By Tony Uminski, San Antonio Stake Media Relations Specialist
The San Antonio Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did its part to bring the spirit of Christmas to the Alamo City this weekend. Stake members gathered 171 nativity sets, filled the Church building cultural hall in festive décor and arranged the crèche scenes in a subdued, atmosphere for the estimated 600 visitors for the event.
“It’s beautiful to see all the different representations of the Savior’s birth from all the cultures and nations of the earth,” said Stake President Adam Gonzalez. “We have a couple here – one’s Mexican, which is my ancestry – and one from Ecuador, where our son served his mission.”
Along with the nativity displays, ward choirs performed in the lobbies and in the chapel, while children worked industriously in the Primary Room on arts and crafts projects. Hot chocolate and Christmas cookies were available as well.
Event organizers also prepared a scavenger hunt to help visitors stop and pause at each table, seeking out the snowman set, the set with the most animals, the smallest set and a nativity from Asia and South America.
“It’s interesting how the birth of one little child 2,000 years ago has touched all the people of the world and you can see how different people celebrate his birth,“ President Gonzalez noted.
Another visitor marveled at the amount of nativities on display.
“I’ve been to ward activities similar to this, but not on this scale,” said Talley Ward member Roland Fritter. “Maybe one-fourth of this. And some of these pieces coming from so far away, Ukraine, Japan, Madagascar. I think it’s just amazing. It shows the gospel is around the world.”
The event mirrored the efforts of members of the North Stake, hunkered down in the Stone Oak area of northern Bexar County, which sponsored a similar, although even more massive program in the past. One year, there were over 250 sets on display at that event.
Mary Shipley, the San Antonio Stake Relief Society President and project leader said, “It’s been so wonderful. It’s been a huge success.”
Stake members volunteered in the many hours of service going back to August for the planning stage to this past week’s implementation stage, where the displays were collected and arranged, the hall decorated with trees, lights, with soft Christmas music playing in the background.
“The chapel was filled for the performance there (Friday night),” added Sister Shipley. “It just goes to show the talent we have in our stake. And everything just came together.”
The two-day may just turn into an annual event as Sister Shipley said, “People have been asking if we’re going to be doing this again next year and we’re like, ‘let’s just see how this year works out.’”
From the looks on the faces of nativity set admirers, cookie munchers and choir listeners, it’s a good bet the program on SW Military inside Loop 1604 near Sea World will have an encore performance in 2020.