Froe Weihnachten! Merry Christmas!

Ward Family Christmas Party

Christmas is coming and the Germans really know how to celebrate the holiday!  Last Saturday was our ward family Christmas party.  They went all out on the decorations and turned the gym into a winter wonderland.  

Seated and ready for the program to begin!

Another view of the beautiful decorations

The theme for the evening was "Christmas Around the World - Featuring Sweden".  On December 13th, the Swedes celebrate St. Lucia's Day.  This celebration comes from stories that were told by the Monks who first brought Christianity to Sweden.  Saint Lucia was a young Christian girl who was martyred in 304 A.D.  She would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians that were living in hiding in the catacombs under Rome.  Lucia would wear candles on her head so that she could have both hands free to carry food supplies.  Lucia (Lucy) means 'light' so this is a very appropriate name for this saint.  

For the celebration of St. Lucia's Day, a young woman dresses in a white dress with a red sash around her waist and a crown of candles on her head.  She is followed by small children carrying candles and singing "Saint Lucia".  This lovely tradition was presented during the ward program.

The procession 

And of course, the Primary children also sang for the program.  What would a ward Christmas program be without the Primary singing!

Here we are with our friend Winona - a recent convert from Taiwan.

Seated on my other side was Dina - a cute lady from Peru who attends English classes and is an investigator.

Photo by the Christmas tree

Enjoying our delicious dinner!

The menu:

Green Salad with vinaigrette dressing

Swedish Meatballs with Lingonberries

Parsley Potatoes with Mushroom Sauce

 Baby Carrots

Hot Swedish Wassail

Variety of desserts provided by our ward members from many cultures!

Our Replacements

The couple that will replace us is here in Berlin.  They say that we are training them, but they are more than capable of taking over when we return home next month.  They have been a wonderful help with the meals and activities with missionaries and the Institute during this busy time of year.

Elder Mickelsen, me and Elder and Sister Russell

We helped with a pizza lunch for the Missionary Leadership Training Meeting.

Hungry missionaries enjoying the food!

We were able to see one of our favorite missionaries - Elder Wipf.  He served as our District Leader in the past and is now serving in another city of our mission.

Institute Christmas Social

This was the final Institute event for 2014.  It began with the young adults presenting the nativity.  They even invited some "older angels" to sing in the angel choir!

"Hark the Herald Angels Sing"  (auf Deutsch)

After the program and games, we served a menu of finger foods.

Chicken wings

Bratwurst Slices

Cheese filled potatoes

Veggies and dip

Fresh fruit

Chips and Salsa

Cheese, Bread and Olives

German Christmas Cookies

We had around 60 in attendance and they ate and ate and talked and talked and had a great time together (that is what it is all about!!)

Filling their plates

Weinacht's Man with a YSA (recent convert) and the Elders

Elder Mickelsen with our Moldovian friends

We invited a young man from Moldovia that was standing outside in front of the church when we arrived on the afternoon of our Institute Christmas Social. As  we spoke to him, he told us that he was interested in learning English, so we of course invited him to our English class.  He spoke Russian, Romanian and a little English.  I gave him a tour of the church (using my best Russian and of course English and introduced him to people.  He said that "Everyone is so happy here!".   As he left, he told me that he would return for the Institute social and bring some Moldovian friends with him, and.......HE DID!!!  It is always a wonderful surprise when you invite people to come and they actually show up!  Hopefully he will come to church this Sunday and can be taught the gospel!  Maybe he will even bring his friends!

Young ladies - talking and eating!

It was a very successful evening!

Cambodian Lunch

We were invited this Saturday by a member of our ward (from Cambodia) to come to she and her husband's apartment for lunch.  When we arrived, she had everything prepared and the table decorated beautifully.

Here we are getting ready to eat the yummy Cambodian food.

 Belle and her husband Cornelius met when Cornelius was visiting Cambodia and Belle (who speaks excellent English) stopped to help him with directions at a bus stop.

 They are such a cute couple!  Belle is a member of the church but Cornelius is not...yet.  He is a very nice young man and they are both so interesting and fun to talk to.

The food really was delicious and we spent a very pleasant afternoon.

This coming week, we will travel to Dresden and then Freiberg for the Senior Couple's Conference.  We will have a chance to attend the temple and to hear from the temple president.  It will be a wonderful way to welcome Christmas!!  We wish each of you a beautiful Christmas with family and friends.  We love our Savior and we honor his birth, life, death and glorious resurrection!

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Elder and Sister Mickelsen!!