Missionary Christmas - Taipei Style

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. 

Our wonderful senior missionary who organized the concerts

A new missionary sister from Sweden visits with a friend

Our mission president's wife oversaw the concert planning, and
accompanied some of the songs

A few of the talented missionary performers

Two community concerts in one day - and both brought in a completely full house

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.

Dinner for the senior missionaries at the Mission President's home

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!

Flickr.com Courtesy of Michael Rehfeldt