Elder Schyler Shoemaker: Week 21

Tratra Christmas Ianareo! Salama tsara ve? I had a great week and I hope you all did too!! My first Christmas here in Madagascar was a great one!! We had a great lunch with an amazing family in our branch! It was tons of fun and a ton of food!! They saved money for two weeks to give us a great Christmas meal which meant a lot to us! Christmas here is definitely different, mostly lots of drinking and definitely not too many presents under the tree. I saw a little girl running around so excited saying dada be noel came! Which is Santa. Then I saw three little pieces of candy in her hand, she was literally giddy with joy because she got 3 little bite sized pieces of candy for her Christmas...definitely made me think a lot. It was a little hard for me seeing that as I remembered what my Christmases were like growing up and hate to admit it but back when I was 6 years old and I got 3 pieces of candy I probably would've been crying with disappointment not crying with joy....wow. I don't know if I will ever go another Christmas without thinking about that little girl. I am so grateful to be serving here among these amazing people. I hope you all take time to ponder about the true meaning of Christmas this Holiday Season. I hope that we can all understand the real meaning of the season, that way if we get only 3 pieces of candy we can still cry with joy because of the great gifts we have received from our Savior. I am so grateful for my Savior. I know He lives, I know He loves us, and I know He suffered and died for us. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! When you kneel down to pray tonight please thank your Heavenly Father for all you have and try and do something for someone else this Holiday Season. I know that is where the real joy from the season comes from. Not whether we get 3 pieces of candy or not. I am grateful for all of you and hope you have had a great Christmas!