New Zealand Hamilton Mission

(Almost) Happy New Year! It is hard to believe it is nearly the end of 2019 and the start of a new decade.  Christmas was very different for us this year.  Not only did many of our traditions end with the sale of our house, but we had Christmas in the summer, with warm, sunny days and short nights.  Many people here go to the beach for a barbecue on Christmas instead of roasting chesnuts on an open fire, or going on a sleigh ride. We missed being with our family, although we did have a nice video chat with all of them on our day after Christmas(Boxing Day), but their Christmas day.  One tradition we were able to keep going was making Christmas candy, which we shared with many of our friends and associates in the mission and ward.  Almond Roca, peanut brittle, coconut-cashew crunch and mini carmel pecan rolls were cooked up. We celebrated Christmas eve with some friends in our ward, the Cassidy's and their family.  It was a big group with lots of kids a...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Joy to the World!  The Lord has Come! It's December 2019, and this year we will celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ in the beautiful land of New Zealand.  We have just begun summer here.  We are taken back to our time in Miami, Florida when we were newly married and the temperatures at Christmas time were in the 70's and 80's.  In other words, there will be no snow...and we're okay with that! We were listening to a Tabernacle Choir CD with songs and music from their 2015 Christmas concert.  That year, the concert was entitled "Hallelujah", and featured guests Laura Osnes and Martin Jarvis.  Four opera singers from the Metropolitan Opera also participated.  At one point in the concert, Martin Jarvis describes a beautiful story behind Handel's Messiah.  At the time that George Frideric Handel wrote the msaterpiece, he was heavily in debt.  He had mainly composed Italian opera, but t...