There's No Place Like Om for the Holidays

This has been a truly unique Christmastime. Imagine if you will, living in an alternative universe where the focus of this season is solely on Jesus Christ, holy music celebrating the advent of his birth, and service to others in the temple, at church, the Family History Library, and with those you meet on the street. It has produced the true fruits of the season~ Joy, Love, and Peace~ with none of the feelings of stress, inadequacy, and frustration that normally accompany the trappings we've typically added to it. Oh that every Christmas could be a mission Christmas!

So this is Christmas.

(Missionary Mode)

Let us share some of our joyous moments of the week with you. It began with our Branch Christmas Party on Monday evening. This one came with a view since it was held on the 26th floor of the Church Office Building. We completely reveled in the fact that we weren't on the food committee, the decorating brigade, or in charge of the program but could simply come to a party and enjoy the lovely ambience. What peace and serenity! (But we know our turn is coming again soon.) We so love our Mission Presidency and our fellow missionaries and all they do for us. Dear Sister Howell gave us the use of her car while she went home to visit family for a few days. The Lord so often blesses us through the kind acts of others.

It was a super busy week at the Discovery Zone with all the foot traffic of people coming downtown to see the lights. One night two Indian families came in visiting from Chicago. I gave most of my attention to their four children in the kid's activities area. They were astoundingly bright and precocious, all under the age of 9 with vocabularies I would not expect to hear in even American teens. They spoke 3 languages fluently and they would say articulate things like "Where should we submit our completed papers? " We are so interested to see first-hand the culture that produces these prodigies! Indian families seem to do so well in instilling respect and discipline in their children. We observed that they were very kind and gentle to one another too.

Though we cannot actively proselyte at the Discovery Zone, they understood that we are going to India to promote Christianity and work with young adults. They taught us some Indian words but we promptly forgot them with our Teflon brains. Oh to be sponges again! 

It is with great joy to report that we got to meet Eb Solomon! After our morning spent doing ordinances in the Jordan River Temple, we went to the offices and asked if we might have a word with him. The temple workers eyed us a bit suspiciously until we told them we've been called to India, then they let us in to see him. What a kind and gracious man he is and so humble! He treated us like old friends. He told us many interesting things about the work in India. He was the 4th person in all of India to be baptized so we felt like we were in the presence of a true pioneer and founding father. The only discouraging thing he said was he predicted the Bengaluru Temple would not be completed until 2025, long after we leave, so we had to let that dream go :( but better to know now than having unrealistic hope for two years.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, Steve Eliason, a friend from our former Sandy ward posted on Facebook about a traditional early morning devotional. Because we had access to a vehicle, we threw on our clothes and went and we"re so glad we did! As a Utah legislator, he helped pass a bill called "Sarah's Bill", regarding the jail sentences of DUI offenders who were walking away from their crimes the next day after posting bail. We were privileged to listen to Sarah Frei talk about her experiences of being involved in a head-on collision in Logan Canyon when she was 17 years old. She was immediately paralyzed from the waist down. When her injuries affected the blood flow to her legs, they had to be amputated to save her life. She was an exceptionally happy and grateful young woman, with deep abiding love in her Savior. She spoke of the peace that flooded her from His Spirit when she awakened from her induced coma to learn what had happened. She spoke of many other life lessons she had learned and we came away from the morning with deeper gratitude and faith that Jesus Christ visits us in our afflictions and consoles us so that we may bear any burden we have to endure in this life. What a profound example to us!

                                   
 Lastly, we were so happy to have spent Christmas Eve with my sister, the Rohlfings and my talented and darling niece's family, the Dukes. Again, we just got to show up with a mere veggie plate to the most wonderful meal and an evening of fun games with prizes even! We are so appreciative of Lolly and Tom's magnanimous expense and efforts. The Huertas, Maddy and Franklin came too and that was a true joy for us to spend more time with my daughter and son-in-law. In addition, Tom and Lolly's friends from Hong Kong, Jarvis and Crystal Kwong were there. They met Jarvis on their mission in Australia, and they are now students at BYUI. In the midst of their travels to Salt Lake, they were involved in a wreck with a truck that totaled their car. And on their way home from Disneyland, their luggage was lost. You might expect them to be morose and glum from their circumstances, but they were just as kind and sweet and happy as two young people could be, grateful to be alive and unhurt. It spoke to us that it doesn't matter the circumstances of your life, if the focus of your life is on Jesus Christ, you can find joy and peace through it all. 

 

Along with another recently married couple, Spencer and Victoria Duke, we enjoyed these 3 young couples so much as we ate, played fun games, and reenacted the Christmas Story.

                    Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus

                        the Shepherds visit the Holy Family

               Three Very Wise Men from the East

                                                         

We know for an absolute fact that Wise Men (and women) today still seek him! We are all like Innkeepers too, asked if we can find room for Him in our lives. We testify that He is the Prince of Peace and the greatest source of peace to every problem we might encounter. Jesus is the answer! All the meditation and mindfullness you can muster is fine, but it will fall short of the peace that passeth all understanding that only He, the Savior Jesus Christ can give and that never fails us. May you all find this peace this Christmas, we pray!

Elder & Sister Dunlap

PS: ( I had a short video clip of a Santa sitting in lotus position singing "There's No Place like Om for the Holidays" but it just wouldn't upload. Ah well, you get the pun.)