Happy New Year!

 It is here!  The new year that we have all been waiting for - a reset - a new beginning - a hope for better things to come.  It is odd isn't it, how we set such store by the ticking of the clock, the turning of one day into a new one, one minute into the next?

Yet, it is such a wonderful time to reevaluate and to take stock.  It is a wonderful tradition - this starting fresh.  It is a delicious gospel topic....one of my favorites, otherwise known as repentance, this idea that we can be better tomorrow than we are today.  That is the great hope of my life.  At 71 years of age, I find some days that I almost despair of ever improving, but something within calls me to try, and I look for a new day, a new week, and yes a new year.

We contacted 27 young adults today to let them know we love them and to wish them Happy New Year.  We received in return some lovely notes from many of them.  With COVID raging through England, it is probably the best we can do.  Although, in a couple of weeks we will probably try delivering something to them again.

We took our customary walk today later in the morning.  I asked SK when he wanted to walk, and he said "June."  It was 31 degrees and quite chilly, but we still see people (young) out running in lightweight tshirts and running pants, sometimes even shorts.  We stopped in one of our favorite little markets, where we purchased two bottles of sparkling apple juice and four cupcakes.  We took them home, I wrote out little gift tags with Happy New Year and we delivered them to our young missionaries.

Yes, that is SK!  Bundled up in a heavy coat, wearing earmuffs and gloves!  But he absolutely will not wear a hat.


That is particularly fun to do.  Those little things make them so happy!

Our zone leaders had announced to be sure to be in by 7 because that's when the pizzas would arrive.  We waited until 7:30 and then ate sandwiches!  When the Zoom call began Dave said to be patient, because the pizzas were coming.  Dave told us that several senior missionaries had spent the day on the phone ordering pizza for every companionship.  During the call, we noticed a few missionaries chomping on pizza and that had SK drooling, even though he had just had a sandwich.  By 10, we realized that a pizza was not coming for us.  

Better to miss us than those young missionaries....it is such a treat for them.  But SK had very much looked forward to pizza tonight and was disappointed.  We'll have to get one next week some time.

When it is dark by 4:30, by the time 8 rolls around, it feels like midnight! We got things cleaned up, and at 8 tuned in to the mission party.  Dave gave a little wrap-up of this extraordinary year, and the amazing work done by this mission.  He gave us some lovely goals to reach for in the coming six months.  (That is when his time as mission president will end.) 

They had a dozen or more talent numbers.  Some were hilariously funny, some were entertaining, and some were seriously good.  Piano solos, a flute solo, basketball stunts, magic tricks, frisbee tossing from a great distance, a poem that a sister wrote, and several drawings or paintings that different young missionaries submitted.  Dave and our mission doctor sang a takeoff of a song from "Les Mis," which was very funny.





As a mission, we all watched "Chariots of Fire."  We have seen it before and we loved it, but watching it tonight, living in the heart of England was a treat beyond words.  The message of the movie is deeply moving.  When the movie ended, we had about 10 minutes before midnight, and Dave asked for thoughts from anyone about what we had just watched.  

There were some beautiful comments made about the message and how it applies to us now.  

I love this mission!


 


Comments

melissa said…
It sounds like quite the party!!
January 2, 2021 at 4:22 PM
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