Copied from Facebook (without the 30+ pictures I posted since most of them are in the other posts on the blog):
"Happy Christmas Eve, my family and friends! We hope that you have found moments of peace, joy, and family during this busy time of year! As is seen in many places around Arkansas and Missouri, "Christ is the reason for the season!" How grateful we are to know He is our Savior and Redeemer!
It has been a month since I last shared about our mission and life here in Arkansas. We have had Thanksgiving, finished two Institute classes for the semester, had a temple trip to Bentonville with the young adults, sang lots of Christmas songs and attend excellent Christmas concerts and shows, and had a two-day senior district meeting with the senior missionaries in our mission in Bentonville. And to top it off, we just finished a two day trip to Branson, Missouri, home of Silver Dollar City and 6.5 million Christmas lights!
And in the midst of all of that, we have had moments of pure joy as we listened to beautiful Christmas music or read the many Christmas cards we received. We have tasted wonderful food! We have been taught by these amazing young missionaries during district and zone meetings. We have been strengthen by our interactions with the senior missionaries and the mission presidency. And we have felt the peace that comes from service in the temple.
We have missed things as well--our family and our growing grandchildren, our friends including our neighbors and ward members, and the familiar Christmas decorations and trees of our home. It has been three years since our last Christmas in Syracuse. It has been hard to miss saying goodbye to another neighbor, Judy Johnson who passed away this past week at the age of 79.
This is a unique time in our lives and we are blessed to be here with these sweet people in Ft. Smith, in Institute, and in our mission. It is not always easy, but it is amazing in its own way and I will always be grateful that we were here for this time in our lives.
Tomorrow will be another unique day--a Christmas truly away from our family and friends! We will have stockings and presents and good food--but we will also have the chance to make Christmas breakfast for our zone and to be taught by them in our zone meeting afterwards. In the evening, we will attend by zoom a Christmas devotional with the whole mission and will be taught by our sweet mission leaders-President and Sister Collins.
We will be taking missionaries home to Mena after district meeting and hope to stop and take some more photos at a local cemetery! And that will be a remarkable Christmas day in the mission field.
Love you all. Christ is truly the reason for this season and every day of my life! Because of Him, we can repent, change, and move forward and we will live again forever in our Heavenly Father's Home. Merry Christmas...and God bless you, every one!"
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