Christmas was awesome!! We all had a great time!
The day started with us opening presents. Many many elders were very generous in putting together a couple of boxes and a stocking for Elder Baldwin! He was so excited to get it. Many of you contributed to a great Christmas for both of us! A special thanks to the fam, the Dalziel fam, Bruce and Amy, Carolyn, Joannie and Alec, and many others for great packages and Cards! I hope everyone had a great Christmas! From what I have heard so far it sounded like a great day. i hope the Dalziels have enjoyed their cruise. Not sure where they are, but if they see an Elder Jeff Pierson say hi!
We then had breakfast. It was cereal! I enjoyed it! Following we had a Christmas program! It was a talent show thing! There were singers and dancers, and violins, and guitars, pianos, Cup balancing, and magic! My personal favorites were the magician and the cup balancing. The cup balancing thing was a total joke. He balanced a cup on is head, and stood up and sat down and jumped around! It was hilarious! He actually was pretty coordinated, but it wasn't the type of thing you would expect to see in a talent show. The magician was from Korea! He was quite impressive. He could make stuff disapppear and reappear! He made a huge mess! After weeks of the usual I really appreciate the unusual haha! You can probably tell! Some of the singers were quite good! Many of the piano solos were amazing!
We then had lunch! It was delicious! they go all out for holiday meals! After a magnificent lunch (Which the sisters decorated a very cool table for) we had a choir practice! it was my last here at the MTC! The director is amazing! A spiritual Gnant!!! Practices with him are so much fun, and he gets a ton accomplished. He is also full of spiritual insights, and encouraging thoughts! Anyway that was really fun. I sat with Elder Holm, and Heilein and Anderson Elders. They are both going to hungary, and I am really good friends with both of them! That makes choir even more enjoyable because those guys are all cool. Elder Baldwin is a base so he was on the other side with some of the other in our zone. We were so fortunate to sing for Elder Bednar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When he walked in everyone stood, and there was just an awe that went through the audience! He is obviously a favourite! I was thinking about it, and his age and current rank make it very likely that he will be a future prophet! Anyway he and his wife took a very interesting approach to what was an awesome team talk! 200 red cell phones were passed around in the room! We were given a cell number to text in questions which came to his ipad. Missionaries in other MTC's were situated near computers from which they could email in questions. Missionaries from around the world sent in questions! It was so cool! Elder Bednar is obviously tech minded. It was the first time this kind of thing had ever been done! No one saw it coming! It was amazing! He is so in tune with the spirit. he would pick and choose through the questions giving many to his wife who is also amazing! Some of her insights were awesome. Some of the questions were "Why do I feel so inadequate" "How do I avoid temptation" "how can I live my life in a way where I always feel close to God" "What does it take to be an apostle or an apostles wife"
Some insights were.. If you don't feel inadequate you don't understand your job description... to avoid temptation you must be familiar with the scriptures (Matt 4)... It is easier for God to direct those who are staying on the path... pray often, and you are closer to God when you pray for others than yourself... when you understand the Plan of Salvation fully you no longer will sin because there will never be any desire... To be the best missionary you get out of the way, and forget yourself... The best members and missionaries are those that are always trying to better understand the atonement. There was a lot more and half the talk was in the delivery! They then collected and counted the phones! So cool!
After that we had a district devotional review. We also ate sack dinners. There was a jazz performance. There was a recorded tabernacle choir review! We then did our service assignment of taking down the gym! It was a great day! I hope you liked the pics!
Today we cleaned the temple for the second time! It was awesome! We vacuumed and dusted! It is kind of messy because of the renos that are going on.
We take off on Tuesday! Take Buddy on walks and say hi to all of the family!
Love, Elder Stewart
Wow, you got way more information than I did from Michael about the whole Christmas in the MTC!! So, thanks Parker for all the info I didn't get from Michael, hahaha!!
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