Merry Christmas to all
It is the day after Christmas here at Namwianga and much about Chtristmas is new and much the same as at home. We are enjoying the rainy season here and it is warm and muggy. Everything is green and lush and beautiful flowers are blooming in our yard. It is very hard to remember it is December and Christmas at times. A complaint I often voiced at home and one which is still around, is the fact that Christmas had gotten so commercialized and lost its meaning. Also that the stores all started putting up decorations way too early, right after Halloween, and how people had forgotten what the original meaning of Christmas was. Well let me just say, Zambia rights my perspective. The only Christmas decorations we have seen were in the stores in Lusaka, the capital. None in our small town near the mission and no incessant Christmas music played overhead in stores anywhere. The only way I knew it was Christmas was the calendar. We played our Christmas CD's and had dinner yesterday with other missionaries. No frantic shopping in the mall, no late night sessions of gift wrapping. In fact no gift exchange at all. Unless you want to count the money given out to buy formula for two babies whose Mom's are HIV + and so are unable to nurse their newborns. We did buy essentials for our workers, without whom we wouldn't be able to manage to get any other work done. That was so satisfying to see their faces when we gave them large tubs filled with mealie meal, sugar, salt, oil, beans and a tin of cookies. It is definitely much more blessed to give than receive. We did shop along the side of the road from the young kids selling baskets. The traffic was awful. We had to stop five times for goats on the road.But we did receive much. We shared the gifts of friendship, song, laughter, and good food with others. We received a cake from Charity our worker, who had baked it as a Christmas gift to us. We got to go to a lake resort nearby and spend three days with other missionaries marveling at the awesome creation spread out before us. We got to spend some hours in prayer for this mission and our work. We received messages via email from friends back home and thru the wonder of computers, got to skype our families on Christmas day. God has indeed blessed us beyond measure and we look forward to a busy, productive year in 2008. Please pray that His purposes will be fulfilled this year at Namwianga.
In the glory of the Almighty we live
It is the day after Christmas here at Namwianga and much about Chtristmas is new and much the same as at home. We are enjoying the rainy season here and it is warm and muggy. Everything is green and lush and beautiful flowers are blooming in our yard. It is very hard to remember it is December and Christmas at times. A complaint I often voiced at home and one which is still around, is the fact that Christmas had gotten so commercialized and lost its meaning. Also that the stores all started putting up decorations way too early, right after Halloween, and how people had forgotten what the original meaning of Christmas was. Well let me just say, Zambia rights my perspective. The only Christmas decorations we have seen were in the stores in Lusaka, the capital. None in our small town near the mission and no incessant Christmas music played overhead in stores anywhere. The only way I knew it was Christmas was the calendar. We played our Christmas CD's and had dinner yesterday with other missionaries. No frantic shopping in the mall, no late night sessions of gift wrapping. In fact no gift exchange at all. Unless you want to count the money given out to buy formula for two babies whose Mom's are HIV + and so are unable to nurse their newborns. We did buy essentials for our workers, without whom we wouldn't be able to manage to get any other work done. That was so satisfying to see their faces when we gave them large tubs filled with mealie meal, sugar, salt, oil, beans and a tin of cookies. It is definitely much more blessed to give than receive. We did shop along the side of the road from the young kids selling baskets. The traffic was awful. We had to stop five times for goats on the road.But we did receive much. We shared the gifts of friendship, song, laughter, and good food with others. We received a cake from Charity our worker, who had baked it as a Christmas gift to us. We got to go to a lake resort nearby and spend three days with other missionaries marveling at the awesome creation spread out before us. We got to spend some hours in prayer for this mission and our work. We received messages via email from friends back home and thru the wonder of computers, got to skype our families on Christmas day. God has indeed blessed us beyond measure and we look forward to a busy, productive year in 2008. Please pray that His purposes will be fulfilled this year at Namwianga.
In the glory of the Almighty we live
