The Magic of Christmas Lights

December was a wild, wonderful month at the Mesa Temple Visitors' Center!  I intended to do a blog post two weeks ago, but life just got too hectic.  During the run of Christmas Lights 2012 there have been over 160,000 visitors at the Center.  Yes - you read that right - 162,005 as near as we were able to count.  On the Sunday night before Christmas there were over 8800 visitors in the center just that one night.  Amazing.....

The sister missionaries and the senior couples have worked very hard to be sure that everyone felt welcome and enjoyed the spirit of the season as well as the spirit of the Visitors' Center.

Sister Gordon, wearing her biggest smile, greets people in the south end of the center.

Sister Schwartz visits with a man and his daughter who wish to learn more about the church.

Sister Carlson elected to stay an additional month to help with Christmas Lights.  She has been such a dedicated missionary and invaluable as a trainer in the center.

Sister Shurtz introduces God's Plan for His Family to visitors who have come to see the lights.  She is the new trainer who took over when Sister Carlson returned home on Dec. 18th.

These guests are receiving referral cards from Sister Noble as they enter the theater to view the video based on Luke II - the story of the birth of the Savior.

Sisters Holladay and Mckenzie pause between showings of the movie to smile for the camera.

Sister Noble isn't as generous with her smiles.  "You have to give me a referral before I'll give you a smile," she told me.  The girls set goals every night to help them reach their fullest potential as missionaries.  Sharing the gospel is the reason they're here.

Sister Mendoza enjoys visiting with guests prior to their viewing of God's Plan.

Sister Sordes is always a favorite with the guests - she has so much vitality and enthusiasm!  She is also one of the VC trainers that we rely on tremendously.

Sister Avila talks to people in the Savior of the World exhibit.

It was hard to believe that the time arrived so quickly for two of our seasoned missionaries to return home.  On Dec. 13th a Farewell Prep. Meeting was held at the directors' home to say goodbye to Sisters Carlson and Fors. 

Sister Javed shared some of the wonderful missionary qualities that she admired about Sister Carlson.

Sister Cottrell took a few minutes to share what she had learned from Sister Fors. 

Followin the legacies, Sister Carlson responded with her heartfelt testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and her profound love of the Savior.

Sister Fors next shared her sincere testimony of the gospel and her love of missionary work.  They will be sorely missed in the coming weeks.

 We adjourned to the Visitors Center for a group picture in front of the Christus statue.  It is a                          tradition that we love and will continue through the coming year.

Another tradition is for everyone to sing "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again" to our departing sisters.  It is always a teary moment.

Goodbye, sweet sisters!  What an asset you have been to the Visitors' Center and to the Arizona Mesa Mission!  Come back and see us often.

Although transfers happened the week before Christmas, there was certainly no time to regroup - the guests just kept coming in.  This is an example of the lines that formed every night to view the nativity exhibit in Theater 1.  It was a popular enticement to bring people into the Visitors' Center. 

 

The Andersons from the Bountiful 17th Ward enjoyed having Sister Kranendonk show them the nativity exhibit.  What a surprise to see them here in Mesa!

Another former ward member, Nathan Wainwright, came into the center during the 'lights'.  He is currently serving a mission in Phoenix.  Welcome to Arizona, Elder Wainwright!

As always, when we lose missionaries we always receive delightful new sisters to step into their shoes.  This charming young lady is Sister Weber from Mexico.  She arrived December 18th.

Sister Weber has the huge advantage of already speaking Spanish as her native tongue.  Sister Schwartz will be her trainer, and will have the challenge of bringing Sister Weber up to speed very quickly.  Arriving at the center during Christmas Lights would be quite intimidating for a new sister.

Our new English-speaking sister is Sister Smith from St. George, Utah.  She was a dancer growing up, but now she'll be using some of her other talents in her role as a missionary.

She is lucky to have the very capable Sister Kranendonk as her trainer.

On the morning of New Year's Eve, the sisters came to our home for an 'end-of-the-lights' party.  The goal was for them to relax, kick back, and unwind after 6 weeks of intensive work and stress.

Breakfast was the first order of business, and they take their food seriously!

Next, they knelt around the table and painted their nails, gave their companions manicures, or just visited with each other.

In the kitchen I caught Sister Sordes applying a mask to Sister Mendoza's face.  She and Sister Shurtz made up three recipes: one for dry skin,  a second for normal skin, and a third for oily skin. 

Sister Avila shows great courage in putting herself at the mercy of Sister Sordes.

Everyone is excited to be almost through with Christmas Lights.  It has been an exhausting 6 weeks!

The lovely Sister Noble demonstates the facial mask for dry skin.  Avacados were the main ingredient.  I can't imagine any enticement great enough for me to put that gunk on my face!

Sister Javed adds the final touch - cucumbers over the eyes.  It's so professional looking that you could almost believe you're at an expensive spa.

A "lovely" group picture of the sisters in their facial masks (or is that masques?)  Either way, I'm glad the people who come to the Visitors' Center can't see them right now.  There is no way that anyone seeing them this morning would believe these young women have a serious thought in their heads!

 Obviously the whole idea is for everyone to relax and unwind.  It has been a LONG run, but they have worked very hard and had amazing success.  You girls are WONDERFUL!

One more night and we're back to our normal routine.  Each of the companionships will be grateful for more time in their areas.  Working every night in the Visitors' Center has required that they sacrifice the time they would normally spend with their investigators and the wards they have been assigned.  2012 has been a busy, productive year.  Thank you, thank you for your dedication and hard work.  We love each of you sooooo much!

Thanksgiving and Christmas Lights 2012

Preparations have been moving forward to begin Christmas Lights on Thanksgiving Day.  It is amazing how many people have been involved in helping this project be ready for opening night.

New LED lights give vivid color to the grounds.

This is the first year that purple lights have been added.

A scene depicting Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem is positioned on the grass to the west of the Visitors' Center.

The Visitors' Center is decked out to receive the thousands of guests who will come to enjoy the lights.   We will have host couples on the grounds inviting people to come into the center to see the nativity exhibit,  hear the Christus presentation, learn about God's Plan for His Family, and see the story told in Luke II of the birth of the Savior.

 

Wonderful volunteers decorated the gigantic Christmas Tree in the foyer at the front of the Visitors' Center.  The small pictures are of different scenes during the construction of the Mesa Temple.

 

It is charming to see bouquets of lighted flowers standing all over the grounds.

 

To the east of the Visitors' Center there is a life-sized nativity exhibit.  The baby Jesus is placed in the cradle every night at 5:00 pm and left there until the lights turn off at 10:00 pm.  Then he is safely locked inside the annex building to avoid tempting anyone to take him home with them.

 

Above the stable a beautiful star marks the birthplace of the Savior of the World.  This particular star was re-strung with LED lights during the summer.  It is amazing to know that there are 10,000 lights in this one star alone!

On the grass north of the VC, three wise men, accompanied by their camels, make their way to the stable to visit the infant Jesus.

People coming to the temple grounds pass through these columns into a 'fairy land' of lights.  What a beautiful sight for young and old alike.

Bake at home, three pumpkin pies are in the oven getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner on the morrow.

The arrival of our families from Utah make the holiday especially enjoyable.  This little cherub is 10 month old Quinn.  She's not sure who that funny lady is who is taking the picture.  She was only a week old when we came to Mesa.

Our twin granddaughters Annika and Mia are not so shy.  They are excited to be out of their car and safely at grandma's - it was a l-o-n-g trip.

 

Our granddaughters are busily making place cards for all the guests who are expected for Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon.  Anna amd Mylee make the cards and the twins carefully place the stickers on the corners and find a place for them on the tables.

Brooks has been exploring the temple grounds.  He came home with this GIGANTIC yellow fruit - grapefruit?  lemon?  we're not sure which. 

These lovely sisters lounge on the sofa following a large Thanksgiving feast.  They helped clean up the dishes and then crashed!  We were delighted to have 11 of the sister missionaries join our family for dinner.  Here we see Sisters Aquino, Hamstead, Lewis, and Shurtz.  Sisters Christensen, Schwartz, Fors, Watkins, and Hollady, Avila, and Mackenzie have already left.

 

 After the sun set we took some of our family to see the lights.  The man next to Elder Beckstrand is our son Jeff.  Our daughter Traci and her husband Joel are on the right.  The children are loving the beautiful warm weather here, even in November.  Back in Utah there is snow on the ground.

Our son Dwight, his wife Melanie, and three of their five children stop for a quick photo.

The moment of discovery has come.  The only way we can convince ourselves that this is really a huge lemon is to cut it open.  Ready, set.....

GO!  Yup!  It's a lemon.  It looks like a lemon, it tastes like a lemon, I wonder how they got it to grow to such a monster size.

 Sunday morning arrives and Dwight's family have packed up their car for their return trip to Utah.  I took Traci's family to the airport to return to their home in Draper, Utah yesterday. It will be sad to see them leave us, but what a fun holiday we have enjoyed.

      Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy our beautiful family and feel their love and support as we serve here in Mesa.   We are so thankful for all of our children and grandchildren.   The opening of the Christmas Lights event this weekend has already brought thousands of people to the temple grounds.  We're so very thankful to be working at the Visitors' Center and to be able to share the gospel with all who come here.  What a CHOICE assignment.  We feel truly blessed.