News from CAM                                                                                            January 3, 2017

Dear Loved Ones All,

Seems that not only is this late for this week, but I skipped last week altogether.  It was a fabulous week so I will just mention a few highlights.  We had our Christmas Devotional for our half of the mission on Tuesday.  Sister Taggart asked Elder Macbeth and I if we would sing a duet for it after she heard that we had sung one in Sacrament Meeting.  He told her that he had committed to do what he was asked to do so we were put on the program.  Most of you know that it has only taken 47 years for him to agree to do more than sing in the choir, so he was really stepping out of his comfort zone.  We went home and tried multiple songs trying to find one that would fit him singing the melody and me harmonizing.  Finally with a bit of tweaking we decided on “Picture A Christmas” from the Children’s Song Book.  I also added a 3^rd verse that also required a little changing to fit with missionaries.  We practiced with the music played on the computer, but when we performed Elder Porter graciously accompanied us.  After the program Elder Macbeth said ,”Thank goodness I’ll never have to do that again,” but Sister Taggart looked at him and smiled and asked us to sing it for the other half of the mission on the following day.  So we didn’t do too badly and only made one mistake but that was on the 3^rd verse that nobody knew so no one noticed.  J 

We spent some time off and on all week with Christmas preparation.  I decided that every single person who helped with the Ward Christmas Dinner and Program deserved a note of thanks so I wrote notes and we put them into Christmas cards and mailed most of them and hand delivered the rest.

Elder Macbeth baked monkey bread to give to his home teaching families.  We also made plates of cookies and treats to give to a few others.  It seemed like we were really busy.  We also did the usual visits, serving at Mary’s Kitchen, and Book of Mormon class, taking some of our ill or physically challenged members to the store, or making them meals.  One of our less active whose children all have medical issues and her youngest has been in hospital as long as we have known her, collected hundreds of new toys to give to children who are also in the hospital.  The evening we stopped to give her some monkey bread she had barely got home from delivering 60 gifts to kids in the hospital and she had a pile stacked along the wall of her dining room yet to be wrapped and delivered.  We were astounded.  She had a gigantic bear sitting flopped over a chair that she had planned on giving a little girl, and she was sad because she had discovered a rip in the seam and a small hole in the bottom.  I offered to mend it for her.  We took it home and it took about an hour to mend it so it was after 9:30 pm when I finished, but we took it back.  She was super surprised that I had finished it.  We offered to help her wrap some of the gifts, but she said she had been up since before 5 am and was wiped out so she was going to get some sleep and then finish in the morning.

Our daughter Kristina and her family, who recently moved from Georgia, had come down to spend Christmas with Brad and Becky’s family in Laguna Nigel.  That meant that we had 7 grandkids to spoil.  We got permission from President Taggart to spend time with them, so Christmas Eve Day we went down and had fun with them all.  That night Elder Macbeth helped Santa put together an awesome kitchenette for the kids down there before we came back home for some sleep.  Christmas Day we got up and headed back down to participate in the opening of the gifts before we went to church.  It was a wonderful blend of music and the Christmas story. Then we enjoyed a sumptuous feast prepared by Becky’s mother, and enjoyed a gift exchange with a whole bunch of their family that also came.  Elder Macbeth ended up with the bacon present that we got to devour the next night when our kids and their family came up for FHE.  It was such a delight to have them all crammed into our apartment.  We also got to phone or skype with our other kids back home.  I must say that “FAMILIES” are the best.  We continued enjoying them off and on until Friday when Kristina and family returned home to Utah. We went to Fashion Island to see a gigantic tree, and to Balboa Island to wander all over looking at the Christmas lights and decorations.  We took Kristina’s family to the Old Spaghetti Factory (which Brad and Becky introduced us to) for the Ito’s last night here.

Lest you think that all we did was celebrate I have continued repairing problem pants, and we have attempted to make phone calls and visits, and sent texts.  And best of all we got to teach an honest to goodness lesson to a non-member.  Now that was exciting.  We have another lesson scheduled for this week.  We also helped one of our health fragile members move to her sister’s home, which at this time is outside our ward, but the scuttle butt is that ward boundary changes are in the works so we will see.  On New Year’s Eve Day we got to clean the church and make and deliver more meals, collect laundry from another, and make more calls and texts.  We were tired enough that we didn’t feel badly that President Taggart told all missionaries to be in their apartments by 7:00 pm and to celebrate the new year with the East coast.  Actually I was tired enough that we didn’t even get out the bubbly.

Sunday our ward switched to the 9:00 am schedule.  Bishop said there would be no pre-block meetings, so next Sunday will be Elder Macbeth’s first 6:00 and 6:30 am meetings, and the 7:00 am Ward Council.  That means we have to get to bed on time on Saturdays or we will be zombies.  I must say that our sacrament meeting was pretty sparse when it started, but a few more people trickled in, plus there were visitors there also.  Hopefully there will be better attendance next week when people are back from the holidays. 

Well that is more than ample reading for one day so I will close by wishing you a fabulous new year filled with the best things of life, health, and happiness.

Love, Sister and Elder Macbeth           Go!   Fight!!      WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  J