Dear Family and Loved Ones,
We had a great family week here in Long Beach, we were so blessed to have most of our family gathered to share the Christmas Holiday together. We really missed having John and Sam with us but are proud of them for working hard and taking good care of each other.
Monday we made sure that each of our missionaries had received some kind of Christmas gift. Many of our International missionaries don’t get packages from home but it’s also surprising how many other Elders and Sisters don’t have family who support them on their missions. Many generous members provided gifts, through the zone leaders we found out who wouldn’t have anything to open on Christmas morning and delivered one of the donated Christmas packages to them.
We enjoyed a very nice Christmas Eve in the mission home, we had turkey dinner then gathered together for our traditional Christmas Eve devotional. I love reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 and singing the beautiful, touching Christmas Carols. Pearl and Violet were excited but were so good! With some encouragement Pearl played a couple of songs on the piano and sang for us. She has a lot of musical talent but gets very nervous when she has an audience :) Everyone opened their Christmas pajamas.
Christmas morning was so much fun. I especially loved seeing how excited Pearl and Violet were with their gifts from Santa. It was a simple Christmas but true joy doesn’t come from material things, it comes from being with our loved ones – that’s what made this Christmas so special!
After a delicious French Toast breakfast we went to Downtown Disney to watch a movie (one of our family traditions). The grownups saw Les Miserable and Pearl, Violet and I saw Rise of the Guardians. We all enjoyed our movies and again the best part was just being together.
Our missionaries gathered on Christmas day with their zones and watched a mission slide show with hundreds of photos put together by our mission nurse. They took turns calling home and also were able to watch other Church movies like “How Rare a Possession” and “Seventeen Miracles”.
Kelly, Stacey and the girls returned to Utah late Wednesday night, Scott left on Thursday and Cristy flew out on Friday so our house quickly became quiet again. We appreciate everyone’s efforts to come to Long Beach for Christmas. It was a big sacrifice and we are so grateful!
Friday was ZLC at the mission office. I dropped of pizza, salad and Krispy Kremes on the way to take Ben to get fitted for his tux for the upcoming Winter Formal at the High School. I felt a little guilty about keeping lunch so simple but the missionaries didn’t seem to mind.
Mari’s birthday was Saturday (I can’t believe she is seventeen). We woke up to a beautifully decorated dining room and kitchen. Ben and Shelly had stayed up until the early morning hours placing colorful streamers, stars, and Chinese lanterns on the ceiling – it is AMAZING! Mari took a couple of friends to eat at the Cheesecake Factory (thanks to a generous Christmas gift of some gift cards). Afterwards friends from the ward gathered at the mission home for a birthday party. It was a fun day!
We had a wonderful visit Saturday from some dear friends from Utah. Garn was one of our missionary companions in Ecuador, he has been called to be a mission president in 2013. They don’t know what their assignment will be yet but they wanted their children (two will be with them in the mission) to see what the mission home is like and to ask Ben and Mari questions about their experience. I was really happy to hear Ben and Mari say things like, “Don’t be nervous or scared, it might be hard but it most likely will be the best thing that has ever happened to you.” It was wonderful to see this special family and to hopefully calm their fears about their assignment. We tried to reassure them that even though they don’t realize it they have been preparing for years for their mission call and will be surprised at how natural it will be for them. We will be so excited to find out where they will be serving – maybe Long Beach!
While we have been enjoying school vacation and a fun family week Ted still found time to take care of discouraged missionaries, train zone leaders at ZLC, and work on transfers. The floodgates are opening and we need a bigger transfer board! Ted has been getting the inspiration we need to determine where we can put our many new missionaries who will be arriving in the next few months. This is an exciting and demanding time for all of us but especially for Ted – please keep him in your prayers.
Our Relief Society lesson yesterday was perfect for the last Sunday of the year. We studied President Uchtdorf’s talk from General Conference, “Of Regrets and Resolutions”. Here are few of his words that touched me the most:
“One day we will take that unavoidable step and cross from this mortal sphere into the next estate. One day we will look back at our lives and wonder if we could have been better, made better decisions, or used our time more wisely.”
“To avoid some of the deepest regrets of life, it would be wise to make some resolutions today. Therefore, let us:”
“Resolve to spend more time with those we love.”
“Resolve to strive more earnestly to become the person God wants us to be.”
“Resolve to find happiness, regardless of our circumstances.”
“It is my testimony that many of the deepest regrets of tomorrow can be prevented by following the Savior today. If we have sinned or made mistakes—if we have made choices that we now regret—there is the precious gift of Christ’s Atonement, through which we can be forgiven. We cannot go back in time and change the past, but we can repent. The Savior can wipe away our tears of regret and remove the burden of our sins. His Atonement allows us to leave the past behind and move forward with clean hands, a pure heart, and a determination to do better and especially to become better.”
2012 has been a wonderful year, though we have had times of deep sorrow we have also felt great joy. We are grateful for our knowledge that our Heavenly Father has provided a way for us to be with our families forever and that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can have a fresh start each day. We can’t wait to continue to share this great message here in Long Beach.
We love each of you and wish you a very Happy New Year!
The Long Beach Buberts
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