As I type this, the song “I Need Christmas” is playing. I don’t know about you, but I really need Christmas this year! It has been a heavy season of adjustments and transitions and the thought of celebrating love, hope, and peace come into the world gives me a joy that is greatly needed right now.
Life on the mission field comes with an expectation of the unexpected. Our unexpected this month was the back-to-back loss of three families, all moving from the area for different reasons. As two of these families were greatly involved in our school, our days have been filled with holding mourning kids and reassuring them that God is always up to good things despite the sadness we feel.
So as we pulled out and dusted off our advent tree, I determined we were going to dust off our spirits a bit too. One of the best things about the Christmas season is the opportunities to share Christ’s love and light and boy did our students embrace the opportunity!
Our Christmas Outreach was a super special event this year. Instead of going out and doing a program for children in the community, we invited in a large group of “Senior Saints” from a local church to celebrate Christmas with us. The group and our students spent the morning playing games, sharing hot chocolate and paneton, and performing several theatrical and musical numbers…for each other! While our girls’ dance class and spanish classes led most of the performances, the older people also got in on the fun and performed a small number for us. There were so many smiles and tons of laughter as our young ones connected with these wonderful individuals, many of whom have little to look forward to this Christmas. Of all our Christmas Outreaches, many said this was our most meaningful.
Ella and her friend Camilla also participated in a community outreach with several young adults from our church. Going out several times, they put on a Christmas program that brought laughs and a special message to the kids while another group partnered with them to give gifts. I am so proud of Ella stepping out in faith and in new tests of her language skills. Being in these communities was a big eye opener for her.
I won’t lie to you dear friends…as for many of you…this has been a very heavy season for us. In addition to the normal transitions that happen in a mission community, new mandates concerning the vaccine have us looking ahead to what this means for our school, student and personnel-wise. I could get into all the nitty details and hash out all our worries on paper for you to see, but all of us have our own concerns during these crazy times and airing our grievances only gives our worries unnecessary power. What I do ask is that you pray.
Will you pray for wisdom for our school to do what is right and godly, and respectful of our Peruvian government and brothers and sisters….
Will you pray God’s provision, that we can continue to fully serve our missionary families and their children with a well-staffed school….
And will you pray with us for peace….peace that transcends all chaos and envelopes God’s people, that we might be a source of hope and encouragement, not division.
In my “Read Through the Bible in a Year,” (which always takes me two years…anybody else?) my morning reading found me in Daniel. Oh can we relate to Daniel! As God showed him visions of the future, Daniel lay sick with worry and fear. Yet as John Piper tells us, Daniel was appalled but productive. Though sickened by the world, our work is still before us. We must keep working, because God is still working. Working and in control. The Anointed is coming! Then and now…he is coming! May the sweet message spoken so long ago in Daniel of our Savior coming, and coming again, fill us with hope!
This Christmas, let’s embrace all that is good. And when we can’t see it, let’s make it.
May the love, peace, hope and joy of Christ find you this special season and may you spread it to all those around you!
Merry Christmas dear friends!
Family of 4 Serving 1 