My CCM wish came true!!!! Horchata!!! (And, Christmas)

¡Hola!

My #1 wish of all the CCM came true today. ¡¡¡¡¡There was horchata for lunch!!!!! I have been wishing for this the entire time I have been here, and it finally happened!!! A worker came over to our table and said something to us in Spanish that we didn't understand. So, Hermana Reed said, "¿Qué?" He looked at us both again with a puzzled expression and said, "Oh, sorry!" And then he told us that there was horchata over by the drinks if we wanted any. It was the best horchata in the entire universe, and guess what? Hermana Reed hates horchata! That's the lamest, but I still love her anyway. Hermana Reed is actually a quarter Mexican. It's so funny, because everyone always assumes that I'm the Mexican one. Countless workers and teachers have asked where I'm from, or if I have a Latino background. And then when I tell them that I'm a little Mexican they always say, "I knew it!" And then I just have to laugh.

The highlight of this week was definitely Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had a Festival de Coros where all the zones were assigned different Christmas songs to sing. Our zone was combined with a Latino zone. So, rehearsals were very interesting because we couldn't understand each other and they just made fun of us the whole time, haha . Hermana Reed was assigned to be our choir director, and she did a really good job trying to get through the language barrier. There was this little Brazilian Elder that wanted to just take over the whole time. It was pretty funny to watch. We sang, "¡Regocijad! Jesús Nació" and "Oh pueblocito de Belén," ("Joy to the World" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem"). The Latinos kept suggesting that we should sing in English and they should sing in Spanish... I don't think very many of them realize that everyone here is learning Spanish. Anyway, it went really well. At the very end they had a special choir, which Hermana Reed and I were in, sing "Santa Noche" ("O Holy Night") . It was so powerful. I love singing!

So then Christmas day happened. We did a service project for an old men's home somewhere in the city. They were telling us that the home is just so destitute, even to the point that some of the old men are sleeping on the floor. So we made fleece blankets and tied them and made them sack lunches. Unfortunately, we didn't know that everyone was just going over right after breakfast and we missed it all because all there was left to do was tie the fringe... I was pretty disappointed, but I did my part by buying cookies for the sack lunches. After that, we had a devotional by Elder Nelson and it was super good! And then we had two more devotionals.... They were all really good but it's hard to stay awake that long... The definite highlight of the day was calling home. It was super great to hear everyone's voices!

So this is my last week in the CCM! It´s so insane how the time flies! I'm so excited and scared at the same time! I'm really going to miss our Elders. I'm going to miss the Hermanas, too. But, we are going to the same mission, so it's not as bad. We have all just grown so close in the last couple weeks! I have really loved watching how in just 6 weeks we have all grown so much! So anyway, this is my last email from the CCM. I won't be able to email until the Monday after next, because we leave at four next Tuesday morning.

I love you all and I hope you all have a wonderful, safe, happy New Years! And I hope that everyone in Orem stays warm and you don't freeze to death!

Hermana Fields