Last night there was a big Christmas Eve Devotional with lots of musical numbers. One Elder played the bagpipe and like I mentioned before Sister Smart played on son on the harp. it was really good. A chorus of Elders sang "Still, Still, Still" and "Oh Come All Ye Faithful". They weren't that good, but oh well. Then a Sister sang "O Holy Night". It was probably the highest I've ever heard anyone sing. She had kind of an opera voice. We also sant the Twelve Days of Christmas MTC style. It goes like this: "On the first day of Christmas the MTC gave me, a rock solid testimony". The rest of the days were two haircuts free, three new companions, four chocolate milks, five hours of gym, 6:30 wake-up, seven lukewarm showers, eight hours of rest, nine outbound calls, ten more commandments, eleven loads of laundry, twelve hours of class.
After the devotional, I went back to my room. As a district we had a secret santa. I had Elder Bever so I got him a Parker stainless steel pen and a case for his Spanish hymnbook. Elder Lafrance had me. He gave me cough drops, those strips you pu on the bridge of your nose so you snore less (Ha Ha). He also gave me a telescoping zebra pen. Pens were a hot item to give, especially the zebra pens. After that we brought our mattresses into one of the rooms and had a big slumber party. It was lots of fun and spending Christmas Even with my district made it easier to be away from home. In the five weeks I've been here, I've come to love every single Elder in my district and I can't wait to hang out with them when I get home because most of them are going to schools in Utah after we get back.
So I woke up Christmas Day and opened my presents. Thank you for the stocking and goodies. Then I went to breakfast with my district and to a morning devotional with Elder L. Tom Perry. He talked to us about the birth of Christ--it was very good. We then went to lunch and then off to another afternoon devotional where lots of missionaries shared different talents. My favorite was of an Elder playing his own arrangement on the piano of "We Three Kings". After the talent show, I went back to my room, ate a sack dinner and then went to another fireside with Greg Olsen, the LDS artist. he shared some stories behind his paintings of the Savior. It was a pretty good Christmas. Hopefully everyone at home had a good Christmas. I love you all!
