Hello and Merry Christmas to one and all dear family,
Oh what a week it has been. It is pretty outside with lots of snow so it will be a white Christmas indeed unless we have some type of bizarre heat wave. I should be in bed right now, but the Assistants are still here recording numbers for the week. which should not be very good as we had lots of missionaries traveling to get to and from the BIG Christmas gathering we had for them on Tues. and Wed.
Nous vous souhaitons tout qui un très Joyeux Noël et un Nouvel An heureux et prospère.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. We love and miss you very much but love what we are doing. I am so grateful for the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and for the impact and influence it has made in my life.
It is now Monday the 20th, TAY’s birthday, Happy Birthday my brother. Hope you have a very nice day. I love you. I will attempt to call but today is the first day of transfers which lasts three days.
Just a quick letter this week. We had two wonderful Christmas gatherings on Tues and Wed of this week for our missionaries. We all had such a great time together. Both days started with our mission Dr. administering Flu shots which by the way turned into a bit of a hassle for 6 of our senior couples as the Dr. while cleaning up scratched herself with one of the needles and she is pregnant and freaked out cause she thought someone might have a horrible disease so she asked each of them to go get a blood test at the hospital to calm her nerves. This was so kind of them to do as they are in busy mode. I know she appreciated their efforts and understand her wanting to take precautions. They all assured her they were healthy but she found it hard to believe that everyone had stayed faithful to just one spouse etc.
Back to the party. We moved into watching Toy Story 3 which by the way they voted on, had a wonderful full meal of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, strawberry spinach salad, mixed veggies, rolls and butter and gravy. We also passed around appetizers during the movie which they loved instead of popcorn. We had brownies a la mode with a candy cane stuck in the ice cream for dessert.
Then came the entertainment. We asked each Zone to prepare a musical number or two. We have some real talent within the mission. So many play instruments, have beautiful voices and even acting abilities. That was a joy to hear them perform songs they had planned and practiced together.
After the entertainment we had a white elephant exchange which was hilarious. This is the way we did it with so many. Our decorated dining tables were set up in a big rectangle. We asked everyone to pick a gift. Then we played a game by reading a story with the words right and left in it. Every time I said the word right they would pass the gift right and so on. I read pretty fast so they were passing left and right and laughing as they tried to anticipate which way they would pass. After that we had them quickly stand and open their gift and show it to the group. Once that was finished the fun began as they were given the option to steal a gift from another. The gift could only be stolen twice. It was so fun. I ended up with a knit hat one of the missionaries knit by himself. His name is Elder Foster. He just became a Zone leader. He taught himself how to knit and he was also wearing a knit tie he knit for Christmas. There were some fairly funny things like old statues three feet high, a bottle of some type of food that legend says has been in a fridge for over four years, the bottoms of some cut off jeans along with a candy bar, an authentic Sombrero and so on.
We closed the Christmas gathering with a Christmas hymn and prayer. And then we had a surprise visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus. We had each companionship sit on the chair wings with Santa. Mrs. Claus snapped a picture with their goodie bag in hand. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful day. It was our gift to them for all they do. They do not ask for thanks but we wanted to show our love and appreciation for their goodness. Oh how we love these young people. They are so remarkable in every way. Going out day after day and experiencing the things they do both good and bad. I love them.
We also had a big Senior Couples dinner the night after the parties and three weekend guests, our first assistant with his father (Elder Pearson) and a young lady Josee Ann who is going to serve a mission and dad had to interview her. The night after that we had a special dinner at the house here for Elder Lionel Occolier who will be leaving us to go home to Martinique on Wed. We will miss him so much. He has been stellar in his work with dad and I. So responsible, so kind, so noble. He is one of the older missionaries and it shows in his behavior and simply the way he carries himself. He is a prince of a man. He will be such a blessing to his family and friends when he returns. I hope to be able to see him again some day. Maybe the pres. and I will have to make a visit to Martinique some day….sounds pretty good to me.
Well, I need to go cut up a ton of onions and mushrooms and start frying them and peel potatoes. It is stroganoff over mashed potatoes on the menu tonight for 18 for the main dish. I can leave it in crock pots to stay warm while we go pick up our new missionaries this afternoon. I have their snack bags ready as they come in exhausted, thirsty and hungry. They arise at 4:00 a.m. to make it here by evening. We take them directly to the office to collect visa’s and passports to put in the safe then we drive back to the mission home for dinner and sleep over etc.
I most likely will not have the time to write another letter before Christmas. So I want to tell you how much I love each of you. You are everything to me. As we serve here in Montreal, I work and serve, full well knowing the Lord will bless you in our absence. I work and give my all because of my love for the Savior. I love my Father in Heaven. I know they love me, they love each of you. We are all children of a loving Father. I am grateful for the gift of the Savior and his exemplary life. I only hope I can learn to be more like Him every day. The gift I can give Him for Christmas is to be a little kinder, help a bit more, reach out to those in need, be as the Savior would have me be. That is not always easy for me and I fail. And when I do, I am so grateful for the Atonement that enables me to repent, to be forgiven and still loved unconditionally, and allows me to pick myself up and try again. I love Christmas and this year has been filled with Christ as it should be.
Much love,
Mom,Shir, Mema
p.s. pictures of the week, visit with Santa with Elders Corbett and Occolier our assistants, by the tree with Sister Hamula who with the help of all the missionaries made us the most beautiful scrapbook of photos of all our missionaries. It made me cry. It is a labor of love. Then a pic of Elder Foster who knit the hat and tie, he is wonderful and lastly a picture of feeding time at the Christmas gathering
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