Daniel Buchanan <daniel.buchanan@myldsmail.net>12/26/16
at 11:04 AM
To
Hi, all!!
This was a pretty cool week. Here's what happened:
-We had a combined Christmas zone conference and that was
pretty cool. We learned a lot, we ate a bunch of good food including like three
different kinds of rice, chicken, cole slaw, and pineapple drinks, and
performed Christmas songs. I had come up with an idea that I call Pachelbel's
First Noel, because Pachelbel's Canon in D goes really well with the First
Noel, so my group sang that. Afterwards, while people were socializing, the
mission president had me play some Christmas music during which he came up and
invited me to a Christmas Eve open house at the mission home in Accra. He
wanted me to just play some piano there as background music to add a little
Christmas spirit while people were socializing and enjoying Christmas Eve. So I
was pretty excited after the end of the conference.
-Saturday was the open house. So in the morning we went
proselyting for a little bit, and then we came back to the apartment and got
ready for our trip to Accra. We got there a little early, so we helped to set
up chairs and whatnot, and then I went inside where there was some enjoyable AC
blowing right on my face and got to work playing piano! It was pretty fun. For
the most part, I was just in the hymnbook and I went from one Christmas song
directly to the next jazzing it up as I went. I also played a few others not in
the hymnbook and it was a ton of fun. I had lots of people come up to me
thanking me (including Elder Stanfil, a member of the Quorum of the Seventy)
and I also heard parents whisper to their children, "listen to the
music!" I also heard a few other people humming along, and it was
wonderful. It was exciting because the mission home was actually decorated for
Christmas, while most of the rest of Ghana isn't decorated at all. That was a
massive mood-booster for me. I don't get to play a real or even full-sized
piano/keyboard often, and when I do, the music geek in me kind of comes out and
I get excited, so I was definitely happy upon leaving the mission home.
-Christmas itself wasn't too eventful. We went to church
which was nice. I got to play piano for a primary children's choir as well as
the ward choir. I believe I mentioned practicing for them last week. The kids
sang Joy to the World and the adults sang Angels We Have Heard on High/Far, Far
Away on Judea's Plains. It was a lot of fun. Later in the day, we went back to
the apartment and we made a dinner of fried chicken, stuffing, and mashed
potatoes, and we all got to call our families. Man, that was so much fun. The
second major mood-booster this week, so it just made this entire week so fantastic.
-I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas. Even though my
Christmas day itself wasn't super eventful or extravagant, it's the spirit of
Christmas that makes it exciting. It's the whole atmosphere surrounding the
Christmas season that makes Christmas special. Sure, gifts and lights and
Christmas trees are all fun and exciting, but the entire reason there was ever
a Christmas in the first place was because of Christ. When I was little, I
would want to say X-Mas because I heard many others saying it, and my mother
would always gently remind me that it's Christmas, and I could never really
understand why. But really, X-Mas removes the entire purpose of Christmas:
Christ. I hope you never forget how important the Savior, Jesus Christ really
is. I may have shared this scripture before, but I love it so much. It's from
the Book of Mormon. Alma 7:7, "For behold, I say unto you there be many
things to come; and behold, there is one thing which is of more importance than
they all—for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer liveth and
cometh among his people." There is nothing more important than the coming
of Jesus Christ. It's because of Him that we can have hope for a better future
and a better life. It's because of Him that we can lasting joy and peace.
I love you all so much. I hope you had a wonderful
Christmas. It's great hearing from all of you and I hope to hear from you all
soon!!
With love,
Elder Buchanan
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| A selfie displaying a new Christmas tie, tie bar, and watch. |
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