FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!

Here at the Santiago "Temple Square", the church hosts a Christmas Program of song and dance.  Last year and this year, the program has featured Elder David Archuletta who is serving in the Chile Rancagua mission, about an hour south of Santiago.  A truly outstanding missionary but even more than that an outstanding young man.  We have heard some very tender stories of his service here over the last two years, and in a previous post talked about the opportunity of meeting and visiting with him for a few minutes.

We have been watching from our apartment balcony for two weeks as the young people have practiced the dances and the grounds workers have assembled the stage, put up Christmas lights and built a life size nativity.  We have been getting more and more excited for the performance.  Last Thursday evening we walked over to see some of the action of the dress rehearsal.  The following day the Public Affairs director, Valentine Nunez, said he could use our help to finish setting up the staging and chairs.  So we spent Friday afternoon decorating Christmas Trees and putting the finishing touches to the stage, as well as setting up hundreds of chairs!

The program was wonderful.  We were amazed at all the musical talent and we were THRILLED to hear Elder Archuletta sing 4 songs.  The amount of time and effort to put on such a production is indescribable.

Dance Rehearsal

The stage 24 hours before showtime!

The youth coming to practice "on stage" for the first time

In another corner -- another dance routine

The "String" section was excellent!

The drummers had a major part when David Archuletta sang

 "Little Drummer Boy"

Putting lights on a Christmas Tree

Five hours before show time these two were still plastering "bricks" to create the stage!

Decorating four Christmas Trees four hours before showtime!  The Chileans didn't seem at all concerned how much work needed to be done and how little time to do it.

Waiting for Showtime -- while we waited for the show to start the crew was still putting the final touches on the stage.

The Choir assembled about 30 minutes before showtime and stood on risers for 2 1/2 hours!

David Archuletta is truly professional when he performs.  He sang three "rehearsed" songs and then on the second night he added one from his Christmas Album.  He finishes his mission in February.

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After the concert we walked over to see the Christmas Lights and met a young couple who snapped our picture.