A great gift!

What a great gift to hear from our missionaries on the mission field. My sister Saolo has less then 3 months left on her mission in Romania and we cannot wait until she gets back. Vete's parents have about a year and a half left on their mission in the Phillipines. Last week we had the opportunity to speak with them, it was good to hear their voices and that they are doing well. All of my siblings and their kids met at our place on Christmas Eve to speak to Aunty Olo and she was suppose to call us at 8:30pm after talking to my parents in Cali. We all waited patiently for her call which came at 11pm instead of 8:30 pm, alas is came and we ended up talking past 12pm midnight. But it was all good the kids were excited to open their gifts as soon as they got home. Speaking to Sora Betham was a gift to us all, she told us of her experiences on the mission and with the country of Romania. She spoke of the countless orpahns that run into on-coming traffic to wash windows for any type of monetray payment if any, and she watched so many of these orphans get hit by cars and die. My sister loves little ones and she and her companion visit many orphanages and it kills her to see all these little babies confined in their metal crib totally isolated by any type of human touch. She told us of her experience where their was a baby that started crying when they got to the orphanage and wouldn't stop crying, she stated that no one did anything and it seemed like a good hour passed by. She went against missionary rules and picked the baby up and cuddled the baby as long as she could. Shortly after that she got yelled at by one of the ladies who ran the orphange, and told my sister that the baby she held is now spoiled and will want to be held again. I personally have never been exposed to situations like these and it makes me so ashamed to continually see how much I take for granted. It was a great reminder to my neices and nephews to be grateful for whatever they get for Christmas- but I bet they forgot it as soon as they got home, lets hope I'm wrong. The day after Christmas we got together at Utu's house with Vete's family and we were able to speak with Vete's parents and Nica(who is visiting them during the holidays) on the webcam. We didn't speak to them very long because they were needed elsewhere, but it was good to see and hear from them. My love goes out to all the missionaries on the mission field who are giving their all in spreading the gospel. It helps me magnify my small but important calling of being a visiting teacher. I miss Sora Betham, and President and Sister Ho Ching- you are great examples to our little family and cannot wait for the day that you all get back. That will definitely be a sad day in the Phillipines and Romania!

BTW Olo and the other missionaries on the mission made a little Christmas video, I have no skills and unable to download it to my blog so here it the link-
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n8/betham72/?action=view¤t=JingleMovie.flv