Monday, January 8, 2018

С Рождестом! Merry Christmas!

12/25/2017

It is Christmas day everyone. And yesterday was Christmas Eve. We had somewhat of a busy week this week. 
Saturday there was a big Christmas Concert like last year where tons of people came to watch choirs sing and musicians play and have a really great time all together. And like last year the Mayor of the Kiev Oblast (kind of like a state) who spoke in the beginning and talked about the friendship they have with our church and how he hopes that it will continue on. I took a ton of pictures some of which I will include. The next day was Christmas Eve and we had the Borschagovsky ward combined with the International branch and where we after taking the sacrament enjoyed the Christmas program that the International branch had prepared. We had earlier in the week a meeting with our Bishop in the Borschagovsky ward and he mentioned how things were going to work on Sunday and there were some questions on if we should try to translate the whole program or not for the many non-English-speaking members but he just said that they don't need to and that they can just enjoy it. But when it came time one of our beloved members named Sister Tatyana, the tiniest little old lady you will ever see who was sitting behind me asked we to translate for her when they started the program. The only problem was in that when there were speaking parts they were almost exclusively reading from eh scriptures. Trying to translate English scriptures into Russian scriptures without knowing which scripture it is is pretty difficult. But then I found out that there was a program that had all of the scriptures they were ready on them and used that and flipped to them as quickly as I could and read them to sweet little Sister Tantyana but it happened more than a few times that they didn't for one reason or another read the scripture that was listed to be next and so that was fun. Regardless everything was beautiful and we all enjoyed it whether or not we understood it. 
After that we went to Elder and Sister Andrus' apartment which is very close to ours and with the other missionaries in our district as well as the Kumfermans and Elder and Sister Bingham had hot chocolate and cinnamon roles that Sister Andrus made for us. We noticed that the cinnamon roles had a little of a bite to them and then Sister Andrus explained that when she bought the ingredients that she didn't realize until she used them that here they have not only regular cinnamon but also cinnamon with pepper in it. I enjoyed it. 
After that we went out side and stood in front of the fountain that is right outside their apartment and sang all together lots of hymns and Christmas songs that attracted quite a few people. 
After we had already had tons of fun that day we went over top the Kumferman's home where they had invited us to spend Christmas Eve with them and the Nigerians here. It was pretty awesome. We talked a lot and sang every Christmas hymn there is and shared different Christmas traditions. It really made me come to appreciate the traditions I have in my family and also this special time of year we have. I am so very thankful that I am here right now and trying to do the Lord's work and conform to his will. I am thankful for the Redeemer of the world that was born on the earth and whose berth we celebrate every year with singing and serving and all kinds of good things. Before my time here in the mission field I really did not like singing at all but more and more as time goes on I have really come to love it. And especially last night with the Kumfermans and Nigerians and other missionaries singing hymns I felt a very special spirit there among us and can't help but think of how much my Heavenly Father loves me and how precious a gift was given 2017 years ago. 


Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

No comments:

Post a Comment