Festival of Lights 2013

A Little More Christmas

December is a very busy time of year at the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors Center.  The missionaries who work their daily are overloaded with the daily crowds and the nightly evening musical performances every night of December.  To help them survive, the senior missionaries and some of the temple missionaries have been asked to help carry the load by answering phones and allow them some personal time away from the Center.  We signed up for three mornings, December 23rd, 30th, and 31st from 10:00 to 3:00.

The first time we left ourselves plenty of time to get through the traffic by leaving about 8:15.  We were asked to be there about 20 minutes early for orientation and instructions so this seemed like a good idea.  The traffic was not bad at all in spite of the weather, so we arrived about 9:10 and the parking lot was empty.  Sister Boone knew the code for the back door, so we tried to go inside, but the door would not unlock.  (We found out later that it had not been working properly.)  We then waited until 10:00 so we could go through the front doors.  We had a brief introduction to our assignment.  Sister Petramalo showed us around the center and showed us how to start the videos and showed us the displays that are self-help stations that the guests could just start themselves.  She told us that they were going to go do some personal things at home and would be back at 3:00.  We were then left by ourselves to run the Visitors Center—just the two of us!  This was not what we had signed up for.  We were just supposed to answer phones; we thought there would at least be some young sister missionaries to greet and guide the guests around.  We found out that in December, Monday morning is their personal and preparation time.  The rest of the week, they take their turns as usual, beginning at 10:00.  After 3:00 all of the sister missionaries are there every day to accommodate the large afternoon and evening crowds during the Festival of Lights.

Well, things worked out okay.  Monday days are rather slow, especially the 23rd of December when there were only two more shopping days until Christmas.  I think there were only about 50 or 60 people that came while we were there so we managed just fine.  Sister Boone and I traded off answering the phone and greeting guests and answering their questions.

We traveled home safely and made final preparations for our own Christmas celebrations.  I went to Heidi's Christmas Eve and came back to Waldorf on Thursday, the 26th.  I enjoyed spending this very important day with part of my family.  We thought Sister Boone's daughter was going to be visiting her, but those plans changed, so she spent the time in the apartment by herself.  I tried to talk her into coming with me to Heidi's, but she declined the invitation.  Just to be sure she had something to do, and since she enjoys reading, I left her a gift of a couple books that I hoped she would enjoy along with some of her favorite treats to enjoy while she read.

December 30th, the following Monday at the Visitors Center was even slower than the previous week; about half as many as the week before.  Tuesday, the 31st, the young sister missionaries were back on duty so our job was easier.  After answering the phone for a few hours, I left Sister Boone in charge of the front desk and took some pictures of the creche room and the Christmas trees.

They were all beautiful and wonderful, but here are just a few pictures of my favorites:  (displays without name tags are from the United States.)

(Part of the Germany display shown above.)

And of course the German Pyramiden.

 The trees were decorated by the various Stakes in the area and give the viewer a taste of the worldwide influence as the church reaches now to all parts of the world.  

My favorite was the one which displays artwork of a Czech artist, Mikolas Ales who illustrated a children's book called Bethlehem.  All of the pictures on the tree come from the book and depict people taking gifts to Baby Jesus.

I am not sure of the theme of this last tree that I saw, but the angel ornament on it reminds me of the scripture verse in Revelation 14:6 in which John says "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth."  Also the prophet Alma who says in Alma 29:1 "O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!"  (This is another of those exclamation point scriptures that Elder Bednar talked about in the most recent General Conference.)

Although we had to brave bad weather and bad roads to drive to the temple four times the last week (twice to work in the Visitors Center, once to the temple, and once for an interview with President Cooke), I am grateful for the experience of working there this month.  I love the feeling of peace associated with being on the temple grounds, both in the temple and in the Visitors Center which is a wonderful teaching center for those who want to know more about the Church.