Here are a few notes that Bethany sent to us before writing her “public” letter. We did get invited over to a family's home on Christmas Day and they do have a way to do international calls and Skype. The father is the one you'll be keeping in contact with. He speaks English so no worries there. I'm also going to ask for his email address to give to you in addition to his Skype address. Also, I'm not exactly sure when I'll be making the call on Christmas day. I'm going to try and set it up so I'll be calling you at 8am, but it may be earlier than that. Yes, I did get the Christmas package and I've put all the presents under the "Christmas Tree". And thanks for the cookie mix; it was such a good idea for it to be gingerbread. And the frosting too! (It is a family Christmas tradition for the girls to make gingerbread cookies for their friends.) Thanks for letting me know about the money. I'm not sure if we can buy food for that Muslim family. They might be offended if we did, however I'll use the money for N___ and her kids. We're going to teach them about Christmas because it's their first one as Christians! We're going to watch a Nativity video and teach them exactly why it is so important. Then we thought that we'd give them some presents. Joyeux Noel!!! Since this will be my last email before Christmas I thought I'd tell everybody that. Next week I'll be Skyping with my family. We'll be having p-days for both the 24th and 25th. We've only been invited over to one family's place for Christmas, but we're ok with that. We'd like the 24th to rest, but President heard that and said they'd try to find us a place for that day as well. I think they don't want us getting into any shenanigans. Haha! Too bad that KC (Bethany’s Cousin) didn't get his mission call before he left for break. I know how frustrating that is! I can't wait to find out where he is going. That's actually way cool that you were Santa Claus for the Ward Christmas party, Dad. Where did you find the suit? Were any of the kids scared of you? I'm glad to know that the party went well. Wow, Ben Matsen (a young man from our Ward in the MTC right now learning Albanian) is a Zone Leader? That is certainly impressive. Three months is a long time to be in the MTC.  You just want to finally put into practice everything that you've been learning. We have a new sister in the apartment! Her name is Sr.Thibault and she's from Quebec. She speaks English very well and with a really cute accent. We're excited to have a new bleu! This week was rather uneventful and we continued to teach N___ and Mailys. We were given a lot of referrals this week from other missionaries and so we taught a lot of new people, including one pregnant woman. However, we weren't really sure if any of them would go anywhere. And then yesterday, Sunday, a woman visited the ward (who is a member) with her cousin (who is not a member) and she said she was willing to take the lessons. A new amie! I'm pretty sure I've contacted her cousin on the street before. She looked a little embarrassed to see me and I think she must have turned us down. Oh well, what matters is what happens now!  And then, Marie-Claude, the pregnant woman actually came to church. She cried during Sacrament meeting too and said she really liked it. And THEN a BUNCH of inactives came that we have been working with for a long time. To make it even better all of the lessons and talks were very spiritual. It was such a perfect end to a slow week. Thank you again to the Activity Girls for their Thanksgiving and Christmas cards. It was really great of you to think of me. And thank you to everyone else who've been writing letters so continually. This Christmas season I've been thinking a lot about why exactly it is so special that we celebrate the Savior's birth. I've come to realize that it is not the birth, as miraculous as it is that is so important. It was the life that was about to follow, specifically the Atonement. I love my Savior. I love His example, His teachings, His love and His sacrifice. In reality, the message of Easter and Christmas are the same. Without the Atonement we could never have true joy. We could never live with our families for eternity. We could never live with our Father in Heaven again. I celebrate Christmas because I celebrate Jesus Christ, my elder brother and dearest friend. I hope everyone remembers that this Christmas season and has a very Merry Christmas!!! With Love, Bethany