So what is it like to be on a mission during Christmas? Taiwan doesn’t really celebrate Christmas,
not even the members of the Church - no special dinner, no singing, no gift
giving, no scripture story reading. Just
hasn’t caught on here. The stores and
shops may have a Christmas tree here and there, but that is the only evidence
of a celebration of any kind. Shops are all open, people still go to school and work, and the day just quietly passes with very little notice. But our little tree and poinsettia cheered up our apartment nicely and brought some Christmas color and cheer.
It has been nice to have more time to focus on the true
meaning of Christmas and lay aside, at least while on our mission, the hustle
and bustle and clamor of a typical US Christmas. Our hearts have been tender as
we’ve thought more about the humble birth of the Creator of the Universe. We’ve
felt close to Him and have felt of His love. And we’ve enjoyed Face-Timing and
Marco Polo-ing our children and grandchildren during their Christmas festivities.
Our mission has the tradition of providing two community
concerts every year on the Sunday before Christmas, to help show the joy and
the reason for the season. All missionaries from the mission (about 136 of
them) were able to be together (no easy feat – they had to come from hours away
and stay overnight with missionaries in Taipei) to provide a packed-chapel with
songs sacred to the birth of Jesus Christ. The miracle of Christmas became very evident as these young people sang their testimonies of the birth of the Son of God.
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| Our wonderful senior missionary who organized the concerts |
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| A new missionary sister from Sweden visits with a friend |
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| Our mission president's wife oversaw the concert planning, and accompanied some of the songs |
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| A few of the talented missionary performers |
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| Two community concerts in one day - and both brought in a completely full house |
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| This elder stops for a honey rush -soothing a throat sore from all the singing! |
In between concerts we stopped for a
group photo. It was a great time for a “family photo” of sorts.
Two zone conferences were held the next two days – and we
were busy preparing delicious holiday food for the missionaries, setting up,
serving, taking down and cleaning up. They also enjoyed a talent show and
watching Mr. Krueger’s Christmas, before resuming their zone training.
Christmas Eve one of our senior sister missionaries and we invited our Office Elders and Assistants to the President missionaries to join us for a simple Christmas Eve dinner and the sharing of the Christmas story from the scriptures. These are amazing missionaries and we loved sharing Christmas with them.
Since Wednesday was not a Taiwanese holiday, the temple was
open. It is always great to be in the temple. There
currently aren’t many temples in the world open on Christmas day. The missionaries were all invited to
participate. What a special experience to be in the temple on the day we
celebrate Christ’s birth.
The mission
president and his wife treated all the senior missionaries to dinner and activities
at their home Christmas night, which we followed with our weekly English group.
Since Wednesday was not a holiday, we still had our English conversation group,
and many came.
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| Dinner for the senior missionaries at the Mission President's home |
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| Advanced English Group - Christmas night (not a holiday for any of them!) |
In all, it was a
busy time, which was great for lessening any feelings of homesickness, which of
course set in. But you serve more, and spend more time talking to children and
grandchildren, and focus on the blessing that it is to be in the service of the
Lord.
One hymn sings - “mild He lays His glory by…” – Before He
was born, before any of us were born, we all recognized His glory, power, love
and purpose. If we sang for joy when the foundations of the earth were laid,
surely we sang with great fervor and rejoicing at the moment of His holy birth,
when He “laid His glory by” and came to earth for each one of us.
If we sang for joy then, and we sing for joy
now, it’ll be an incredible day for all of us as we sing for joy when He
returns to the earth, bringing His glory with Him this time, to reign as King
of kings and Lord of lords. It just
can’t come soon enough!
Merry Christmas to everyone! He is the miracle, the reason, the purpose of the season.
Meanwhile, the entire island is preparing for the big event of the year - the Chinese New Year which officially begins on January 25th. It takes precedence over Christmas hands down. As the Year of the Rat, representing vitality and intelligence, it's destined to be a great one!
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| Flickr.com Courtesy of Michael Rehfeldt |
