So I thought I would get right into talking about what happened over Christmas because I am sure you are all dying to know. Christmas Eve we got together as a zone and the Native missionaries talked to us about how they celebrate Christmas and New Years in Russia and Ukraine. They celebrate Christmas on the 6th (I think) of January because they go off an older calendar than we do. So pretty much everyone (even the little kids) stay up all night and party in the streets. Everyone gets out of their apartments and meets everyone else and has a huge party. They also dance around a Christmas tree in a circle holding hands.
Then we had a Devotional Christmas Eve from some of the MTC presidency and their wives. The tone of the devotional was a lot more light hearted than normal. We sang the 12 days of Christmas MTC style, and it got a bit crazy. They split the auditorium into different sections and each section was a different day and so you got to stand up and sing and do an action when it was your day. By the end each section was competing against the other sections to see who could be the loudest. It was really fun. Then after the devotional we got to watch "Mr. Kruger's Christmas" which was amazing as always. Jimmy Stewart is the best. On Christmas day in the morning after breakfast there was an MTC wide Talent show that lasted about 2 1/2 hours. That was ok though because all the acts were amazing. Like I mentioned before most of my district sang and danced to a Russian folk song, but the highlight of the show was our native Elders doing a remix of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance". It was called "You Missionary Now". They had changed all the lyrics and had come up with all these silly dance moves. They had the whole auditorium on their feet when they finished. So silly. Since then I have heard people singing their song all over the MTC. Later that night out in the courtyard they did a couple of encore performances to large crowds. Even our Sunday devotional speaker talked about them in the beginning of his talk. Christmas day afternoon we got to hear from Elder Nelson and his lovely wife. Sister Whiting and I got to sit on the front row because she was saying the closing prayer (she got to shake his hand). He told us the Christmas story from the New Testiment and then said something like "I bet you have never had an apostle tell you the Christmas story before". His wife also spoke and commented on how Sister Whiting was going from Hawaii to the middle of Russia (they anounced where she was from and where she was going) and said "She is going to need the Lord." Then we had another Fireside in the Evening. A reading of "A Christmas Carol" was given by Bro Taylor and Bro Hess! Yes the very same Bro Hess we know. He volunteers in the TE alot. It was really good. The day after Christmas Elder and Sis Nelson came back and so Sis Nelson spoke in Relief Society and Elder Nelson spoke to all the Elders for priesthood. I want to be Sis Nelson when I grow up! She married Elder Nelson about 5 years ago after his wife died. She is from Canada and was a proffessor in Canada and at BYU for a long time in something related to marriage and family life. She has written several books and she brought her best friend Sheri Dew as a Christmas present to us. She talked about the sisterhood in the church, fullfilling our purpose in this life, listening to the spirit, and using the scriptures to get answers to our prayers. She is a very good speaker. We got to shake her and Sis Dew's hands afterwards. So this was a pretty awesome Christmas if I say so myself. Of course it didn't feel the same being away from you all, but I know I had more time to think about the Savior. Plus we got to hear the Christmas story about 5 times, once in Russian and once from an Apostle. Can't get much better than that. I love you all so much! I sure hope Nick gets his mission call before I leave the MTC.
Then we had a Devotional Christmas Eve from some of the MTC presidency and their wives. The tone of the devotional was a lot more light hearted than normal. We sang the 12 days of Christmas MTC style, and it got a bit crazy. They split the auditorium into different sections and each section was a different day and so you got to stand up and sing and do an action when it was your day. By the end each section was competing against the other sections to see who could be the loudest. It was really fun. Then after the devotional we got to watch "Mr. Kruger's Christmas" which was amazing as always. Jimmy Stewart is the best. On Christmas day in the morning after breakfast there was an MTC wide Talent show that lasted about 2 1/2 hours. That was ok though because all the acts were amazing. Like I mentioned before most of my district sang and danced to a Russian folk song, but the highlight of the show was our native Elders doing a remix of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance". It was called "You Missionary Now". They had changed all the lyrics and had come up with all these silly dance moves. They had the whole auditorium on their feet when they finished. So silly. Since then I have heard people singing their song all over the MTC. Later that night out in the courtyard they did a couple of encore performances to large crowds. Even our Sunday devotional speaker talked about them in the beginning of his talk. Christmas day afternoon we got to hear from Elder Nelson and his lovely wife. Sister Whiting and I got to sit on the front row because she was saying the closing prayer (she got to shake his hand). He told us the Christmas story from the New Testiment and then said something like "I bet you have never had an apostle tell you the Christmas story before". His wife also spoke and commented on how Sister Whiting was going from Hawaii to the middle of Russia (they anounced where she was from and where she was going) and said "She is going to need the Lord." Then we had another Fireside in the Evening. A reading of "A Christmas Carol" was given by Bro Taylor and Bro Hess! Yes the very same Bro Hess we know. He volunteers in the TE alot. It was really good. The day after Christmas Elder and Sis Nelson came back and so Sis Nelson spoke in Relief Society and Elder Nelson spoke to all the Elders for priesthood. I want to be Sis Nelson when I grow up! She married Elder Nelson about 5 years ago after his wife died. She is from Canada and was a proffessor in Canada and at BYU for a long time in something related to marriage and family life. She has written several books and she brought her best friend Sheri Dew as a Christmas present to us. She talked about the sisterhood in the church, fullfilling our purpose in this life, listening to the spirit, and using the scriptures to get answers to our prayers. She is a very good speaker. We got to shake her and Sis Dew's hands afterwards. So this was a pretty awesome Christmas if I say so myself. Of course it didn't feel the same being away from you all, but I know I had more time to think about the Savior. Plus we got to hear the Christmas story about 5 times, once in Russian and once from an Apostle. Can't get much better than that. I love you all so much! I sure hope Nick gets his mission call before I leave the MTC.
Love,
Sis Harrison
No comments:
Post a Comment