The Christmas Spirit hasn't left me.

Dear Family,
I thought it would have been trivial to e-mail you since I just Skyped with you yesterday, but then I remembered there is a whole bunch of stuff I wanted to say. First of all, to explain the service project we did last week, we went to an orphanage and shoveled out the snow from one of their playgrounds. There was a lot of snow, and there was a little stage area which was covered in ice. Elder Patton stepped on it, and fell flat on his back! He is okay but it was kinda funny. So we shoveled snow, and the sisters washed walls. There is this thing in Russia, that girls do not shovel snow or do work like that. The sisters were a little irritated that they couldn't shovel snow like us, but they were grateful to serve nonetheless. I wish I took pictures, because that was a very fun service activity. That's the thing, service with the proper attitude becomes fun! Service with a smile!

For P-Day last week, we made sugar cookies and decorated them with frosting. It reminded me of the cookies that we would have every Christmas at home, and it was very fun to make them. We made them for some of the members, and they really liked them!

Bolshoi Theater

Then we also had a culture night last week...as we saw the Russian Ballet perform the Nutcracker! The theater in Novosibirsk is the largest in the country, and the architect was killed for making it bigger than the theater in Moscow. For your information, the theater is called the Bolshoi Theater, or the "Big Theater". It is like Sputnik, which means "satellite". Very imaginative names. It was very beautiful inside the theater, I hope you can see the pictures well. There are a bunch of statues inside. I would have taken a closer picture, but then I don't think they would be "missionary appropriate". The Nutcracker was amazingly done, and it was awesome to see a Russian Ballet performed with a Russian Ballet company in a Russian theater in the heart of Russia! How Russian can you get? One of our favorite parts was when the Japanese dancers came on, and one guy jumped about 5 feet in the air and touched his toes in front of him. Imagine sitting down with your legs in front of you, touching your toes, and then doing it 5 feet in the air over 20 times in a row...exhausting doesn't it sound? The dancer had a roar of applause when he performed that stunt. Watching the Nutcracker made me miss the Folk Dance Team and all the musicals that I did in high school.

Then for Christmas, we woke up about 5:30 in order to get ready and go over to the Webb's apartment. They fed us breakfast and we Skyped home. If you want to share any tidbits, Mommy, you have my permission. (Mommy insert here:  It was amazing to hear Aaron bear his testimony in Russian. He sounds so fluent in the language, and the Spirit was so strong.  He looked wonderful!  It was the best Christmas present ever to see and hear him, and that every family member got to talk to him.)  Then we went to church. In Russia, they celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January with Father Frost instead of Santa Claus. It was different to us, because we celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December. But then I thought, "It doesn't matter which day you celebrate Christmas, because both are wrong anyway!" It was a little funny to think, because we know that Christ was born in April, but it doesn't really matter, because Christ deserves both holidays, and even more.

There was an amazing feeling at church, because the members still sort of celebrated Christmas on that day. They gave out candies and other goodies to us, saying "Снём Рожденством" Which is the Russian way of saying Merry Christmas. One of the inactive members we taught actually came to church, and it was wonderful to see everyone come to her and envelope her in love. I could actually see the action of enveloping, and I almost got smothered myself. It was pretty much a Christmas miracle to us, and it was very happy.

We had a Christmas party at the Mission Home, and the Gibbons gave everyone a picture frame, which I sent a picture of...cool, huh? (There is this website, called wordle.com, or something like that, and you can type any verse, poem, and it will make a word cloud and the bigger the word, the more common the word was used in the typing. It also omits words, such as "and" or "the" President Gibbons said it was very cool for patriarchal blessings. So mom, could you put my patriarchal blessing through it for me? It would be very cool, and an awesome birthday present.) So it is all the missionaries in our mission and the cities where we serve.

 

Then after that, we had a little Christmas devotional, where President Gibbons told us that he just recently heard that one of his books that he sent to be published before his mission was accepted. He was really excited, because the book is a collection of journal entries from his father, who worked closely with the Presidency of the Church for many years. You should try to look for it, mom, because it sounds really good.

Christmas Day in the Mission Home with Pres. Gibbons

We then had some fun, and a white elephant gift exchange. I got a can of sardines and some hand warmers. One of the worst gifts was a jar of Kopeks, which are the coins that make up roubles. There were over 500 coins, and about 150 roubles, which is about 9 dollars. There are no coin counting machines in Russia also, so the only place to take those is the bank. That's not going to be fun. The white elephant gift I gave was the best, I found this cheap Justin Beiber doll at a little road shop. It was so funny, and everyone was laughing for a long time. An Elder got the doll, which just made it the best.

 

Now the greatest thing is the man who is in the picture with me. His name is Georgi, and you make the "Guh" sound on the G's. He was baptised Christmas Eve and confirmed Christmas day. He personally told all of us to tell all of you that he knows the church is true, and that he knows that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He promises you that he will stay active in the church for the rest of his life, and that he is grateful for the church and the direction it gives him in his newly started life. I have only met him at his baptism, and I have rarely seen such a devoted member. He is an example to all of us about how we should behave towards the church. We all are missionaries, even those without tags, and we should be proud to be members. He is such a nice man, and I wanted to make sure all of you knew that he has a testimony of this Church.

Georgi

The Christmas Spirit doesn't seem to have left me. I listened to the tape you sent in my package. I was amazed at the testimonies and was humbled as you told the blessings you have received because I am thousands of miles away. I have a lot of work to do, and I hope my work will be acceptable. I don't feel homesick from talking to my family, but rather I have a greater resolve to share the gospel, because I know it's true, and my family knows it's true. I love you all, and I was so grateful to see you and talk to you.

Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year!

Elder Hoggan (The Siberian Messenger)