Christmas Memories of the Mission

I remember Elder Loris and others in the Naha region coming over to my bean apartment (Naha South) for a Christmas party. Spencer had hung lights around the window and brought out the Christmas music. Most of the Elders, however, were more focused on the picture of Mariah Carey in that tight red outfit on the cover of the CD. That evening, Solen and I went on splits. Into those dense neigborhoods we went to share the Gospel on Christmas Day. We didn't have any success. Being beans, most people had no clue what we were even saying.

I never had trouble with homesickness at Christmas time. If I had served my mission in New England where every home is draped in snow and wreaths adorn every door, it may have been a different story. But Christmas for the Okinawans was pretty much just like every other day of the year.

In December of the next year, I was in Kadena. Gifts were arriving for me in the mail from home and each was marked with instructions to not open anything until Christmas Day. So I obeyed. But a week before Christmas, I got a transfer call (it was a Christmas gift from President Pope) and instead of loading up the honbu van with a bunch of unopened boxes, I opened everything early for easier packing.

So my second Christmas found me in Okinawa-shi. Elder Clark adorned a Santa-suit, and the entire district hit the bikes for an evening of caroling. He looked absolutely ridiculous with the bike helmet squashing his Santa-hat down around his ears. The people who spotted us out on the road thought so to, as evidenced by their smiles and pointing.

When I returned home from the mission, I had changed a lot, obviously, as most missionaries do. I was surprised to find out that my mother planned on having a Christmas as usual, lavishing far too much money on each of her children, myself included. I was expecting one gift from my parents and felt this was quite reasonable now that I had grown up. So I was somewhat embarrassed to find myself smiling pretty for the camera as I opened gift after gift on Christmas morning around the tree.