The Christmas Phone Call

Gygi Family Christmas 2016

Our family had an excellent 45 minute Skype with Elder Gygi on Christmas.  He looked happy and healthy and enthused for his missionary work.  Most importantly, he had the look of a missionary serving the Lord in the best way possible.  We got to meet his new companion, Elder Carreño, who is from Columbia and speaks just a bit of English.  It was fun watching Jared seamlessly flipping back and forth between English and Spanish as he translated for us as we spoke a bit with Elder Carreño and with the local family hosting them for Christmas dinner.  We got a kick out of listening as Elder Gygi now seems to speak English with a Spanish accent – and he was completely unaware of this. 
As you can see from the pictures, Elder Gygi was blessed to be able to baptize E. two days before Christmas.  We can’t think of a better Christmas present than being able to bring someone to Christ through baptism.  Elder Gygi’s District consists of two sets of sister missionaries and Elder Carreño and himself.  Other than one of the sisters, all of the missionaries in his District are natives with limited English.  But Elder Gygi loves working with the native missionaries and using his Spanish.  You can see his District performing service by cleaning a pool and also singing carols at a local plaza. 
We are grateful for Elder Gygi’s missionary service in Argentina and to the Lord for keeping him safe.  When we asked when he might next get transferred, he laughed and said that his Mission President recently told him that he won’t be sent to the “rough” areas because he just looks too American with his blonde hair and fair complexion, which could consist of regular relief of personal belongings!