Dad will you tell everyone who helped contribute to this thank you very much from me and Barrio Paleca or The Paleca Ward. We were able to buy toys for the nursery as well as purchase some gifts for children who would have gotten little to nothing for Christmas. This brought tears to some of the parents’ eyes, it was a really touching moment. We have so much in the United States and it always feels so great to give. The money bought nursery toys and a small gift for 35 kids. Think of how many happy kids that is with a modest amount of! Thank you so much everyone for your donation, it really has meant a lot to me. The ward will be writing a big thank you card as well as some of the little kids! Love, Elder Herman

This week was a good week. We got a lot accomplished and had a baptism and confirmation. this little girl, Diana, was so cute, she is ten years old and during the baptismal interview she was asked about smoking and drinking and she didn’t know what they were, ha i wish we all didn’t know what it was but it was a good experience. i love my new companion, we speak a lot of English and its working for me because he is correcting me on every little mistake that i make with my Spanish.

this week was a good week for me! I have a new companion now, we had Emergency transfers because some other misisonaries were doing some bad things. some were getting into fights, an elder from here left the day of his birthday to be with his family and then came back the next day and people being places where they shouldnt be and getting robbed, this has been a crazy day. president called our house last night at like 11:30 to tell my comp that he was being transferred to help other missionaries out so i now have a gringo companion. he is from California and he is sweet, i dont have pictures yet bc i just met him today but i will next week. he is really cool and he has been here a while so ill learn a lot from him.
just a ps dad i saw on the side of a car it said ..rico suave...i thought of you and laughed out loud. i miss those good memories that we have together and cant wait to make more of them after my misson.

not really much happened this week but we have a baptism planned with a little 11 year old girl and a couple more planned in the future.

for questions yes i got the package and all of it was intact. i love the package. I couldnt have asked for more and i gave the president the gift today and ill know what he says about it later this month. i have already eaten a lot of the fruit snacks and will miss them when they are gone. thank you for the contact solution, its nice not having to wear my glasses all the time! I will start looking for a nativity set but im not sure where ill find one, people here dont really decorate for Christmas here and if they do its the dinky stuff from walmart, the plastic ones but ill keep my eyes open.

I havent dont anything with the home teaching yet because we havent had time and now we had changes and things have been crazy. my ear is better, the dr said it was really red and there is secreation in it but she gave me drops to make the pain go away and now i have other drops to clean it so im doing better, i go back to her office this saturday to see if its all better. God is really testing me physically here in my mission, these problems i cant even help but im staying stong so no need to worry about me.

not much else happened this week but ill add some pictures, i hope everyone has a good week and be safe. i love you all so much!

with love,
Elder Herman