Sunday, December 11-- Christmas Concert organized by Elder Mel and Sister Joan Young, two of our missionaries. They have done this for 20 years in their stake and it is a big event with amazing variety of music and stories, including a saw which I have never seen played in person. It was amazing. It was at a Stake Center on "Top of the World Street" near Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was a snowy night, but well worth the trip.
Tuesday, December 13- Brigham Apartment Missionary Potluck and Social
Some of the missionaries serve at the Ensign College and they had some of the students come and do a short program for us.....
including a reading of How the Grinch Stole Christmas by the Grinch himself.
and including a white elephant exchange.
Wednesday, December 14-- The 5th Annual Chocolate Extravaganza
This event is done by Matt Heiss's Europe/Middle East/Africa team and everyone brings some form of chocolate and they sit by "the fire" and enjoy each other. In years past, they have a tasting contest but they have stopped that due to Covid for the time being. As zone leaders, we got invited this year and it was a treat to spend time with staff and missionaries together.
Thursday, December 15-- Christmas With The Tabernacle Choir
This is one of the most difficult events to get a ticket to in Salt Lake. It is so popular that you have to put your name into a lottery to try to get two tickets back in October. As the city is still preventing the filling of the Conference Center due to construction and parking lots not being available, it is even harder these days despite the three days of programs.
Some of the full time missionaries in our zone (there are 10 counting us) had tried for tickets but didn't get them. So we did something that we had never done before--we reached out to Randy Gailey who is a good friend and had been in the choir for a number of years and now serves in the background--and asked if there were 10 tickets we could have for our full time missionaries. The week before the concert he called to say that he had ten tickets for us if Gary could come and get them that evening--so he did. Our missionaries--who all are from outside of Utah--were so delighted. And as usual, it was amazing!! Watch for it next year (2023) on PBS. The story which was shared was a tearjerker--and related to war as well!
Someone took a picture of our row of missionaries but I can't find it on my phone. Eight of us sat together, one was late and sat somewhere else, and one was sick and couldn't attend. What a great time to spend together despite the terrible weather and traffic. We had driven two of our single sister missionaries who live up on 6th North and 3rd West. It took us over an hour to walk to our car at the COB parking and get them to their apartment and get home.
Saturday, December 17 The New Mexico Bowl BYU vs SMU
Okay, not a traditional Christmas activity, but in my family, college bowl season was a standard holiday event when timing made it possible so once it was announced, it was on my calendar! And BYU won in a fun game and in other news, BYU men basketball team also won against Utah which was also not expected! Good day to be a BYU fan!
Sunday, December 18 Not a Christmas thing either, but we went to the Walnut Grove Ward in Syracuse to hear Jean and Larry Webster talk as they are leaving for their mission to be a office couple in the New Jersey Newark Mission in January. We had a good conversation with them at the beginning of the month and they did a great job on their talks. It was great to see so many old friends. It reminded me of one of the sacrifices of serving--even close to home is that we don't see these people we love.
Now it gets really crazy!!
Monday, December 19: Mission Branch Christmas Dinner and Social
....on the 26th floor of the Church Office Building...how lucky are we to be serving in this special place.
The view (and reflection) out of the building into the streets of Salt Lake
Tuesday, December 20: The Five Carols at the Grand Theater
The Grand Theater is connected with Salt Lake Community College and located down State Street from us. Someone had posted about the play on the Syracuse Citizen page saying that there were only 15 tickets sold for the Tuesday performance and people should go see it. I guess someone from Syracuse was one of the Carols. Gary suggested we go and we had a free night so off we went. It was written by some local writers and was the story of five friends all named Carol who put on a Christmas show each year for their community. It was funny and we were glad that we went. Not the Hale Theatre or Broadway, but fun community theatre.
Meanwhile, back at the home front, we are the receiver of so many sweet gifts of food, cards, and other Christmas items. We loved it all especially the cards.
Wednesday, December 2; Utah Utes vs TCU at the Vivint Center
Again, not exactly a Christmas activity, but when Elder Young called and said that he had three tickets to the game, we couldn't say no. It was one of my goals during our mission to walk to the Vivint Center to a basketball game (but I haven't been able to pay the money for Jazz tickets.) We had great seats and enjoyed watching the game--even though it was the Utes!
And I loved walking home with Gary and Jena after the game and it even started to snow a little bit! Magically!
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| Heading to the game |
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| It is a Ute Game for sure |
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| City decorations |
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| Snowing..... |
Thursday, December 22: Donuts with the Zone and Staff--
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We had a fire to as people came for our devotional and
Christmas donuts |
and then
Thursday evening- Little Mermaid at the Hale Theatre with Emily and Vicki Ehlen
As mentioned before, last year we gave Jena two season tickets to the Hale Theatre so she could invite a friend to come each time with us. She has loved inviting different missionaries to join us, but from the beginning of the year, she had earmarked this one for Emily. She has missed being around her and our other friends. Gary gave up his ticket so her mom, Vicki, could join us. It was a spectacular performance and we loved being with Vicki and Emily.
And Jena wanted a selfie of our "Girls Night Out"
Friday, December 23: Mat and Savannah Shaw at the Eccles! With Special guest stars, Claire and Dave Crosby
Another fun night of Christmas music and stories--walking through the city to attend an event--a perfect way to end our Christmas week of Salt Lake City fun.
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| And of course, another selfie of the three of us! |
We will never experience another Christmas season as missionaries in the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission (at least, I don't think soon) but we made this one amazing! Thanks, Gary and Jena for being my companions on this adventure.
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