Corpus Christi Corless Christmas Connection

Dear Family,
Thanks to your phone calls, letters, gifts, prayers and some very special missionaries, we survived our Christmas away from home.

Monday night, we went Christmas Caroling with Bishop Workman & family, two other families and the missionaries, to six families in the 2nd Ward. We were chilled by a windy, cold drizzle-rain, but our hearts were warmed by the reception of the families we saw.

We enjoyed the Three Zone Conference and Christmas program on Tuesday the 23rd. The inspiring program featured the musical talents (vocal, piano and organ) of several of the missionaries of the Laredo, Corpus Christi and Sinton zones. We specially enjoyed our reunion with Sister Durrant and Elder Salazar who had been transferred to Laredo from Corpus Christi and the Law's and Hinckley's and Rodriguez', senior missionary couples.

For Christmas Eve we were invited to the home of the Adams family. Brother and sister Adams have 11 children, + a total of more than 100 in-laws, grand children and great grand children. They weren't all there, but there was a lot of people and kids running around having a good ol' time. They had many tasty dishes to partake of, including tamales, which as everybody here will tell you, is "THE traditional Christmas food". We brought a tin of Sam's fancy cookies and shrimp cocktail, which was classified as high class food, and it was quickly consumed; so we felt good about bringing it.

Christmas morning we celebrated "Jesus was born and we are having a party!" by hosting 8 Elders with their Christmas gifts, to open together. Of course, Mom had the toothpaste, tooth brushes and deodorant wrapped up to fill in for those who had less than the others to open. Thanks to Rachel we also had a bar of soap, socks, lip balm, etc to open as well. :) Our hearts were filled with joy and gratitude! We then had the pancake with strawberries and blueberries, eggs, sausage, bacon, cheesy potatoes and orange juice breakfast to fill our stomachs.

We enjoyed Elder Corless' (Michael) Christmas call and, thanks to Mom's perseverance, he was able to talk to most of his brothers and sisters via the wonderful three-way calling feature. It was great to hear everyone's voice and feel the enthusiasm of the moment. We are so grateful!

Christmas evening, we took a spinach salad and Mom's trifle to share at the Christmas turkey dinner at Bishop Workman's home. We were able to enjoy the company of their girls, the Thompson family and the missionary Elders as well as a great dinner! It was not the same as being with all of you, by any means, but it was wonderful still, because we knew we were where we're supposed to be, trying to the best of our abilities to do the will of Him whose birthday we gratefully celebrated.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Thanks to you we did.

Love y'all, Mom & Dad

Here we are with the Corpus Christi, Sinton and Laredo Zones for the Christmas program and zone conference. The missionaries really were excited to be together and recieve their packages from home. We were served a great lunch. Afterwards, one of the Elders dressed up as Santa Claus handed out a Texas McAllen Mission T-shirts to all of us. We enjoyed talking with the other senior couple missionaries from Laredo and another couple from McAllen. We also, enjoyed a short reunion with couple of the missionaries who had been transfered to Laredo from Corpus Christi several weeks earlier.

Merry Christmas from Our Home to Yours

Dear Friends and Family,
Yes, our home is empty, but our hearts are full of gratitude and joy. The year 2008 has come and all but gone and our event-filled life keeps rolling along unabated. Since May, we have been serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We work with the great missionaries and people of Corpus Christi, Texas, specially the new Spanish Speaking Branch. We survived the 100+ oF feel-like temperatures of the summer and now enjoy the comfortable fall weather of Southern Texas. The young missionaries bring us great joy as we support their efforts to share the gospel. Every six weeks we take a couple of days to travel around the two zones to visit them and inspect all 14 of their apartments. We enjoy teaching a New Testament Class on Tuesday mornings at the Stake Center.
As “Papa & Nonna” to 17 “grand buddies”, we have truly missed the hugs and kisses as well as baseball, hockey, soccer, swimming, dancing, birthday celebrations, etc., We thoroughly treasure pictures, notes, letters, emails, phone calls, blogs and the occasional package.
We enjoy our retirement and feel very grateful that our children in the workforce are still gainfully employed, in spite of the current dark economic period. We certainly hope and pray that the New Year will bring more prosperous times and economic stability.
As we prepare for the celebration of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, we wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas.
Rex, Myriam and Michael

With much gratitude, we can report our family is doing well.
· Michael continues to serve as Elder Corless, a fulltime missionary in the Idaho Pocatello Mission, which he says is “The best thing that has ever happened to him in his life.”
· Rachel, Ryan and Mia (1) moved to Denver, Colorado. Ryan is a first year pharmacy student and serves in the High Priest quorum, while Rachel works in the Relief Society as the Enrichment Leader.
· Lara, Dan, Abigail (2) and Sarah (8 mos.) are in Rexburg, Idaho, where Dan goes to school and serves as Ward Employment Specialist; Lara serves as the Ward Relief Society President.
· David, Jana, Adam (7), Peter (5) and David Jr. (2) are in Illinois. David is in his second year of dental school and serves as Elder’s Quorum Pres., while Jana works with the Young Women. They anticipate the arrival of a little girl in February!
· Ryan, Maureen, Preston (6), Jacob (4) and Sophia (1) are in Michigan, where Ryan works for Ford. Ryan is a teacher & Maureen is a counselor in the Primary
· Daniel, Holli, Nathan (10), Joseph (7), Joshua (6) and Isaiah (4) are in Michigan, where Daniel works for American Axle and Manufacturing, a major supplier for GM. They serve as a Scout leader and in the Relief Society in their ward.
· Vanessa, Jim, Tyler (12), Samantha (10), Joshua (6) and Olivia (4) are in Michigan, where Jim works for Ford. He serves on the High Council and Vanessa is Ward Young Women President.
We are truly humbled by the Lord’s bounteous blessings.

Praised be His name!

Week of 15th -22nd Dec. 2008

Dear Family,
We survived another transfer week.
We lost our Sisters to the nethermost part of the vineyard - one went to Brownsville (southern most) and the other went to Beeville (northern most part of the mission) - but have gained two new Elders..
Party Party - We brought the cake for the branch Christmas dinner on Friday. They had a little program of songs and talks before dinner. We attended a Christmas dance in the 1st Ward Saturday night. We danced to a few songs and enjoyed the time together.
The winter soltice weather in Corpus Christi has been variable. Yesterday, we had balmy 83 degree weather and then, this morning, a 20 mph north wind brought us a cold front with a high of 55 today.
Have a Merry Christmas!
Love ya, Mom & Dad

Week of 8-14th December

Dear Family,
The weather was pretty cool for a few days this week, but has warmed back up into the 70's.

This week we traveled to visit all the Elders and their apartments. All 14 of the apartments had various levels of Christmas decor to brighten up the otherwise austere surroundings of a missionary dwelling. It was a joy for us to look into their eyes and see the anticipation of receiving Christmas packages from home. They also expressed some anxiety about the transfers scheduled for Wednesday.
We prepared and sent the "Elder Corless" Christmas package and hope it gets to Idaho safely and in time. We hope he enjoys opening it as much as we did putting it together. We wrote the Christmas letter and sent out almost 90 cards with it. Let us know when to get it. Our Christmas plans are firming up a little more as it gets closer . Thanks again to Rachel and Lara for the packages.
A few days ago we went with the Sisters to teach a Spanish speaking man and as usual we started by singing a song. During the second verse of "Child of God" song a little field mouse peeked out from behind the man's chair and ran along the wall to the kitchen. Thankfully, Mom did not see the little critter or the song would been punctuated with a bunch of screaming. Several minutes later there was noise in the kitchen to which the man commented that it was "only a rat". We left shortly there after.
Saturday, Mom got a call and we ended up helping to finish decorating the stake center for the Christmas Musical Program. It really looks beautiful.
Sunday at the branch we were treated with the Primary program. All the songs and talks were in English so for the first time I understood what was being said. In the evening, we were uplifted by sights and sounds of the Stake Christmas Musical program. There are some very talented people in this stake - it was wonderful!
We love to you all,Mom & Dad

Week of 1-7 December 2008

Dear Family,
The weather has been cooler this week. Mom, actually, wore her coat a couple of times.
The fun part of the week was as follows:
Monday, we taught the Restoration Lesson and showed the Restoration video to Jose Giron, which noticeably touched his spirit. We stayed for an excellent Brazilian dinner made by Sister Giron.
Tuesday,we taught the New Testament class on the Atonement, death and burial of Jesus Christ. We have a lot of be grateful for.
Wednesday, was Missionary interviews. Later we went to dinner with President & Sister Miller to an Asian restaurant. We talked about the worldwide financial crisis caused by modern day Gadianton Robbers (secret combinations) and how the "Californians Against Hate" is displaying and promoting hate against the Church, and on a much happier note, we talked about our families. President Miller mentioned how the children call "Mom" much more than they call him; just then, Lara called on my phone and wanted to talk to Mom. President Miller and I had a good laugh. Thanks Lara - it was perfect timing. It was a great time.
Thursday, we took the Giron's (Brazilian couple) to their separate doctor appointments. They are so nice. They make it a pleasure for us to help them from time to time.
Friday, we went to some teaching apointments with the elders and then had a King Ranch Chicken dinner at the Weatherston's; it was very good. Afterwards we went Christmas shopping to Burlington Coat Factory. We have so much to do to get ready for Christmas and so little time. So what's new???
Saturday, We took the missionaries to appointments and attend the Christmas Creche display at the Stake Center. There were nativity scenes of all kinds from simple to complex. One of the displays took 4 hours to set up. They also had some singing and were showing the "Joy to the World" video
Sunday, we brought Betty, an investigator to church with us. Mom stayed with her through all the meetings. Afterwards, we attended the Branch, which had more people than usual attending. Fast & testimony meeting was great -no breaks- and a great spirit. After dinner we attended the The First Presidency Christmas devotional at the Stake Center. It was a great day for us.
We are keeping very a tight schedule this week with more Christmas preparations and apartment inspections to be completed.

We sure miss y'all.

Love ya, Mom & Dad