Hermana Leavitt's Arequipa Adventures: Office Work

Buenas tardes todos-

I'm sitting here in the mission office, waiting for this Christmas DVD presentation that I made for the devotionals next week to render, thinking about how lucky I am that I get to use my knowledge and training for things like this in the mission! President had everyone send in pictures of baptisms and rescatados, so that means about 500 pictures to go through in about 3 days, but it was fun. I'm super lucky to be able to do things like that here.

Hmmm, hmmm, hmm, what to say, what to say....

I am having a blast opening all of those Christmas packages every day Mom! You're the best! Usually I don't look forward to waking up at 6:30 too much, but this ongoing activity has actually made me really excited to get up. I guess that's how you solve problems, like not being a morning person- you give someone presents every day. I don't know what I'm going to do on the 26th though. Maybe I'll just save the wrapping paper, and then wrap something up every night, like a pamphlet, and then open it in the morning, just so I'll have something to look forward to.

This week, other than working on helping our Pres and Hna with Christmas things (we're getting an awesome Christmas present this year!) , we also had the chance to really sit down and talk with Junior, and..... it looks like A C will be having a baptism on the 22nd of December! What a great Christmas present! I love it. :) He's making such good strides in his life, and trying so hard, and I can't wait to see how it all turns out for him. He's too good.

I loved the pictures you sent of the snow! The only snow that we get here, we get at the top of Misti, and then it melts halfway through the day. Jealous.

I'm sending you a picture of me looking surprised that the couches at the hotel we stayed at in Ilo had rocks all over them. They were sooo cool, and I'm making them and selling them for a million dollars when I get home.

Sorry, kind of a boring week to report on, just life in the BEST mission in the world as usual, just a little bit more office work than usual to get all prepared for next week.

One of my best friends in the office has to go home for medical reasons, we got the news from the doctor yesterday, and it was just a sad day. He would always come into where we were working and say "Hermana Leavitt, this letter is for you." and then it wouldn't be, and he would laugh at how excited I would get. But we really did have fun together, and I hope that he can get it all taken care of and come back to the mission. He's from Chile, so it's not too far, but still, never fun to deal with things like that.

Hey, since I work in the office- I get to see that other side of how we actually get packages from parents to the missionaries, and it is seriously a huge process sometimes. The paperwork that is involved sometimes requires that we send the passports to Lima, which is why it is a million times better to send them in the big bubble mailers like you do, because the boxes cause problems, especially when people send a lot of food. So it's not like the mission office gets them and holds onto them, it's really more of a process than you think.

As for Skype calls go- send me all your usernames and whatnot, and times that I can call, and we'll finalize plans next week, ya?

I love you all so much, and am so blessed to be in this family. I see that more and more every single day that I have been out here. I lead a blessed life.

Keep safe, keep the faith,

Hna Leavitt