22 Dec 2011 – Christmas Conference

Thursday the 22nd was a wonderful and exhausting day for the couples. It started at 8:00 when the men loaded up the van with a few hundred packages, took them to the stake center and arranged them alphabetically for later pick up. The last part could not have been done without the help of some of the sisters and elders.

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Preparing food and getting it served to over 150 missionaries took a lot of time and effort but by noon it was ready for them. The missionaries each brought a $5 white elephant gift which they stored in a room until after dinner and the conference picture.

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It was a great sight to stand on the stage and see the missionaries eating and chatting to their friends. The middle picture is just before the senior couples were asked to stand on the wings and I took the last picture from my far right position. It took a major effort by the assistants and President Anderson to get us all arranged for the picture. I doubt if they taught this in the MTC.

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The missionaries were arranged around 8 tables and shared their gifts…elder Clark got Hermit the Frog. After a marvelous video of Elder Holland giving a talk to missionaries at the MTC they got a parting gift from Santa and Sister Claus before coming through and getting their mail and packages. They then departed for their areas so they could teach for a couple of hours before calling it a day.

The senior couples stayed and cleaned up before coming home and collapsing…at least this senior couple did. It was a wonderful and spiritual Christmas Conference.



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