Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone. Skyping with Dylan was amazing. He looks so great and is doing wonderful. He has the spirit in him and around him, for sure. We got to talk for about an hour on Christmas. When he first came on, I have to say, that I didn't really recognize him right away. He was speaking so fast in Portuguese and his head was turned. Then he looked straight into the camera and I was like, Oh my heck - that's Dylan!

A couple of things that I remember. He said that on Christmas Eve, the people in Brazil open all their presents. An investigator, Robson (said Hobson) and his family invited him to come over. He said that these people are great and they believe the gospel, they just weren't ready to commit to baptism yet. He said that they brought out all these little presents for their kids. They don't really have a lot, but they got their kids presents. And then after the kids opened their, Roson brought out a present for Dylan. And it was a soccer jersey (which is not cheap). He was near tears as he talked to us about the humble circumstances these people live in, yet they were willing to invite him into their home and give him something. How thankful I am that people are willing to make Dylan feel like their family, especially during holidays.

He also said that the hardest thing for missionaries there were to get everyone, but especially girls and women to understand the importance of modesty. It is summer in Brazil and so hot - like 98 degrees and 90% humidity - so people wear as little clothing as possible. He said that young women especially don't really care about their bodies and the things that we know are important.

He said that when there is a special occasion, like Christmas, the Brazilians know how to party (lots of them with alcohol, but some not). He said that Brazilians know how to BBQ so much better than Americans and he hoped that he could take his whole family to Brazil one day.

We all told him how proud we are of him. He is doing amazing things and is right where he is supposed to be. He is such a great example to all of us. He bore his testimony to us in Portuguese and although we couldn't understand a word of what he was saying, we all understood the spirit. There was not a dry eye on either side of the computer!

The amazing thing for me is how great he is speaking Portuguese! We had to remind him on more than one occasion to speak English because he would just start speaking Portuguese. And there were several words that he couldn't remember in English, like investigator and sausage. He would have to try and explain it to us and then we would tell him the word. Funny kid. I am excited to hear how much he has changed by Mother's Day!

The only bad part was missing some important family members. Maquel, Lyle, and baby Porter headed to Salt Lake City so they could be with Lyle's family on Christmas, but Dylan was so sad that he couldn't see and talk to them. He was really looking forward to catching up with his sis and brother-in-law and seeing his nephew for the first time in person. But hopefully they will be able to be with us on Mother's Day.

I hated hanging up, but I did only cry for about an hour. That's a lot better than the days that I cried when we dropped him off. We are all so proud of Elder Blake and I am so thankful that we have the technology to see him on special days like Christmas! It was definitely the best part of the day!!!!!!