Elder Austin Robison ~ St.Petersburg, Russia Mission 2012-2014: December 25, 2012

Well family, merry Christmas! I hope its been a great day for everyone! Surprise! They are letting us all email home today since we can't call. I guess thats good too. Well, its been such a great day here today! Thanks for the packages Mom and Nanny W!! I loved them! There was a mini Christmas tree in my old districts classroom that one of the older districts passed down when they left. We took that back to the "dom" and set it up in one of the rooms. Then we had a designated Santa who got up this morning and put everyones boxes of presents under the tree. We all gathered in there this morning and opened presents together (pictures to come tomorrow). I still get to write tomorrow on my actual pday so I won't give a whole week update in this one or I will have nothing to say tomorrow.

They've got all sorts of programs going on here. Last night, there was a little nativity thing that they did which was cool then we all watched "A Christmas Carol" and they handed out popcorn to everyone. That was nice. Today we just finished lunch, but before that, we heard a morning devotional from Elder Russell M. Nelson!! It was so good! I loved it! It wasn't like super doctrinal, but it was mostly just like practical, how to a successful missionary talk. It was great! Aaaandd I was in the MTC choir that sang for it, so basically, I sang for an apostel.. it rocked. I loved one of the songs we sang called "As Sheperds lately knelt" or something like that. It was really pretty.

Tonight there is an MTC talent show. My new (awesome) companion is in it! He is playing the guitar and singing "Oh Holy Night" with one of the verses and choruses in Russian! For real has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard. I am super excited to see it again (I had to go with him when he tried out so I've already heard it once.

So now, something that I've been thinking about a lot this week. Why Christmas is such a big deal. I know that sounds bad, but trust me, I have a point. Anyways, this Christmas hasn't really felt like Christmas at all. I mean they have lights outside, but other than that, nothing really different. And we aren't allowed to listen to music at all - not even in the residence halls. That really has been super annoying since, as you know, I love the music and decorations that accompany Christmas. I've really been effected by the fact that I was not able to listen to TSO at all this Christmas time. So, I've been thinking, since I'm away from all the worldly things that I love Christmas for, I was having kind of a hard time getting myself excited for it, and that bothered me. I thought "Why should I be excited about Christmas?" I mean, yes, obviously Christ was born and that's super important, but for reason, that just wasn't doing it for me. Then I realized, its not really the birth per say, that I am super excited about. But it is what happened as a result of that birth 33 years later. Had Christ not been born, there would have been no Atonement. It hit me. The reason that I love and want to celebrate Christmas is because of the Atonement. The chance that we have to repent and be cleansed. What an incredible gift! How could I not have thought of that before?? This past week as we got closer to Christmas, I spent most of my time thinking about how grateful I am, not for the birth of Christ, but for the Atonement of Christ that couldn't have happened if he hasn't been born. That has made this one of the best Christmas' ever, because I spent my time thinking about that and not about the decorations and things.

One of we were talking about this yesterday and one of the Sisters in my district also brought up the fact that it hasn't really felt like Christmas this year. She suggested that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing since what we focus on during Christmas is Christ and his life, and that is what we focus on all day everyday here at the MTC. Its almost a good thing that it hasn't felt as much like Christmas, because Christ has been the center of everything since we've been here, not just one particular part of the year. I love it. I have grown and learned so much this week, spiritually and its been great! I am so grateful for my savior and God's gift to us. It means everything to me and I know that if we let it, it can change our lives (the Atonement, that is). I am so grateful to have been here over Christmas and had the chance to learn that this year. To learn why Christmas really is important to me.

I love and miss you! I hope this Christmas has been as wonderful and uplifting for you as it has been for me!

Tomorrow comes the week update and hopefully some pictures! Until then,

Merry Christmas

Love,

CT Robison