Visiting the Sick and Afflicted

For anyone not following my beautiful wife's blog, my family has spent the month of December celebrating Christmas traditions from around the world. We had a piñata a la Mexico and had a night at the "beach" and a barbecue in the tradition of Australia. It has been a fun and educational experience.

Tonight, we celebrated in the tradition of the Japanese which as I read is to visit the elderly or sick on Christmas day. We went to our local nursing home and took Christmas cards and caroled.

I have to be honest. As a young child this terrified me. There was a funny smell and the people just stared. Luckily, our church had the assignment to take the sacrament there so I got to go frequently, which helped me grow out of my childish ways.

Tonight was a beautiful experience. Oscar met a man named Oscar (who just so happened to mention he hated his name). I had a conversation with a sweet woman named Jody who was just hoping her daughter would start feeling better so they could spend Christmas day together. I met another woman who had no family close and her husband was already dead. She told me she had already died twice in the nursing home but just kept coming back. I told her there must be a reason for her to be there. She said she would rather just go. I could tell she just wanted to be with her husband again.

As I visited with these wonderful souls with my family, I felt burn within my heart the great love of our Savior. I felt His love for them and for us. I left so uplifted and with a great desire to return often. We talked as a family and a setting a goal to return once a month next year. What a beautiful experience it was for us. I am glad it was part of our traditions to celebrate.

I would invite you to visit a nursing home near you. It will brighten both those you visit's day as well as yours, but even more importantly, it will bring the warmth of the true reason for Christmas into your celebrations.