"He laid down his sweet head, so he did!"

Friday, December 27, 2013
Well, Skyping was great with you all the other day. Time sure flew by! It was a great time. I feel like we could have talked for hours and hours! I guess we'll have to save it for Mum's Day.
Christmas was nice. We had a nice meal with the Cox family, we watched a bit of Despicable Me 2 and Toy Story 3 at the members' homes we visited that day, and then yesterday we watched Monsters University!
It was really good. Moral of the story: College is pointless; just quit and go work in the mailroom and you'll end up at the top! Just kidding. It was really good.
I think the Scottish couple we watched it with was probably really confused about the whole fraternity/sorority thing because I don't think they have that here. Remind me to never "go greek" when I get back to USU so I don't end up like those monsters.
Well the past week and a half have been really good. Lots and lots of travel.
We went to Glasgow for our district meetings last Tuesday and this past Monday, so we could practice our Christmas carol singing with both Glasgow and Paisley zones for our Christmas Eve performance.
It went really well; we sang in the middle of this posh indoor shopping mall. People were gathered around just listening to us for the whole two hours. It was awesome!
I have grown to love learning to sing actual choir parts. I'm a tenor, I discovered. Sometimes my voice is strained or cracks when I try to hit some of the higher notes, but I noticed myself getting a lot better even in these past two weeks of practice.
The highlight of the weeks: The Missionary Christmas Concert in Paisley last Wednesday. (Different from the previously mentioned one.)
This was a group of uber-talented singers from our mission who traveled around that whole week to each of the five stakes in Scotland and performed. It was amazing.
There were some really powerful performances. A few men's ensembles, a few a cappella duets, some piano and violin performances. Overall I just left feeling amazing, feeling like I was on a spiritual high. Music is amazing. Also Elder Holm was there as part of the choir and I got to talk to him for the first time since a Dublin conference over six months ago! It was nice.
Funny Ollie story (Traci's three year old son) we were with them on Christmas Eve talking about the nativity, and asking what they knew about the birth of Jesus. He said, "He laid down his sweet head, so he did!" It was adorable.
And I was sitting next to him on the couch as we watched a Christmas movie, and he offered me some of his blanket, "Elder, do you need some covers?" So cute and funny.
Well I forgot to bring my camera with me so I can't send photos of the Christmas festivities. But I will on Thursday. (Unfortunately no email this Monday again for some reason...) We have less email time today because we Skyped for an hour the other day. I loved talking with you all, it was great! Just wish it coulda been more time! Thanks so much for the gifts as well. I have enjoyed them thus far. Unwrapping each wee thing was so exciting to discover what surprises lay on the other side of the paper. And Skype was even better.
Hope you all had a great Christmas and have a happy New Year!!!
Love,
Spencer