Dear Family,
This week has been a very busy, fun filled, inspirational week.
It started on Monday when we flew to Tasmania for the Christmas Celebration with 22 of our fantastic missionaries. President and Sister Maxwell invited us to go with them and the AP's to help with the party and program. Between the 6 of us we had 10 very large pieces of luggage, with presents for the missionaries.
We checked into the Penny Royal Hotel which is an old gunpowder mill. The rooms have all been renovated but the exterior and design are the same with the original rock exterior.
We had dinner at the Cataract Restaurant, next door to the hotel. It was really nice for the six of us to sit down and have a nice relaxing evening. President and Sister Maxwell have very few evenings to relax.
We love Tasmania, it's beauty, it's sheep and cattle farms, the blue ocean that surrounds the island and the list goes on.
The celebration was wonderful. The RS had prepared a lovely lunch and decorated the cultural hall. It was very festive. The 45 minuted spiritual program, written by Sister Maxwell, involved all the missionaries either singing or speaking. The slide show with music and song was a beautiful way to honor our Savior, Jesus Christ. Many of the missionaries don't get any Christmas from home. This year we made sure all 220 missionaries had a least one package to open.
We returned to Melbourne on Wednesday night.
Thursday we went to the office at 7:30 am to start preparing for the Christmas Celebration for the remaining 208 missionaries. We had a dinner in the evening for all the senior missionaries and couples. They help set up tables, chairs, decorate the tables, distribute the gifts to a room for each zone. We got home at 10:30 pm.
Friday, back to work at 7:30 am running up and down stairs all day. We had the Christmas program. The Samoan sisters danced in costumes, the Tongan sisters danced in costume, and the Fijian sisters danced in costume. Everyone of them was beautiful and so graceful. It is a joy to watch them. Many of the missionaries are very talented and love to perform. It was great fun and very entertaining. Oh, how we love these missionaries. JUST WRITING ABOUT THEM TODAY WE REALIZE THERE ARE MANY WE WILL NEVER SEE AGAIN. It was very hard saying good-bye to them. Of course, we cried.
The weather has gone from 105 degrees for three days to 78 degrees today with rain.
Adrienne and I sang in the Christmas program at church yesterday. The air conditioning is not working in the building so it was really HOT! We love the sacrament meeting before Christmas.
For the Christmas party each zone chose a movie and made a DVD to show at conference. Of course, they had to tie into missionary work and Preach My Gospel. Our zone, the office, the APs and President and Sisters Maxwell chose "The Avengers." I have enclosed pictures of us in this letter. Adrienne was LOKI and I was the HULK. We are never too old to embarrass ourselves.
Final thought;
"God does not force us to believe. Instead He invites us to believe by sending living prophets and apostles to teach us, by providing scriptures, and by beckoning to us through His spirit." Elder L. Whitney Clayton
Love to all of you,
The moms, The grandmas, The Sister sisters
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