USLCM Christmas Devotional - December 17, 2011

Saturday, December 17th was a wonderful day, starting with a devotional first thing in the morning, where we were blessed to hear from Elder and Sister Oaks.  Elder Oaks is an apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and we were honored to have him visit our missionaries.  Elder Oaks took the time to greet and shake hands with every single one of our missionaries, and Sister Oaks gave each of them a book mark, which she had made especially for our mission.  Sister Oaks recounted stories from when she served as a sister missionary in Japan, when she kept her toothpaste in the refrigerator to keep it from freezing in her apartment.  She told a sweet story of being far from home, in a foreign country, and a little homesick at Christmas time, when she heard the strains of a single violin playing "Silent Night".  It was a very touching story.  We listened to Silent Night many times during the devotional, as groups of our missionaries sang it in their native languages and the languages in which they teach.  We heard it in Spanish, Japanese, Hawaiian, Korean, German, Mongolian, Swahili, Galician, Creole, Karen, Danish, Chinese, Finnish, Tagalog, Swedish, French, Fijian, Nepalese, Portuguese, Tongan, Norwegian, Samoan, Marshallese, Ukrainian and last of all in English by our missionaries from England and other countries who speak in King's English. What a blessing that we have Elders and Sisters from all over the world in our mission!  Elder Oaks concluded the devotional by helping us understand what we can learn from the circumstances surrounding the birth of our Savior.  It was a spiritual feast!

Following that we were fed by the wonderful members of the Holladay North Stake.  They provided a delightful Christmas lunch for the entire mission - which is no small task!  They prepared and served a delicious meal to all 238 of our young missionaries, plus the senior missionaries as well!  It was fun to hear each of those who helped serve us tell about their own sons and daughters, who are serving as missionaries around the world.  After lunch, we presented Elder and Sister Oaks with Defenders of Zion sweatshirts to make them official missionaries in our mission!  We finished the day with beautiful Christmas music presented by our own talented missionaries.  It was a day we will not soon forget, and a perfect way to keep the spirit of Christmas.

 

  

If you want to see more pictures of the Christmas Devotional, click here:

2011.12.17: Christmas Devotional with Elder Oaks