Music and the Spoken Word Special, 2022 Tabernacle Choir Concert, and Brad Wilcox

We didn't have our normal Monday morning Mission Devotional because they moved it to Wednesday evening. I'll talk about that later. We did have our Family Home Evening and shared our Family Traditions with hot chocolate and cookies.  As we shared our traditions I showed the wonderful 2020 Christmas video our children put together for us for last year since we couldn't all be together. Everyone loved it. I'm sure we will watch it again this week.

Tuesday was pretty full. We were doing the interpretations for a special Music and the Spoken Word to be shown on January 2. I hope you will all watch it. They interviewed several people from various places around the world and talk about their New Years traditions. The really cool part was we got to watch them do the interpretations in the Conference Center. It is always fascinating. They brought in a few children to do the voices of children in the video. One little boy is only 5 years old. He was so cute. His sister did the young girls voice. She is about 11. Anyway, the language coach fed the little boy each line and he said it with such enthusiasm and excitement. The boy he was interpreting for is 12. I wish you could listen to the Spanish channel...at least for the little boy. The engineer will cut out the language coach's voice and splice all the little boys voice together for a very smooth and seamless segment. The engineers are so good.

That same morning the Linfords handled the 2022 S&I Young Adult Area Devotional with Elder Cook. That was their first solo event. Of course they did just fine. They ended just about the time the French team was supposed to do their interpretations for Music and the Spoken Word, so they rushed over to the Conference Center to observe. Well, everyone came early so they all started early for their language segment. And most of them did so well we called them the One Time Wonders. They didn't have to do very many retakes at all. The French started early and didn't do any retakes and were done before the Linfords even got there. I felt bad they missed it, but I know they will have another time. We still got to show them some of what the engineers do and they got to talk to several people.

That evening we managed to get an appointment at the Ogden Temple do finish up our sealings.  Since our days are much slower now, we left early in time to do a 4:15 sealing assignment. It was very nice and we got all of our names done. When we left to come home, the weather had turned very cold.  That day they announced we wouldn't be meeting early for our Mission Devotional on Wednesday to take a mission picture because a big snow storm was expected. Well, we managed to make it home before the snow started falling. A couple of hours later we took this picture from our front room window.

On Wednesday we only had coaching events. One event is called Friend to Friend Coaching. We tend to call it the Event that just keeps on giving! Sister John, Primary General President and her counselors are going to be recording the next Friend to Friend message in both Spanish and Portuguese. Originally it was scheduled for 4 different coaching sessions to help prepare them to be able to record their messages in both languages. Sister Johnson did just fine. Her counselors; however, required more time to prepare to record their messages. What started out with 4 one hour long sessions for each language has turned into 12 sessions. Several of those were the counselors calling the coaches up and asking if they could please do an hour zoom meeting to help them. We wouldn't find out until after it was all done. About every other day Baptiste would chat me and say, "can you add another session for Carmen and Sabrina and deliver and approve them for 1 [or 2] hours"? I think we are finally done as I believe the actual final recordings have been done. 

Wednesday we had the awesome treat to to hear Glenn Rawson and Jason Tonioli give our Mission Christmas Devotional. Glenn is the fantastic story teller and Jason is an AWESOME piano player. Several years ago they got together and decided to take "Music and the Spoken Word" on the road. Glenn tells stories and Jason makes up the music in the background. Sometimes he plays a familiar hymn. Other times he just makes up an interlude. The music always goes with the feelings that Glenn is portraying as he tells his story. Many times it is not rehearsed as he doesn't always stick to a script. He tells stories as the Spirit directs him. He treated us to a "History of the Saints" centered mostly around Christmas themes. Some of the "Saints" were not members of the Church, but people who influenced Christmas for years such as Silent Night composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. Glenn told the story of the childhood of Franz Xaver Gruber. It was a wonderful night. Afterwards we were given a small Christmas gift of a Mission neckless or lapel pin of the SLC City with a diamond chip in it and the Mission name around it. Very, very nice. We also received a box lunch for dinner since they didn't want to gather because of Covid. We were supposed to do a Mission picture on the steps in the Joseph Smith building but because of the snow and ice they didn't want anyone to feel they had to come. The devotional was broadcast over Zoom. Still we had a pretty good turn out.

Thursday we got a real treat. Sara's husband works for Church Security. He got 4 tickets to the Thursday night taping of the 2022 Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square at the Conference Center. She wanted to give them to us and the Linfords as they couldn't go.  I told her that Elder Wilcox and I had an event that night, but I was sure the Linfords would want to go. She offered to cover our event for us. I looked at the event and saw that it would end by 7:30 which was when we were supposed to be in our seats in the Conference Center. I saw that Aaron was in charge and thought he wouldn't mind if we left early. We could clean the booths on Friday. We contacted Aaron and he said to GO FOR IT! So we went. Megan Hilty and Neal McDonough were the guest performers. We were way up in the upper seats far on the right side of the conference center. It was still magical. Luckily they have big screens so you can see what is going on on stage. The concert was great and I hope you will watch it next year.  They always record a year in advance. 

On Friday I continued working on submitting invoices for Interpreters who messed up when they tried to submit them. For some they had invoices that were months old that they haven't been paid on. I thought with everyone I submitted that it would be a wonderful Christmas present for them to see that money show up in their account. I sent them emails so they would know what I was doing. For some it was a very substantial amount. It really makes me happy to finally get this done for them.  We still have a lot more to do. I have the Linfords helping me. My goal is to have it done before the end of the year. It should be easier to keep on in the future. I am still working with the PLUNET people to simplify the process for them so there won't be so many that don't get paid.

Saturday we stayed home. Well, I stayed home and Elder Wilcox ran a few errands. I just about perfected the spreadsheet I need to send to all the Language Supervisors around the world with the status of their team so they can make sure everyone they need is in PLUNET so we won't have all the little "surprises" we had this past six months. Sara and I will be presenting training to all the areas in January.

We got a second treat for Sunday. On Friday we got notice that our PSD department had tickets to the Christmas Concert and to the live broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word Christmas Special. The same two guest performers were doing that presentation but it was shown this morning. We were chosen in the drawing and so were the Linfords. Our seats were FANTASTIC. We were right up front in the lowest level right in the center. We couldn't have asked for better seats. They did a lot of the same songs they did for the Christmas Concert so it was nice to see them up close and personal. AND Elder Brad Wilcox was a few rows in front of us and John Bytheway was just a little behind us. We spoke to both of them and got a picture with Brad Wilcox. He is so funny. He asked for the second picture.

We have a short, but exciting week ahead. We only have one more event we get to attend before next year. All four of us will work this event because it is our last. Elder Uchtdorf will be doing a S&I Young Adult Area Devotional on Tuesday evening.

And then Sean and MyLiege and their kiddos along with Djeryd and Eva will visit us for Christmas. We are so excited to be with family for this beloved holiday. We will have 4 full days off so we will get to spend lots of time together.

May you all have the Merriest Christmas with family and friends. Please know that you are so very loved by your Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. You are also loved by us! 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee

Elder and Sister Wilcox