If one cannot be with family at Christmas the next best thing is to spend Christmas on a mission….and maybe even better is to be on a mission in South Africa Johannesburg! We have about a hundred sons with whom to share Christmas and we’ve loved being a part of that.
Christmas morning we enjoyed a quiet time of opening gifts alone at our flat. Some from family and many from other missionaries. A gift of a good book, a family calendar, a chocolate bar and a thank you for serving in the office, a homemade Christmas ornament made by a sweet sister who has very little, a jar of peanut butter & gourmet jam from someone who noticed that is our regular lunch faire, fun novelty pencils for mission secretary and a toy pop gun for Elder H! What a fun Christmas morning! I really do believe it’s the thought that counts.
We had saved haircuts until this time. President Poulsen says that the best time to get a haircut is BEFORE one needs one. In our case it was when Elder H had the time to sit still long enough and that was Christmas morning.
We then went over to the Mission Home at 10:00 to help prepare for the open house which was from 11:00-3:00. It was really fun sharing Christmas Day with the elders, watching them enjoy each other relaxing playing ping pong, chess, foss ball and enjoying the delicious food Sister Poulsen had prepared. We were there until about 4:00.
Went to the mission office to help Elders make phone calls home and then returned to our flat to do our Christmas family calls. It’s tough getting twelve family visits in with the time difference and wanting to chat with each one. Between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and new baby phone call (Chris & Jill had baby Alexander 22 Dec) we were able to connect with eight of the twelve. We’ll be sure to reach the other four families sometime during the holidays.
There’s no place like home for the holidays unless it’s being on a mission!
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