OUR LAST CHRISTMAS
AT MARTIN'S COVE
We missionaries have been celebrating Christmas all month long! Each day we got together and read about the Savior and His life from an advent book, and we also opened a little gift so kindly prepared for us by last summer's missionaries.
Some were practical . . .
. . . some were tasty . . .
. . . some were funny . . .
. . . and some brought back childhood memories!
We tried to send a Thank You picture to everyone!
Between all of us missionaries there were nearly 30 Christmas DVDs, and each night we watched one of them.
On Christmas Eve day the Grovers shared their traditional Christmas craft activity with all of us from the newly polished rocks that Elder Grover had just completed.
Each sister got to make a pendant necklace and a refrigerator magnet .
Each elder made a neckerchief slide or a bolo tie slide.
That night we had a lovely and delicious turkey dinner together. Then Elder Moench read the Nativity story accompanied by Christmas carols so beautifully played by Sister Petersen.
Christmas morning we woke up to a raging blizzard, much like the conditions were when the Martin Handcart Company arrived in this area in 1856.
After a delicious Christmas breakfast . . .
. . . we decided to visit Martin's Cove to see how that would have been for them.
Of course, we wore our warmest snow gear, including heavy duty boots and warm gloves . . .
. . . and we arrived in rovers.
It was sobering to contemplate their desperate situation as they sought protection and tried to stay alive.
Even though the wind still blew and the snow still fell, we could definitely feel the protection of the sand hill and the surrounding mountains.
This will probably be one of our last visits to this sacred place.
On our way back we stopped to remember the "Valley Boys" . . .
. . . the brave young men who so kindly helped the weak and starving pioneers cross the Sweetwater River . . .
. . . so they could take refuge in the cove.
We also stopped to look at the icy Sweetwater River
- nearly frozen solid.
Then we returned to the warmth of the Gathering Room, and an afternoon full of warm wassail, turkey sandwiches and other leftovers, and another Christmas craft from the Grovers . . .
. . . a little luminary of Mary and Jesus . . .
. . . like the ones in his own little luminary set.
The Freemans sent us a beautiful Nativity jigsaw puzzle and decided we'd better get started on it since there were 1000 little tiny pieces.
We will continue to work on it during the month of December, but that's all right - it will help us remember Christ and His birth each day!
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