Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas

Hello again. Sacramento has a large river running through it called the American River. Elder Bartlett was finally able to ride his bike along a trail that goes along the river.  

We also took a walk together along the trail and saw some very large salmon in the river. We hear that the salmon spawning season is about over.

Fair Oaks already has their Christmas lights up and it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet. Yes they decorated the Palm Trees.

We had an unusual Thanksgiving. One of our Senior Couples is teaching English to some Chinese immigrants so our Thanksgiving was part America and part Chinese, complete with spicy noodles, curry, taro, duck and some other things I wasn’t familiar with. 

Several of our Missionaries were there to eat with us.

The Elders showing off with the stuffed turkey.

We were able to fly to Georgia for the weekend to witness our newest granddaughter be blessed.

We were also able to reconnect with some of our grandchildren and have some great fun for a weekend. We also saw some beautiful lights.

When we returned to California we were able to witness a live Nativity put on by the Folsom California Stake.

So happens one of our Senior Couples we’re participating in the live Nativity. He was one of the Wise Men and she was an angel in the choir.

We also met a very tall Roman soldier. It was a small miracle since it was raining all day and it stopped for the live Nativity so we remained dry.

The babies that were used in the performance we newborns and they have about 4 waiting for the performance so they choose on each time which is not fussy. The baby in this performance was so peaceful and calm. Those aren’t the baby’s parents.

What a wonderful and inspirational performance of the Nativity. They also had other characters and a market place. It was very authentic. At the very end they served hot chocolate.

What a wonderful and spiritual event it was and we will remember it for a long time. For any who have not viewed it there is a new Nativity film at comeuntochrist.org which is called The Christ Child. You will enjoy it. We also went to see a street that all the houses were decorated.

This huge tree is at the opening of the street. The owner says he has been doing this for 20 years and now all his neighbors are doing it to get on TV.

Sister Doig in our Mission office is returned home to Canada this month and for our Family Home Evening she wanted to attend the Community choir concert at one of our Chapels. It was a rendition of The Messiah by Handel complete with soloists. They also sang several Christmas carols which I have never heard. Very good.

This is what our Mission President’s office looks like now. These are gifts for Missionaries from their families. They will all be delivered to the Missionaries on December 23, along with treats and Caroling.

A member of our Ward loves to make miniature villages. The one on the left is Hogwarts complete with Hogwarts express.


This village is Dickens London.

This village is a collage of different movies that he enjoyed. 

We have enjoyed this Christmas holiday but we miss our family. We were able to have them do a Facebook messenger session with us while they did the Nativity as a family.

To end this post we would just like to share with all of you this picture of us reading the Book of Mormon.

Merry Christmas from Elder and Sister Bartlett

Boo!

We were able to go to the Sacramento Temple for the first time since we have been here. They had a beautiful fountain but it was a little bright so you can’t see it very well in this picture.

 This picture is a little better.

We were able to go to several baptisms this week. 


This baptism was at a pool because one of the people being baptized was a double amputee so 5 men had to lift him into the pool to be baptized.

This baptism was all in Spanish so we didn’t understand much but the Spirit was strong,

Our Ward had a Trunk or Treat party on the night before Halloween. We had a good time.

There were great decorations and a DJ.

Good chili and hotdogs.

Lots of cute costumes.

















Even Adults were very involved.

Families also were in the mood with Mickey and Minnie Mouse and the Toy Story family.












We decorated one of our Mission bikes with Halloween lights and some big blinking eyes and gave out candy. Some of the children came by about 5 times. That made up for the fact that we didn’t have any Trick or treaters come to our apartment. We love the Hollidays and the great opportunities thy bring for us to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to our friends and family. We love you all Elder and Sister Bartlett.