Elder Brett

Merry Christmas everybody!

 

This is how Christmas day went:

We woke up at 6:30 sharp on Christmas morning with Elder Dickson yelling merry christmas, trying to get me to wake up and get out of bed. The only reason I was reluctant to get out was because I'm on top bunk and getting out of it is such a pain. It's usually too early for me to realize what I'm doing and I jump out and basically face plant because there isn't enough energy in my legs. I've actually avoided that bad habit though so there is no need for concern. Anyway, we all got out of bed and woke up Elder Wallace and Elder Seamons in the other room so they could come over and join us. (All of our Christmas presents were under the tree in our room) We then all huddled in a circle and took turns opening presents. It was sooo fun. We all talked about our Christmas traditions and it was fun to compare how we all did things. Most of us liked taking turns, opening one at a time so we could all watch, but Elder Dickson just wanted to open them all up as fast as he could.

By raise of hands, we decided that we were going to take it slow and enjoy it. Sorry Elder Dickson. We actually skipped breakfast because we were enjoying ourselves too much. After opening, and playing, with our presents, we went to the gymnasium for the MTC talent show. Wow, was that amazing or what. There definitely ain't no lack of musical talent when you have over 2000 Mormon missionaries all in one building. There was originally supposed to be only 16-20 acts but because they could not turn down any of those that tried out, there were 44 acts and it lasted almost 3 hours! It was soooo good though! It's too hard to describe. People sang solos, played the guitar, the piano, violin, eukelele (yukelele, eukalale, yoo-kah-LAY-lee...) and there were a lot of districts that peformed altogether and did something funny. It was great.

After that, we had our big Christmas dinner which was great. We were all sure appreciative for all those that worked on Christmas day. After that, we went back to the gymnasium and Elder Russell M. Nelson spoke to us! He was tremendous. It's always awesome when an Apostle is there. After the devotional, we all went back to our residences and ate our sack dinner and had the chance to write letters, write in our journals, or just relax. We played with our christmas toys...obviously. We then had one last devotional at 7 and two actors performed a simplified version of A Christmas Carol and it was absolutely tremendous. There were only 2 actors but they did such a good job. They had awesome costumes and sound effects which made it great. And what was really neat was that Elder Nelson was there too. Even though he was only asked to come and speak at the afternoon devotional, he and his wife decided to stay for the entire day and spend Christmas day with all of us missionaries. What an honor. And actually, they ended up staying until the next morning too because he spoke to all of the Elders in a combined Priesthood meeting. Pretty lucky eh?

Well, I think that about sums about my Christmas day. On Christmas eve we had a devotional too and the MTC presidency took turns speaking. They made it REALLY fun though. One of the funnest things we did was sing the 12 Days of Christmas, MTC style. Check this out, and sing it to the regular tune. It's hilarious when you have a couple thousand missionaries singing it.

On the first day of Christmas the MTC gave me: A rock solid testimony.

On the second day of Christmas the MTC gave me, Two haircuts free, and a rock solid testimony.

On the third day of Christmas the MTC gave me, Three new companions, Two haircuts free and a rock solid testimony.

On the fourth day of Christmas the MTC gave me, Four Chocolate milks, three new companions, two haircuts free, and a rock solid testimony.

On the fifth day of Christmas the MTC gave me, Fiiiiiive Hourrsss ooffff Gyyyymmmmm! Four Chocolate milks, three new companions, two haircuts free, and a rock solid testimony.Four Chocolate milks, three new companions, two haircuts free, and a rock solid testimony.

The rest go as followed:

6:30 wake-up. 7 lukewarm showers. 8 hours of rest. 9 vaccinations. 10 more commandments. 11 loads of laundry. 12 hours of class.

 

It was an absolute riot. But besides all the fun stuff we did, we really focused on the birth of our Savior. We spent much of the month of December doing that and it was really great. It was the main topic for all of our devotionals and Elder Nelson spoke about it when he was here and did a great job.

 

Thanks for all your letters and packages! Mallory, I wanted to write you a separate letter because I thought your stories were absolutely hilarious! I told my roommates about the gingerbread house you made and the story about the boss with the beard and how he slowly shaved parts of it off throughout the day. hahahaha that was sooo funny. My roommates cracked up.

 

And thanks mom and dad for the packages! I have too many toys and candy than I can handle. Now I know why missionaries gain weight. I'll start running during gym now. I'm just too addicted to basketball and volleyball.

 

Well, It sounds like you all had a great Christmas! Sorry I couldn't call, but I hope you enjoyed the tape of me and my district singing. Oh, and guess what! I just found out about a half hour ago that I am being reassigned. My visa hasn't come in yet. But because there are no general authorities in right now this week, they won't receive the reassignment papers until next wednesday, but I'll find out by next Thursday or Friday where I am going. She said it will probably be in Utah because they think my Visa should come in real soon. Ahh, I have under a minute.

 

Love you all! Thanks for everything!

 

Elder Brett A. Mecham