Merry Christmas from the Amazon :)

Hola Familia!

Wow this week went by super fast but it was kind of long at the same
time. First of all we had our mission Christmas party on Friday with
all the missionaries in Iquitos and it was seriously so fun! We sang
christmas songs and got to see all of our friends and President and
Hermana Góme spoke to us and we ate at a way cool place and all
together it was just an uplifting day that everyone needed. Christmas
is coming up quick and this is the last time I will be writing you
before Christmas so I just want to say Merry Christmas from the selva
:) Christmas is definitely celebrated a little bit different here in
Peru but it has been fun to be part of the experience :) This week was
a little bit difficult for us me and my companion ran into a lot of
problems with all of our investigators and it was super frustrating.
My companion is awesome and we get along really well but we are both
still really new and we still have a lot to learn. It felt like we ran
into obstacle after obstacle and we worked so hard to try and fix all
of the problems but we just kept finding more. It was really
interesting that in the training that we recieved from President Gòmez
on friday he talked a lot about opposition and how we can turn our
opposition into a blessing. We have really been trying to focus on
that this week. We didnt have anyone come to church yesterday and we
are having a lot of problems with the people who have baptismal dates.
All of the families that we are teaching cant progress right now and
sometimes it is a real bummer. I know there are people here who are
ready to hear the gospel we just have to come up with new ways to find
them. President said that in times of opposition we find the greatest
opportunities to trust in the Lord. We are going to put every ounce of
trust that we have in him this week and hope and pray that things go
well. I hope that you are all enjoying this christmas season and
remember the reason why we celebrate this holiday. Christ came for us
and offers us the greatest gift of all, to be able to live with our
father in heaven once more. Remember to serve those around and look
for those who are in need of comfort or help. I love you all so much
and hope you have the best Christmas ever :) I love you!
Love, 

Hermana Allphin