Christmas in Guatemala - 2013

On December 23 we went to President Burks to have a Christmas dinner with all the temple missionaries. President and Sister Nicolaysen (MTC President) and Elder and Sister Burbidge (MTC nurse and husband) were also invited. We had a very good ham with all the trimmings. One of the goals at this gathering was to stuff stockings for the full-time missionaries from the MTC who were North Americans. 

After we ate we visited for a few minutes. You can almost see Blair. Next to him is Brother and Sister Svenson. Brother and Sister Olson with Brother Pitcher standing in the back ground. Brother and Sister Thompson just arrived two days before this event. They are from Jerome Idaho. The rest of the temple missionaries were sitting in the formal dining room.

Elder and Sister Murri (us)

The next picture is out of place. It is of the four North-American Elders that we made the stockings for. On Christmas Eve, us and the Olson's and the Svenson's went to the Roberts apartment. The missionaries brought lasagna that the cook at the MTC had made and the cookies that they had decorated. We supplied the salads, vegetables and french bread to go with the meal. You will notice the US flag, the Guatemalan flag and the flag of the State of Idaho on the walls. The Roberts are from Idaho Falls, Idaho. That is why there is a flag from Idaho on the wall.

Two of the elders are from Utah. One is from Tourqueville, Utah. The more blond elder is from Orem and his name is Gaunt. We don't know if he is related to the Gaunts we know from Sandy or not. One of the other missionaries is from New Zealand and the one at the end of the table is from Hawaii.

We cleaned up dinner then went into the formal dining room to stuff the stockings for the North American missionaries that were at the MTC. During the Christmas break, there were not any native missionaries at the MTC. Sister Dick, who is at the head of the table headed up the stocking stuffer items that each couple contributed to. There were eleven North-American missionaries. One was a young lady, whom Sister Dick had the opportunity to be companions with during this time.

All the stockings in a pile

Sister Svenson made all the stockings.

We all held up a stocking that was filled before distributing them to the Temple Missionaries who were hosting the MTC Missionaries. 

This is the group ready to eat dinner at the Roberts apartment. Brother Roberts is taking the picture. It was fun to see how all the Sister temple missionaries were being grandma's to these young men just called on their missions, me included.

After dinner with the Elders we were able to face time with Ryan and Andrea and Ric and Marcie's families. That was great!  WOW. Zach has grown up and so has Trevor. We LOVED talking to everyone. Then on Christmas day we were able to talk with Natalie and her family and Marc and his family and Blair and Marcela. We saw Ethan and said Hi to him. Jacob has also grown up. What a wonderful blessing it is to be able to talk on Skype or Face time. We miss ALL of our families. We were just ready to contact Camille and Scott when the Olson's came over because they didn't have Internet and could not talk with their families.