Christmas In Mozambique

This is how the Christmas Eve service goes... It starts at 9pm. We walk into a mostly dark building, the only light is two small flashlights on the podium by the pastor. We sing and dance, it might be a little more energetic than regular church, but that changes the later it gets. Someone might start snoring and then the boys laugh and someone wakes the culprit up. The kids fall asleep on the back rows but get woken up every few minutes and told they can sleep at home but this is church. People get up and give praise reports. At a certain point, anyone wanting prayer for healing will go to the front and kneel and everyone prays for them. We sing some more. Ashlynn and I sang "Silent Night" in English. I guess they all thought that wasn't a good song since you can't play the drums or dance to it, but they had been asking us to sing for a long time and what better time to sing than at Jesus birthday celebration! The service goes all night with more singing and preaching, all in Makua and a little bit of Portuguese. The back rows quickly fill up with sprawled out, sleeping children. At 4 am, right around dusk, the service ends and everyone goes home to take a nap.

 On Christmas Day we slept in a little bit, until about 5:30. Ashlynn and I made some baked oatmeal, a traditional Amish dish but neither Ashlyn nor Brenda had tasted it before. Funny how a different breakfast makes it feel like a holiday. We listened to some Christmas music to distract ourselves from the fact that it was starting to get hot outside. At 9am, the Christmas service started. We sang and danced, this time Ashlynn and I each had a little girl on our laps, or holding our hands. They small kids come and go, but sometimes they line up or fight over who gets to sit on our laps. It makes me feel loved when I was the one who was supposed to come to make them feel loved. I guess we both win from this arrangement.

After church we took toys to the kids houses. I was surprised to see baby Daniel sitting up. He was only 2 months old when he came and since September he has doubled in size and is now sitting up. Joanna, the helper at that house has a little baby also, his name is Cristiano, he was born a month ago and was there also. My heart was completely content to hold him and watch all the kids excitedly receive their gifts. It was also special because they have so little so presents are a big deal. It was a different and special Christmas. None of the usual Christmas traditions were involved in this day but we still celebrated the same person who is the same as He was on that first Christmas 2000 years ago. It is because of Him that we live and move and have our being and I cannot thank God enough for giving us the most wonderful gift of a Savior. "...you shall call his name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.' All this took place to fulfill what The Lord had spoken by the prophet: "behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God is with us." Matthew 1:21-23