Well, Seth only sent one picture so we will get to it first.

His mother prepares "12-Days-of-Christmas" treats for all the children and grandchildren. They have a treat package to open on each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas. She sent Seth's to him in a missionary stocking obtained in a family White Elephant exchange last year.

Here is a comment he made about the package. "I received the package and no I have not opened any yet. I did remember a couple days later we have problems with ants, and a stuck the packages in the freezer after banging out a lot of them. I hope all is well, just a little more crunchy when I can enjoy the presents."

Since he hasn't developed a pattern of sending many pictures, I have to come up with some of my own. The following shows the distance between where he is serving and where Kevin served about half of his mission

Kevin served on San Pedro Island (noted by the red marker) which is a 10-hour bus/ferry ride from Ciudad del Carmen (city name was cut off in the picture - it is in the Campeche province) and Belize City a 7.5 hour bus ride. Seth gets to see (but not get in) the Gulf of Mexico. Kevin got to see the Caribbean Sea but only get in the bay for baptisms.

Highlights of the week...

• Splits with the Zone Leaders on Wednesday (Seth's companion is district leader so this happens some what regularly.)
• A bad run of intestinal problems which kept him from enjoying a nice meal offered to them
• Helping clean the house and car of a family that rents the apartment to the Zone Leaders on Thursday then traveling to Villahermosa for a zone conference.
• Friday they had a zone conference with a general authority, Elder Pino. Seth learned that he was the Seventy that visited our Stake a few months ago, but we missed it because of a grandson's Baptism.
• Sunday was a big day, "I have been struggling for months to really be happy in this work, and to sacrifice what I needed to with desire. I really don´t what changed, and I couldn't say with exactness something that I realized or anything, but I did learn how to love people a little more. Elder Vazquez is a great example of loving the people and making them feel great, and he is in general energetic and enjoys the blessings of this [work]. When I started acting a little more like him and letting myself joke and talk with the people, I could feel the Spirit enter more."
• Shortly after coming to the above realization, Seth learned that Elder Vasquez was to be transferred in a week -short of the normal training period new missionaries are with their first companion. Elder Vasquez has been a wonderful trainer and we are grateful for him.