Mom note: I'm late, again. This is from Dec. 26, 2016
Liebe Familie und Freunde,
This is not a super great letter, because it is late and we have no time. But I'll do my best and everything should be great.
Today was a great P-Day. We spent the day with the Familie Molnar from our ward, and they are amazing. They have the two youngest kids living at home right now, and the next oldest is also there for the holidays. Joshua and Jasmine are twins and they're both eighteen, and Jerome is like, 23. So it was a lot of fun with a lot of games and SO MUCH FOOD. Seriously, Brother Molnar asked if he could put some potatoes on my plate and I asked him for just a few and he said okay and theN PILED them on. And that was just dinner. After that, we still had dessert, then cookies, then fruit, and then brezel's with melted cheese and ham on top. Everything was SUPER yummy, but I have been fed so much food this week. I'm ready for a nap and then some good exercise.
This week was Christmas, and since I can't remember what I said about Christmas last year, I'm just going to tell y'all about German Christmas now!
First of all, Christmas is on the 24th. Why? Because it's Christ's birthday! And He is the one who brings the presents, which is absolutely true. We have SO MANY gifts because of our Savior. One quote Sister Quain and I have been telling each other over and over this week is that, "without Easter, there would be no Christmas." So we celebrate Christ's birth because it was His sacrifice that meant so much to us. And it is the Christ Child (Christkind) who brings all the presents for the girls and boys. And of course family members give each other presents, too. But they don't open the presents until the evening time. Like, after dinner evening. The parents will shut the door to the room with the tree and the Christkind will then come and decorate the tree and leave gifts for everyone. It's very magical, and I like it a lot.
We were invited to our GML's house for dinner and Christmasy things in the 24th, so that was a ton of fun. I also talked to my family! And the Internet was kind of bad so we really just talked instead of being able to see each other.... but it's okay. I'll see y'all in the Celestial Kingdom at the very least. But the next least is three months, so that's not too bad. ;)
The 25th of December is another Feiertag (Holiday), but it's not anything super special. Just kind of a general "we're celebrating Christmas and not doing anything!" Sort of day. But it's good. We were at the Araùjo Family's house because as Brother Araùjo said, "I wasn't invited anywhere for Christmas on my mission, and that sucked. I don't want that to happen to you guys. So come on over and we'll have some food and play some games and it will be good." And it was. They have tree kids aged 5, 3, and almost 2. We played with them while mom and dad cooked in peace (though we did offer to help a million times) and then we watched a couple movies.
I know. It was great.
We watched the Muppet Christmas Carol (it was so good, and I still quoted most of the movie. The Elders only thought I was completely weird), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and arose of the Guardians. I still had to try and not cry at the end of the last movie. I just love it too much. But it was a ton of fun watching and playing with the kids. The youngest one, Felipe, came and cuddled with me on the couch for a bit and then we played with play dough for a while afterwards. It was way cute. He is way cute. All of their kids are adorable and speak Portuguese, English, and a tiny bit of German. They were way nice to us, and it was a lot of fun.
Today, we were at the Familie Molnar's house. We listened to Christmas music, watched/learned some Magic tricks, and played Ligretto. It's a German card game hat I have never actually played in Germany. It was a ton of fun, and we discovered that Sister Quain has a talent for it, much to the actual German's chagrin. It was way funny the first time she won because no one American had won up to the point, and then she finished the round way fast. It was brilliant, and the American takeover started from there. We were just a bit competitive. Can you tell? ;)
All-in-all, it has been a great Christmas Season with a lot of time to reflect on the birth of our Savior. There's a tradition among the German saints to have a small devotional on Christmas Eve and that's what we did on Saturday. It was super great to listen to songs sung by the Tabernacle Choir, and to hear the Bishop's son read the Christmas Story out of Luke 2. On Sunday we only had Sacrament due to it being Christmas, and it was still super spiritual. The Bishop's wife gave a talk about Christ being the true present of the season and how we always spend so much time getting ready for Christmas, but how much time do we spend getting ready for Christ? How much time do we spend getting our presents for Him ready? What do we even give Him for presents? Brother Araùjo answered that with his talk by saying that this year, he is going to spend more time with his family, and do his best to lay all of his pride, anger, and frustration on the sacrificial altar so that his family doesn't have to get any of it. It was a super spiritual talk, and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve in this ward and learn from all of them.
I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that He is our Savior and Redeemer and He knows each of us personally by name. He forgets no one, and He wants to help us. He wants to help us accept the gift that He has given. I challenge every one of you to get on your knees and ask God what it is that you can do to be more prepared for the Savior's coming, and then go and do it. Ask Him who knows all, "what Lack I yet?" I promise you will get an answer, and if you really act on it, you will see incredible blessings come from it.
I love you all. Thank you so much to everyone who sent me a Christmas letter, email, package, prayer, or nice thoughts. It all makes a difference and I really wish I had time to email everyone. Please accept my apology for this week, and know that you are all in my prayers and I am thankful for each of your examples. I have learned so much on my mission, but I am always so thankful for the incredible examples that I was able to learn from before my mission. Thank you all for the part you played in that.
With all my love,
Sister John
Frohe Weihnachten!
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