Merry Christmas

Cherry Ambition

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.  Ours was a quiet one.  We waited to open our presents until December 26 so we could allign with our children on their Christmas day in America - one day (20 hours) behind us.  We celebrated with them via FaceTime.  We each received a stocking with fun gifts inside.  We had a great time visiting with each of our children.  We called our family when we got up at 6 am Dec 26, which was 10:00 am Dec 25 in the USA/Canada and our grandchildren had already opened their presents.   Christmas presents for small children are more exciting than talking on the computer to Grandma and Papa so they couldn't spend a lot of time talking.  But it was okay.

After talking with everyone we went in to town for Boxing Day in New Zealand.  We were able to get some socks and a pair of shorts for Gary and enjoy the beautiful outdoors.  Summer was late coming this year, but it is here now and we are enjoying the weather, the ocean and all the fresh produce.

The day after Christmas in America our grandson, Levi turned 4.  His mother tried to get him to stop playing long enough for a short video as he opened his birthday card from us.  But we have to remember that he is 4 and he was done "filming" about 20 seconds into her 1:17 minute video.  It was a cute video and we totally enjoyed watching it.  When we FaceTimed with him he did show us how old he was before he was off again to play with his Rescue Bots and cars.

How many of you saw this?  

Donny Osmond - Time Square - New York City

Pretty cool huh?  Just before Christmas we also received an email with a link that we found interesting.

http://cdafitformission.weebly.com/

The LDS Church and the Catholic Church have a good working relationship here in Auckland.  Social Media is a big push these days.  It is the desire that when someone googles "The Mormons" or "Church or Jesus Christ of Latter Saints" that the top ten picks will be positive ones.

"Handheld devices, such as smartphones, are a blessing, but they can also distract us from hearing the "still, small voice".  They need to be our servants, not our masters.  For example, if later tonight you share inspiring thoughts from this devotional on social media, your smartphone is a servant.  if you randomly surf the Internet, your smartphone is a master".   M. Russell Ballard, Be Still, and Know That I am God, CES Devotional for Young Adults • May 4, 2014 • San Diego, California