Our Christmas Missionary Garden City Zone Meeting on December 16, 2011 was a wonderful affair with talks by our Mission President, his wife and our Assistants to the President and Zone Leaders. Then they played the DVD of “Joy to the World” for us all to feel the importance of our Savior’s birth and His sacrifice for all of us. Afterward a very spiritual testimony meeting was held for all who wanted to bear their testimonies.
Elder Howlett, Shane Murphy (a returned missionary who served here in Garden City with us) and Sister Howlett
Several great testimonies were borne about how the missionaries were able to feel the spirit guiding them as they studied, prayed and followed the promptings and were guided to some very choice people. Also some testified of how their mission has changed their lives. It was very special. During the time Sister Howlett was bearing her testimony, Shane Murphy walked in, dressed in his suit and looking as if he belonged there in that Zone Mtg. He was a returned missionary who had served most of his mission in the Garden City Zone.
At right here is a photo of the missionaries enjoying the Christmas luncheon provided after the spiritual testimony meeting. Notice Sister Anderson seated at the table on the left with Shane Murphy and Elder Howlett.
It was a real pleasure to see Shane there, as we had missed him in the last seven months he had been home from the mission. In further testimonies, the idea was shared that the Holy Ghost has testified of the great importance of this work and led so many of us missionaries to find people who are ready to listen to the message or return to activity in the Church. Without the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord, we could not do this work.
A delicious luncheon of ham, “funeral potatoes”, salad, veggies and pie was prepared by our Garden City Ward Relief Society sisters and served by the R.S. Presidency.
They were also very kind in preparing a small gift of socks and candy for each missionary. (The sister missionaries got knee-high stockings.) It was a very nice affair, and helped us feel the spirit of Christmas much more in our hearts.
That evening we were treated to a very special Christmas dinner and party at the Garden City Stake President’s home. President Seger is a very successful farmer here in Southwest Kansas and that night he and Sister Seger did a fantastic job of preparing a turkey and ham feast with all the trimmings and delicious desserts for everyone. They had so much food that we were stuffed when we finished. Then they had a special gift exchange for all the missionaries to participate in.
The gifts were sometimes gag gifts and sometimes food or other good small things. But the trick was to let each missionary choose one at a time and if any missionary wanted to choose something another missionary had already gotten, they could take that gift and the one who had the gift would have to choose another one. It made for a fun evening, especially since we had about thirty missionaries choosing and taking others’ gifts.
To the left here is Sister Seger and President Seger getting cards and gifts ready for all the missionaries.
What fun it was, and how grateful we were to the Segers, their family and the Stake Presidency who were there to help and serve us. It was a terrific evening and we are very thankful for the great leaders we have here in this stake area!
Helping to clean up were from left to right, Shane Steel (Pres Steel's son), Pres. Matt Steel (coun. in Stake Presidency), and Stake Exec. Sec. Bart Hunt. These brothers also helped drive the missionaries out to President Seger's ranch.
On 17 December 2011 the Garden City Ward decided to have a special party for the adult members and the children in separate places. At first we thought it would not be good to have families separated, but the children and youth had a special party at the YMCA where they could swim, play sports games and have lots of fun with a pizza dinner included.
Elder Howlett is sitting next to the small Christmas tree we had in our apartment.
The youth were all asked to support the Primary president and some of her volunteers to help all the kids have a good, safe time, and it seemed to be a terrific party for all the young people. While this party was going on, the adults were having a catered dinner and program at the cultural hall of the church.
At right, Sister Howlett is standing next to the venetian blind on which we displayed our colorful Christmas cards.
It was a beautiful affair with each of the round tables decorated by different members using their own table cloths, china, silverware and Christmas decorations. We had approximately 80 people there and many of the people we have been trying to get back to church attended that night. It was a great success and so good to see so many people.
Let it snow, let it snow! On Monday, 19 December 2011 it began snowing with a blizzard type of weather. On Tuesday morning we woke up to a world of beautiful white everywhere.
This is how our door looked when we first opened it after the blowing snowfall. It wasn't as deep as many places but it was a lot for here.
We must have gotten about a foot of snow and because of the wind blowing it around, some places had drifted snow of 1 ½ to 2 ½ feet of snow.
Elder Howlett was out shovelling snow that morning off the sidewalk.
It was so fun to see it, and it continued to snow and blow on Tuesday then the temperature dropped so we had a white Christmas here in Garden City, Kansas with lots of snow. We loved it, even if the roads were sometimes very difficult to navigate through.
However, Elder Howlett knew well how to drive in that kind of weather when we had to go out. On Christmas Eve morning a special family in the ward, the Matt and Michelle Steel family, invited all the missionaries over to their home for a delicious breakfast.
President Steel is a counselor in the Stake Presidency and his wife is YW President in the Garden City Ward. She used to be a ward missionary helping us a lot with the missionary work, but she now does a fantastic job with the Young Women in the ward.
Sister Michelle Steel (Garden City YW Pres.) and President Matt Steel (counselor in the Stake Presidency of the Garden City Stake). They are such stalwart supporters to the ward and stake here.
Their family has even invited a special Young Woman to live with them for a year, since her mother moved to Missouri and Yadira needed to stay and prepare to go to college here.
Here to the right Sister Howlett is sitting next to Yadira Sanduval who is staying with the Steels for a year so she can go to school here.
So the people here were trying to help us missionaries feel the spirit of Christmas even though we are not home with our families. One of the greatest things that all the missionaries got to do was to go to a member's house and call home to their families. We didn't have just one family to call home to, but we had nine of our children to call and we enjoyed talking to everyone one of them and many of our 30 grandchildren. That was a special treat! It really made our Christmas wonderful. Also, what a joy the Christmas music brought to the season, and helped us feel a little more like we were enjoying some of our Christmas traditions we have had with our families. It helped us to better worship our Lord and Savior and thank our Heavenly Father for His gift of His only begotten son.
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