Monday, December 26, 2016 – Water Greenhouses, “Pick-up-Sticks,” Facetime with our Family

The day after Christmas and it’s back to work on the grounds of Old Nauvoo for Sis. Johnson and I. The regular paid staff at FM have a three day weekend so they have the day. Sis. Johnson and I, along with all of the other missionaries in the mission are at our usual jobs.  

We started our day watering all of the greenhouses. Some plants don’t need watering very often but most needed a drink this morning.

 

We worked the rest of the day on the grounds of Old Nauvoo picking up downed branches, logs and sticks. There are a lot of branches down and we completely filled the trailer to overflowing. We didn’t finish all of the grounds so tomorrow we will pickup were we left off.  

It was a beautiful day to work outdoors in Nauvoo. Illinois is having a warm snap, all day it was in the mid 40’s, very pleasant. Last night when I went to bed at 11:00pm, it was 57 degrees outside! Now, that’s warm for Arizona but this is Illinois.

 

The highlight of our day was the “FaceTime” video call we had with our family. Our son Jared and his wife Tere hosted a family brunch this morning for all of our family in Arizona. Jared said they had 67 people in their house. Oh wait, since their dog, Dakota, was wearing the sweater she received for Christmas, Dakota was counted in the 67!

 

What a wonderful piece of technology the “video chat” is. We got to see and talk to our family in Arizona (and the dog), in real time for over two hours. It was great!

Sunday, December 25, 2016 – Christmas Day, Deer, Sacrament Meeting,

It’s Christmas morning and Sis. Johnson and I got to sleep in. Normally we leave for our Sacrament meeting by 7:40am but today they cancelled our block and moved Sacrament Meeting to 2:00pm. We had a leisurely day; we opened presents, talked to family on the phone and enjoyed the spirit of this day when we commemorate the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ.  

Today’s Sacrament meeting was excellent. We enjoyed listening to the mission choir sing two special Christmas hymns that I love. They were, “When Joseph Went to Bethlehem” from the children’s song book, and then “Were You There?” Sis. Cindy Walker sang a beautiful solo: “Mary did You Know?” The meeting could have been concluded with only the music and it would have been great but we did have talks.

Our two speakers for Sacrament meeting were President and Sis. Hall. And, as much as I loved the music I liked their talks just as much. At the beginning Pres. Hall quipped, I didn’t choose to speak today; I was assigned by my counselors. I looked into their eyes and realized I will speak, “Because I have to.” (Inside joke among missionaries who perform in “Rendezvous.”) It was very funny. 

We had a very nice Christmas. It can be hard to be away from family during this season of the year but we realize how important our service is here. We also realize that our families have given us their complete love and support while we are away. A year and a half isn’t very long when you think about it. We will have plenty more Christmases to be with them but for now, we are where we are supposed to be. 

Saturday, December 24, 2016 – Foggy Christmas Eve, Clean Stake Center, Mission Christmas Eve Dinner

We woke up to a very foggy Christmas Eve morning. It stayed foggy almost all day. The official low temperature overnight was only 34 degrees but we still had frost on the car and the parking lot at the FM compound was icy and slippery everywhere we walked. To be safe I did the “Old Man Shuffle” to get around.

We started our day doing our weekly cleaning assignment at the Stake Center. It was very easy because the usual trash and litter wasn’t there. We figured out why; all of last Sunday’s meetings were cancelled because of snow and ice. I guess we could have stayed home but we were diligent in our assignment and everything was cleaned a second time even though most of it didn’t need it.

Next we went to the FM compound to check on the plants in the propagation room. We moved some that were getting too big for the germination racks into the greenhouse. We also watered everything that needed watering today. We will re-check things Monday, all of the plants in the greenhouses should be OK until then.

This evening we had the Mission Christmas Eve Dinner at the Stake Center. It was a beautiful evening, delicious dinner and Christmas Eve program.  For many of the Senior missionaries this may be their first holiday away from family and loved one. This evening’s dinner and program helped all of us feel the spirit of the season, enjoy the company of loved ones and maybe have a little bit of home away from home.

 

Sis. Johnson woke up this morning with some cold symptoms. By afternoon she had a bad sore throat, a raspy voice and a cough and sneezing. This evening she decided to stay in bed and not contaminate the other Seniors at the Mission Christmas Eve Dinner. The plate of food I brought her home wasn’t the same as being there but at least she got to have a very nice meal even though she didn’t get to go. 

In the evening we got to Skype our son Ernie and grand-sons in Australia. Even though it is Christmas eve in the US, it is already Christmas morning in Australia. The timing works out perfectly. When it is 8:00pm in Illinois, it is already 10:00am Christmas morning in Australia. We had a wonderful visit with them.  It is wonderful to get to see and talk to our family on Skype. Technology is amazing.