'Tis the Season!

We haven't had much snow in New York or Connecticut, but we started our Christmas season in white as we took some newly baptized members to the temple in Manhattan to do baptisms on behalf of their deceased family members.  There was a beautiful feeling as they opened this gate for people they love and took one more step toward forever families. 

'Tis the season for parties, and we were blessed to have ward members open their hearts and homes to us - as well as a joyful ward Christmas dinner.

Every Christmas seems to be the season for travel nightmares, but we were blessed to have Alan come visit us a little earlier in the month and avoid all the flight delays and cancellations.  He was only here for four days, but he kept us hopping with sight-seeing in NYC (in the wind and rain), a trip to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, a hockey game (Go Rangers!), an NYC Christmas lights walking tour (with the other senior missionary couples), a ferry ride around the Statue of Liberty, a Broadway show, and a driving tour of our area in Connecticut. Being a Senior Missionary has its perks! 

We got to celebrate Christmas with the young missionaries twice.  First, we had a mini-Mission Conference with Elder Alan D. Haynie, the North America North East Area President for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He shared some statistics with us, including that in 1924 (the year Pres. Nelson was born) there were 90 stakes, 6 temples, and 876 missionaries in the whole church.  In 2022, there are 3500 stakes, 282 operating temples, and 54,000 missionaries! Then he said, "You are at the front end of something miraculous!" I would have to agree; our mission had 155 baptisms this month, a new record. Later in the month, we held our December Zone Conference, also in Manhattan.  We are always amazed at the missionaries' talent for setting and reaching goals, meeting new people, and teaching the gospel, but this month we got to see their other talents, such as singing, dancing, even body contortions, as well as cookie decorating as only missionaries would.  Do you recognize any of these scenes?

 Our final trip into the city was a combination of all that is wonderful about this season: service, gift-giving, family, and fun! Neil and I got to volunteer at the Light the World Giving Machines in NYC.  One was located in front of the temple, right across the street from the Lincoln Center, and the other was located in the Rockefeller Center, about 14 short blocks (or one subway ride) away. It was interesting to see how the charities that were featured were iconically New York, such as Jewish and Performing Arts charitable organizations and the Mariano Rivera Foundation.  It was fun restocking and manning the machines, even when the security guard at Rockefeller Center rushed us!  Later that evening we had the great pleasure of going to see Music Man starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, thanks to the generous gift-giving of all our children. It may not have been Christmasy, but it was lively and quick and full of fantastic singing and dancing and made for a magical evening.  That is, until we went to get our car out of the church parking lot and the temperature had plummeted to 10 degrees and the lock on the parking lot was frozen! With a lot of prayer and hot air, we were finally able to get it open and dash away home. 

 Vaguely, in the back of my mind, I remember hearing that New York City is magical at Christmas time.  I'm sure I just dismissed it because - how can a city of 8.5 million people, crime, bitter winter cold, poverty, and garbage be magical?  but I stand corrected.  After going into the city nine times and experiencing it for myself this season, there truly is an energy in the crowds, the sparkling lights, the whimsical store windows, the enormous Christmas trees, the ice skating rinks, and the elegant, old churches that brings a special spirit to the season.  Here are some examples:

As magical as New York City is, it can't compare to our simple, quiet Christmas - far from family in miles but close in spirit (and Zoom!).  Truly, 'tis the season to celebrate not the twinkling lights of 5th Avenue, but the light of Jesus Christ that is present in each of us, that leads us to all things that are good, and that will bring us back to Him.  I love my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know that He was born and lived in Judea over 2000 years ago, that He lives today, and that He will one day reign in glory on this earth.  As Neil likes to say in Spanglish, may we all have Christ+mas or more Christ in our lives every day.