A Happy New Year 2023 to all!

Christmas Eve at my daughter-in-law's parents' home: always a beautiful feast! Gil, Erick (brother) and fiancee Makayla, Simon, Nick, Ed (brother), Marc, Fernanda, Sandra

We went to visit Hilda Martins. With some of her many great grand-children. Four generations: Hannah, Fernanda, Hilda, Sandra

         Makayla made headbands for her future in-laws (the girls)

Simon (13) beautifully accompanied their ward choir (Marc singing on right) for the Christmas morning service.

Nick will spend the next two Christmases in the Baltimore (Spanish-speaking) mission. He goes to the Provo MTC on February 6.

I gave my 17 grandchildren Christmas socks (9 girls, white), (8 boys (blue) for these chilly days. It keeps snowing and raining on and off.

I was so pleased to have a visit from my friends from Ecuador, the Vallejo family. He was the recorder at the Guayaquil Temple when I served there. Maria arranged some of my travels. They served (2016-9) as mission leaders in La Paz, Bolivia. Daniel is a BYU engineering student. Sister Alejandra works and studies in SLC, and younger brother Matteo is serving a mission in Barranquilla, Colombia. 

Two days later my Venezuelan friends, Kelly and Andres, refugees in Ecuador, he a missionary and she to whom I taught English, brought their baby over to visit. They now live in Utah.

A lively, sweet group of missionaries about to leave the training center for their missions. Sebastian (bottom right), from Ecuador, is an interpreter. It is a joy to associate with the 100's of missionaries who spend 2-12 weeks there, depending on the difficulty of their language assignment. After the Tuesday evening Devotional (taught by a different general authority and spouse each week) missionaries meet to "review" the messages and to bear testimonies in English. I was privileged to interpret (English-French) for a lovely young woman from Tahiti. She joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints just 2 years ago. I always feel inspired by their faith, energy, courage and efforts.

Sister Enkhtuya from Mongolia, is starting her mission on Temple Square in SLC. She pulled up a photo on her phone of my friend and zoom English student Khongorzul, (married recently)who was on her way to be sealed in the temple in Japan, but not able to travel there (soon I hope). It's a small world. I love all the connections!

Elder McConkie (young missionary there, and more recently mission president in Prague) was the devotional speaker on Tuesday. He told stories of miracles which brought about the reorganization of the LDS Church in Czechoslovakia after 1990. The country split into Czech Republic (where missionaries were permitted) and Slovakia (where 20,000 signatures were needed). 30 missionaries, who spoke no Slovak, serving in CR, were sent and within a few days they got the signatures. They couldn't really communicate, but just by testifying that they believed in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost did the trick! Light and love, shared simply, by individuals, converts and brings miracles! He admonished the young missionaries to keep the positive momentum going all their lives if they wish to see miracles.

Another dear family, the Parkers, also came to dinner this week. Jena, one of my many renters, lived at my house in California when she was engaged to Jason. So fun to reconnect, and get to know the girls! 

I finally was brave enough to do the above Metropolitan Museum puzzle given to me for Christmas 2021,. The one below wasn't quite so hard! Something I reserve for Christmas vacation! So satisfying to see things in life (and puzzles) come together. I believe that things in our chaotic, violent, despotic, divided world will eventually be made right. God is in charge, and though he is only the source of good, he will not always interfere with human frailty and our free agency. Life is not always birds and flowers and sunshine, but from my limited experience, I know that through our faith and small and simple efforts to befriend, help, and offer compassionate service to others, we can feel inner peace, at least. Thank you for your friendship and support.

    May 2023 be a better year for all. Let's stick together, get to know those who are different from us, and serve, even in very small ways, wherever we can. A smile and kindness can turn a life around.

I hope you are all watching the wonderful life of Christ and his disciples in The Chosen (on Netflix and other channels)