Christmas in the Summertime

Dear All,

We are enjoying the adventures which each day brings here in beautiful South Africa.  However, Christmas will be different for us in so many ways.  First of all, it is summer and the temperatures are on the rise.  It is now after 8:00 PM and it is 76 degrees outside...not exactly what we're accustomed to!  Also, there are very few homes with Christmas decorations, and those that do have very meager ones.  We have only seen a few very small Christmas trees on table tops in Motherwell homes, probably because of the cost and limited space.  

Above all, the thought of being away from family and friends for the holidays makes us sad.  Christmas Eve has always been a special time for our family, a time for eating clam chowder, enacting the nativity, and opening gifts given to one another. We are grateful that our family will be getting together even in our absence.  The thought of them being together and enjoying one another's company warms our hearts.  We are also grateful for Skype< as we will have the blessing of sharing the occasion, even though thousands of miles away.  We will call at 6:00 AM Christmas morning and it will be 8:00 PM Christmas Eve in California.      

As stated previously, the best thing about serving in South Africa is the people.  They are so very kind to us and always have a smile and a kind word.  One interesting thing is that they rarely say thank you when receiving a gift. However, whenever you give a gift they receive it with both hands placed together.  This is their simple but wonderful way of showing appreciation.  We are always wishing we could give money or gifts to people because of their great needs and because we love them so much.  The counsel we received was to not give gifts, but to "put a stone in our hearts" when being tempted to do so.  That sounds heartless but the needs of people here are so great that it is impossible to know where to begin helping.  Also, there is the problem of creating expectations in many others which cannot be fulfilled.  We give service, and we might give small gifts occasionally but that is all.   

We had a two zone Christmas party at our home today.  It included a "braai" (barbeque) of hamburgers and hot dogs, along with beans, salads and banana splits.  The Elders loved it and we love seeing them interact and enjoy being together. There is one district that is over three hours away and, since they were just here last week for Zone Conference, they could not join us.  We plan to visit them this Friday and take them for a nice lunch in celebration of Christmas.  

We send a heartfelt Merry Christmas to all our precious family members and to our dear friends.  May each one of you feel great joy as we commemorate the birth of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

With much love,

Elder and Sister Watson

We welcomed Elder Hawkins fresh from England this past week. Our dear Elder Ivins will be a wonderful trainer and we already see that they will be an awesome team and will find great success in Motherwell.     

She'll be a great mother one day.

Who wouldn't love these little ones!

Grandma time

Some of our wonderful Elders at the Christmas party