Christmas Devotionals

The Christmas Devotionals were special days.  The missionaries love it.  It is one of the very few days they get to relax, visit, enjoy the spirit, and get mail :)  Each devotional was wonderful.  We watched Bible video clips as well as other special church-produced Christmas music/video clips.  Each zone sang a Christmas carol for the rest, then special musical numbers from the missionaries was presented.  It was so fun to see the talent among the missionaries!  Some was very good -- all was enjoyable.  The morning was spent like that, and the Spirit of Christmas was very tangible.  Then we had pizza brought in each day and served it with veggies and dip, cookies, and ice water.  The afternoon began with testimonies from Elder and Sister Blue, who will soon end their mission.  Missionaries serving from foreign countries were invited to share Christmas traditions from their countries.  A competitive game of "Name That Tune" came next.  The missionaries had a lot of fun with this!  (I got to play the first few notes of each song :)  Two times, a very lucky team got the song in only one note!  Very lucky guesses indeed!  Elder Brodie, our AP wearing an Emcee hat, made this so fun.  A few missionaries were then invited to share with everyone what they thought was the most meaningful gift they ever gave.  We heard some touching stories.  President Castro ended by giving each a gift of a writing tablet, three envelopes, a pen (and a couple pieces of candy).  We were invited to write three letters -- really put some thought into it and give of ourselves to three individuals, make it a matter of prayer -- letters of testimony or gratitude or encouragement.  Then the missionaries gathered their mail -- lingered and visited and took pictures and just enjoyed.  We made sure things were cleaned up, then headed back to the office to take care of that day's mail. 

Following are a bunch of random pictures. 

Lunch with three Bakersfield zones

Elder Foy, Elder Harmer, President Castro

 

NOT a good picture of the Blues, but I wanted to show the

pizza boxes - 35+ pizzas

Elder and Sister Harmer, Sister and Elder Blue

The Harmers are leadership and member support missionaries.

They live/serve in Bakersfield, are from Meridian, Idaho, and are

a very lovely couple.

With Sister Tagaloa (Samoa) and Sister Wilkinson

 

Elder Gigena and Elder Thomas

Elder Walker (new) with Elder Henshaw

Elder Henshaw is our bike repairman.

He is being trained to install Tiwis into our new cars.

Sister Romero and Sister Baker

Sister Lillywhite, Sister Lupashko (Ukraine)

Sister Cooper and Sister Kiyotani (Japan)

Sister Foster and Sister Romero

 

Sister Wright and Sister Anderson

Name That Tune Competition

Sister Bartschi and I are both graduates of Bear Lake High School

Sisters Hunter, Bartschi, Baliar (Philippines), Putnam,

Sister Castro and Hannah