It's Christmastime and today is the first Christmas Devotional for the missionaries. This one is for 78 of them that serve in or near (that term is relative) to Tampico. Some sisters were given money and asked to prepare all the food. It is a real task to prepare enough food for this many missionaries. This sweet Relief Society sister (confined to wheel chair) dished up the mashed potatoes. One of the granddaughters is taking advantage of the time to take a nap.
It was quite the assembly line for putting the food on the plates. The dinner consisted of mashed potatoes, hot pasta and pork. The condiments were bread and of course jalapeño chilies. The drink was orchata.
This is actually a family that prepared the food. These are the two grandchildren who are also helping to separate plates for their grandmother.
I asked the American elders what they had for Christmas dinner last year. Some of them couldn't even remember but this one they will remember. They enjoyed every bite and went back for seconds. The 78 missionaries are part of 5 of our zones. It was fun to decorate and give them something special to look at and not just eat.
These are all of the Sisters in our mission right now. There are only 8. We have them all serving in the greater Tampico area. They bring a special light to our work. 
Here are the sisters (and of course the children) that prepared the Christmas dinner. As is customary, we bring them in and have the missionaries sing a hymn to them. This time we sang Joy to the World. It was pretty awesome to hear the 78 missionaries singing together. 
Singing .......
Reading, in English, Tommy Wright. (Grandma Call would be proud that we're carrying on the tradition in Mexico). It gave our Mexican missionaries a chance to practice their English, at least two words. Each missionary brought wrapped, a tie that they would like to give as a gift. They were instructed to NOT go buy a new one but rather use an existing tie. For the most part, as I stress most part, the gifted tie was one that could be used.
As always happens, the missionaries got confused with the right/left thing. A couple of times we had to stop and redistribute the gifts. Notice the popcorn balls in the middle of the table. We (really mom) made the yummy Karo Syrup, butter and marshmallow popcorn balls for EVERYONE. A labor of love for sure.
In the end, most were happy. Elder Shelton was so pleased with the tie he recieved he felt to share it with everyone else. It's sometimes amazing what "looks good" to a missionary.
After the meal, tie exchange and visiting, we went into the Chapel for our program and spiritual messages. The special musical numbers were wonderful. One was very unique, made up by two relatively new missionaries singing about their first Christmas in Mexico. We tried several times to load it on the blog but it would not happen. After the devotional, we handed them a sack (yes, just like Grandma Newsome). In the sack was a Christmas Card with the pictures of all of the missionaries, a star ornament that mom had made for EVERY missionary that said "Wise Men Still Seek Him" (in English on one side and Spanish on the other), a short message from Pres. Uchdorf, a Mustard Seed pin and some candy. Mom spoke about the importance of the Star and Dad spoke about faith. We've stress faith the last few months and we've asked our missionaries to strive to develop it and as a reminder to please wear your Mustard Seed pin on your suits.
As dad has taught the importance of the restoration of the gospel and priesthood, he has become "famous" for inviting the missionaries to use the physical expression of placing their hands on their head, as did John the Baptist, when they are teaching about the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood and the authority to provide a valid baptism. It's become a fun expression.
Next week we will go to other areas of the mission to do this very same program. We loved every minute of this day.
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