Light The World or Ilumina Al Mundo!

We are excited for this magical time of year and the inspired #LightTheWorld program. Although it's hard to be away from our family during the holidays, this gives us a lot to look forward to.

On Thanksgiving morning we heard a commotion outside our our apartment and saw that there was a a race going by! 

It was a Turkey Trot to benefit childhood cancer. We wish we had known about it - we would have joined in!

                  We went out for a walk so we could enjoy the festive atmosphere anyway.

 Our Thanksgiving celebration was unusually quiet but fun. We planned dinner with another Senior couple that live in our apartment complex - the Melzers. We cheated a bit on the food by getting what we could at Costco, but it was still delicious!

It was silly of us to buy a Costco pie - but they are so good. We ended up throwing half of it away. Instead of making an apple pie I made an apple crisp and it was very tasty.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving we worked in the mission office. The couple that normally work there went to Dallas with family for Thanksgiving, but they needed someone there to get the mail deliveries. John thought this multitasking was funny - I don't know what I was doing on the computer! While we were on duty, two different packages were delivered for missionaries that said "Open before December 1st!" We knew that they wouldn't get them by December 1st, so we decided to deliver them. Of course they were in opposite directions in the mission, but that's ok, we had fun!

                                               

                                 This was the first time that we had gone into the city at night.

Since we live in a small city, we always get a thrill from the view of downtown Houston!

We had dinner on the way and John just had to sneak a photo of this guy with the cowboy hat and silver belt. Very Texas!

Our favorite part of the mission is interacting with the young missionaries. They amaze us - their willingness to leave the comforts of home and serve in a strange place, living with a companion that they don't know and working all day. It is a pretty unusual thing to do at that age!

We love taking photos with them so we can text their families. They are always so grateful to know that we are here helping to watch over them. 

On Sunday Evening our stake had a Christmas musical celebration called "An Evening of Joy! Music Celebrating Christ's Birth. We only found out about it a week before or we would have joined the choir or orchestra. Maybe next year! This photo is of our Ward choir - The Greens Bayou Spanish choir. They did a great job singing "Canto de Navidad"!

They had a really good stake children's choir. They song called "Star Bright" - half of the song was in Spanish and the other half in English. Then they sang "Go Tell it on the Mountain" - so cute! They encouraged us to clap after songs which is unusual at church functions but really fun.

                                       

They had a few solos and small groups perform, and then the stake choir and orchestra did three selections from Handel's Messiah, and we were very impressed! It was such a great way to start the Christmas season. We were grateful for all of the hard work that went into it.

This photo shows what a good turn out they had. We were on the back row of the cultural hall and the stage behind us was full as well!

One thing about living in "The Livable Forest" is that this time of year there is a carpet of leaves, acorns and pine needles. I'm so glad we are not having to do leaf clean up at our home.

And finally I had to add photos of our favorite White Crane that greets us on our morning walks.

I'm sure he is just sunning himself, but it looks like he is keeping an eye on the work they are doing by the river!

Also on Sunday,  John was asked to give the closing prayer at church. The bishop told him he could do it in Spanish or English. He had about a weeks notice, so he gave it in Spanish. The bishop was so happy - He came up afterwards and said, "Elder Davis, you surprised me!" Other people said, "Do you secretly speak Spanish? Your accent was very good!" Just so that he wouldn't be the only one nervous, I bore my testimony in Spanish using a few notes I had made. We both felt like we were blessed to be able to do it better that when we practiced and we were grateful! We love being on this mission and helping with this great work in a small way. We love the people of Texas and these valiant missionaries. We are amazed by the mission presidents and their wives - we get a glimpse of the huge job they have shepherding these missionaries with love just as the Savior would.

We love you - until next time y'all!