethan over to his call to say "hi" to his parents. Elder Smith has been such a blessing to Ethan. They are in the same district and are the only two English speakers. They get along really well and it's been so nice for them to get together on pdays. He just so happens to be from Arizona too!

I got a Facebook picture from Ethan's pensonista. This was their Christmas dinner. I am so grateful to her for taking such good care of him! She cooks them 3 meals a day, for 6 days a week.