December started with mission transfers, Here Sister Moulton is posing with some of the great sister missionaries in our mission.
We had a very busy preparation day on Saturday, December 20th. Us and the Rodericks (the other senior couple from our branch) got up at 6:00 am and left at 7:30 to
pick young people up to go to Crestwood to the temple to do baptisms for the
dead. We were excited to pick up a girl who just turned 12 so she could go to
the temple for the first time. When we got to her home, her mom came out and
said that she couldn’t go because she couldn’t find her temple recommend. We
picked up two more girls and got to the temple about 8:30. One of those girls
realized that she had left her recommend home on the table. They called our
branch president who was visiting his family in Oregon, so it was 5:30 am for
him. He was happy to verify her
recommend. We are always so excited for these young people to go to the temple
and set their sights on being married there. Elder Moulton was able to do the
baptizing.
We finished up about 11:00 and headed off to Costco in
Crestwood. Because the branch President and his wife are out of town, we two
couples are in charge of the branch Christmas party tonight. So we bought all
the food for it at Costco: Ham, potatoes, beans, salad, rolls and cakes. We dropped the girls off at home and went to our apartments
to prepare the food. At 3:00, we gathered everything up and headed to the church.
We picked up one mother and her daughter to help us. We warmed all the food
there and the men left about 5:00 to go and pick up everyone for the
party. The party started at 6:00. It was
in our chapel/cultural hall. It was well attended with some tables even in the
hall and YM/YW classroom. We served the food in Relief Society room and ate a
bite in there as we served the desserts. This is a picture of the branch members enjoying the meal in the chapel/cultural hall.
On Monday the 22nd we helped with and attended the Mission Christmas party. This is a picture of the missionaries enjoying their lunch.
On Christmas Eve we enjoyed a fun dinner with the missionaries serving in our branch at the Santos' house.
On Christmas day we flew to Utah to attend the funeral of Elder Moulton's mother. She lived a great life of 94 years and we will miss her. Her funeral was like a family reunion. Here we are posing with Elder Moulton's siblings and their spouses.
