8 December 2024 - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Christmas is on its way, and the Spanish seem to love it. There are lights all over town hanging across streets, and it's really kind of fun to see. We have been wanting to go to the Gothic Section of town because we have been hearing about the decorations and Christmas market. We finally got there yesterday, but our schedule only allowed us to go during the day because we wanted to get back in time to see Davy, Caleb, and Peter do their piano recital over WhatsApp. They did a great job, and we are super proud of them. Anyway, we got to wander around an open air Christmas market downtown. Let's just say that the Spanish have some, shall we say, "unique" ways of celebrating Christmas. One of the weirdest ones surround something they call the Caganer. This is a figurine of a guy doing his "business" in the most disgusting meaning of the word, with a pile of his "business" behind him. The weird thing about this is that they sell these figurines so that you can hide it in the Manger scene! You can almost hear the three wise men saying "really? THAT is your gift to the Savior?" It's so popular that probably 30% of the shops are selling different variations of that figurine. Many of them are of well known politicians and celebrities. I don't really understand it, but that's what they do here. The other weird tradition that they have is the Cagatio. This is a log with a face painted on it. During December the kids "feed" the log every day. Then on Christmas eve, they beat the log with sticks telling it to, and I'm not making this up, poop out presents for them. Apparently, there's a song that goes along with it. The next morning, there are presents behind the log that are apparently the result of the sound beating the log received. I've added a couple of photos of both of these oddities so that you can know that I'm not pulling your leg here.
On the flip side of that silliness, we were able to find a beautiful manger scene (the coganer-free variety) carved out of olive wood. It will be something that will be a reminder of our time here in Spain for many Christmases to come.
This week the missionaries put on a concert in Barcelona which was really quite good. We have some missionaries who are really talented musically, and they performed a variety of Christmas numbers. One of them was in German, and President and Sister Heckmann sang along with one of the missionaries who is from there as well.
They also had a Mission Leadership Conference where all of the Zone, District, and Sister Training Leaders get together. It's fun for Brenda and Me because they usually invite us up for dinner that day. These young people are truly amazing, and it is a testimony to me that Heavenly Father has really saved His best for today when the Savior is hastening His work.
The office Elders have started decorating the office. There's a Christmas tree, lights, and even an "Elf on the Shelf". They also found a Santa decoration to put on my office chair. I think it was supposed to be for the Mission President, but he is so rarely in his office, that they figured they would put it on the chair of the guy who looks most like Santa only without a beard! (I really need to go on a diet!)
The weather here is finally getting cold, although it feels a lot colder than it really is because of the humidity. Today has been quite windy, and we're finding out that our apartment isn't sealed up as well as we would like. You can feel the breeze blow through and the heater is struggling to keep up. Good thing that we have our new matching Christmas Jammies! I can't complain because we have some missionaries that only have electric space heaters to provide any warmth at all. One set of these called us to let us know that they power was out most of the day, and so they only had blankets to wrap up in to try to stay warm. It reminded me of when I was on my mission, and had to deal with being cold all winter long. We try to do what we can for the missionaries, but some of them will just end up having "faith-building challenges" to talk about when they get home I guess.
The Work continues, and it is a wonderful thing to watch. This coming week is Zone Conference week. We'll be dealing with two sessions of conference here in Barcelona, and then the President, and the office elders will travel to Valencia, and then to the Islands. Lots to prepare, lots to deal with, and so this coming week will be very busy for us. "Busy" is good, and that is why the time seems to be flying by so fast.
We love you all and hope that this Christmas season is the best one ever. I know that it will be so long as I can focus on the "Reason for the Season" which is our Savior Jesus Christ. We love Him, and are grateful that we can serve Him here. I hope you all have a great week.
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