Spiritual Feast and a Very Sweet Christmas Gift!!

We had a wonderful day today!! It was so wonderful that I am having a hard time finding the words to tell about it. So right now I will just post a few pictures and then later tonight or tomorrow I will write about it in more detail.

All of our missionaries and all of the missionaries in the Guadalajara East Mission met together this morning to hear counsel from--our area authority, Elder Lester Johnson; our Area President, Elder Benjamin De Hoyos; one of the presidents of the Seventy, Elder Donald Hallstrom; and (as Elder Nelson put it) "1/12 of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles," Elder Russell M. Nelson!

Yes it was probably a once in a lifetime experience!! And it was amazing!

Everyone had to be at the building by 8:30 a.m. so that meant that some of the missionaries started their travels around 3 in the morning. By the time they arrived they were all just a little bit tired, but also so happy to see each other and to hear the words of an Apostle.

First things first!! Having all the missionaries together was a great opportunity to give them all their flu shots!!  Line up!! And try to be brave!!

 A super big thanks go Hermana Kingsford and Elder Kingsford!! This could not have happened without them!! They helped get the nurses to give the shots and then kept everyone orderly and things moving quickly!! Thank you, thank you!!

 Sure they are smiling now . . . .:-)

With the shots over, everyone took a seat and waited for our special guests to arrive. Isn't this the most amazing sight??? I love seeing all 450 missionaries from both missions together!! 

Once they arrived, they then greeted every single missionary personally! Now all of our missionaries can claim to have shaken hands with an apostle!

We were also privileged to hear a special musical number sung by four sisters and four elders (2 from each mission). They sang More Holiness Give Me and did a BEAUTIFUL JOB!!  It was truly amazing!! Since they came from 8 different cities and two missions, they didn't have any time to practice before this morning. We were a little worried if they would be able to pull it off with so little practice time, but they NAILED it!! Truly it was beautiful!! And our pianist was amazing as well! Everyone just sang the song from the hymn book but he made up his accompaniment and did a fantastic job. I really do think they all had assistance from above. It was just that beautiful.

Here they are during their one and only--and short--practice.

So later I will write about the instruction we were given. Loved it!