Pre- Christmas Visits

It's been pouring Rain!

We have been out in the country since our meeting block seeing some of our Sandersville people, and we have just returned bedraggled, like two tired, wet puppies.  That was with umbrellas.  The things we were delivering got a little water speckled as well. 

We have a wonderful small town main street, filled with historic buildings, but I never know how to capture it- especially on my trusty little phone camera.  Here is what greets us at the East entrance to Milledgeville.  In the daytime they look like green bushes.

This is the Information Bureau and Visitor Center.  There is a Christmas tree in every window.  My camera did not catch them all.

What a delight to make these visits though.  It seems that the families just needed to know someone was thinking about them.  For Example, in one family, both of the adults have been seriously ill - heart lung problems, for one, and a new cancer diagnosis for the other.  In another home, an older single sister has had five family funerals in the past three weeks.  There is not a branch in Sandersville now, and many of the people don't have cars or can't drive as far as Milledgeville, so we are a good reminder of the Church.  We try to bring, besides our friendship, a little spirit of the Gospel and the season into their homes.

Christmas Treats

Here are some of the treats and surprises we have been collecting.  We thought it would be fun to share with you, even though many of them are going to be Secret Santa things here in Milledgeville.

The boxes are full of Doug's special Christmas muffins, and there are many more than this.  They are our Merry Christmas offering for people we visit.  The big basket in one of our Secret Santas.  It is for Kathy's family who we teach and help with tutoring.  We didn't know how we could get it on their porch and have them find it, before someone snatched everything (not a good neighborhood), since we are not nimble enough to escape after knocking on the door.  Finally we decided, that Doug could do it while we were all in church this morning.  They ride with us, so if he delivered it just before we brought them home, they would find the box as they went home.  It seems to have worked, and we had such fun filling the box with oranges and nuts and potato chips and a few little gifts for each.  Do you think that black children play with white Skipper dolls?

Another touching thing was delivering gift cards.  The ward had a little project to give the missionaries gift cards for Christmas.  Everyone brought them from any eating establishment, or Walmart etc.  We of course didn't really need ours, so suggested we give them to someone in the ward who did.  They agreed, and we gave the little packet of about 15 cards from the ward to our nearly homeless friend Bill.  I wish you could have seen his face.  He is an adopted man with no siblings or parents living, so he seldom gets any gifts.  He walks long distances for meals, as he has no car, and doesn't cook at home.  He could not believe this sudden treasure from the church people that he barely knows.  He commented numerous times about the McDonalds card which was only $10.  He said how he could probably get three breakfasts just from that one card.  I will remember the joy on his face for a long time.

Tomorrow we go to Dublin.  We can't wait to see our sweet friends there.  Most of the people have family, so we are only taking a regular gift to Mildred - our 85 year old black friend.  We finally found a red and white afghan with deer and moose and snowflakes all over it that reminded us of home.  We are hoping it can be like a warm hug coming across the miles to her on chilly days when she is all alone, and we are back in our Utah home.

Christmas Jar

Before we left on our mission,  we talked about starting a Christmas Jar and collecting all the change we could before the next Christmas; then finding someone to give it to, who really needed it.  Do you remember?  We have been trying to do that, but it has taken longer than we anticipated to fill our jar.  It has been such fun watching and thinking about the growing money, and wondering who we could surprise with this gift.  We wish it was more, and the jar was bigger, but we decided to give it away this year anyway.  We will save it and give it as a New Year's Surprise instead of a Christmas one.  We still have a few days to figure out how to keep our surprise a secret.  We'll let you know how that goes in the new year.  Did any of you try this?  I can guarantee that it will add many warm moments of love and fun as you make plans to surprise someone, and never let them know it was you.

Christmas Zone Conference

Just a few words about our time together with the Young Elders and Sisters.  It was wonderful to be together and feel their love and support of each other, and us.

We held regular District Meetings - two Districts together while the President interviewed each of us.  The Young Elders and Sisters instructed us using the scriptures and missionary materials.  We are always amazed at their creativity, knowledge, and teaching ability.

Next, we had dinner together - pizza, fruit, candy - easy to fix, eat and clean-up - smart!

The President got special permission for us to see a movie, complete with popcorn - what?  They showed Ephraim's Rescue - about the power of Priesthood blessings in the lives of the pioneers - particularly the hand cart companies.  Very appropriate except for the one kiss.  Our President knows how to lighten up and the casualness of the Christmas celebration was a nice change from all the hard work they do.

Last, we had a brief Christmas-y program with a lovely gift from the Cottles (our mission President and wife) - a pen engraved with our mission and motto, with a stylus on the end, in anticipation of the coming use of more technology throughout the missions.