Joyful Sharing

It’s hard to believe that we are already in 2014.  I wonder what this year will hold.  In the next couple of days, I will try to post some pictures from our Christmas here.  We have been having a number of “most of the day” power outages, so that makes posting much more difficult.  Conrad called the electric company the other day and they said “Sorry for the inconvenience but we are working so you aren’t in the dark in 2014.”  Well we have officially been in 2014 less than 2 days and have already had two power outages. J

Today I want to share you a story that blessed my heart this holiday season.  A daughter of a missionary set up a “Day Spa” for missionary women to bless them.  She asked some girls from the local orphanage ( Evanjafrica) to help her.  The “Day Spa” included foot massages, head/shoulder massages, haircuts, extension braids, facials, crafts, pretty snacks and beautiful dishes with Christmas music playing. 

  It was a very special afternoon of hanging out with friends.  As two young orphan girls rubbed my feet with huge smiles on their faces, my heart was blessed.  Their joyful attitude in serving other was so refreshing.

I was able to buy some fun gifts that they had made and then I headed home. 

Later, I heard the rest of the story.  At the end of the evening after everyone had left, the girls were giving the money they had earned from their crafts.  If divided evenly, it would have been about $2 each, enough to get a new pair of flip-flops or a shirt at the market.  But do you know what they did with the money?  They decided to buy bread for the whole orphanage so everyone in the orphanage could have bread for breakfast the next morning.  They wanted everyone to enjoy a treat.

My heart was so touched by their selflessness.  They have so little and yet when they got something of “value” they wanted to share.  This holiday season, their example kept running through my mind.  How could I selflessly share what I have with others?  And when I think of selflessness, my mind goes to God’s gift to us of Jesus.  It was a gift that cost our Heavenly Father so much.  Yet, He gave because He loved you and me. 

  Am I willing to share so selflessly?  May I always be listening carefully to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and share whatever and whenever He speaks to my heart.  May I grow in sharing selflessly, seeing it as a joy.

Rejoicing in Christmas

Since coming to Mozambique, this is the first Christmas that we don’t have something “extra special” planned.  This year there is no visitors or no trips.  This year it’s going to just be us, here at home.  We have a couple of boxes from family and friends in the states and a couple heading our way so we have something special.  But this Christmas looks so different.  No holiday gathers with family, no Christmas eve carol singing (We did ours here at the beginning of Dec when people are still around).  Yes, Christmas looks different this year. 

Since Christmas is my FAVORITE holiday I was feeling a little sad about not having more “excitement” planned.  Then the Lord spoke to my heart reminding me that Christmas is a time of rejoicing and being thankful.  Being thankful and rejoicing are a choice. It’s not based on what is happening or what is not happening; it’s a choice to rejoice no matter the circumstances.  So I choose to rejoice.

While I miss my family during this holiday season, I choose to rejoice and celebrate the friends that God has given me here.  While I will miss the snow this year, I choose to rejoice that the rain has come to quench this dry land.  The rains of life replenishing the ground so people can grow gardens and have food to eat.  So I will praise God for the rain.  While I will miss the “Christmas feel” the states offer, I will choose to rejoice in the fact that God is anywhere in the world.  While I will miss the beauty of everything done up in lights, I will treasure and rejoice in the Christmas projects my kids do and decorations in my living room. 

Alissa's Nativity that she made this year all by herself.

  Because Christmas is about Jesus, the best gift ever.  So I will rejoice in the greatest gift ever.  I will be thankful for my many blessings and rest in the fact that I know I’m exactly where God wants me right now. So I will rejoice in celebration of my Savior's birth, Christmas, this year.

Sunday Evening Carol Sing

Well, the weather outside is frightful

And the heat is so spiteful

Since we have no place to go

Turn the air con way down low

Ok, so that is not exactly how the song goes, but well, here it’s hot.  With sweat a constant companion and one must constantly be drinking to stay hydrated, it’s hard for this Midwest girl to really believe that Christmas is just around the corner.  There are no signs in town yet of Christmas coming, although I’m sure soon there will be a few places with decorations. Yet, the calendar doesn't lie.  The calendar says that in just 14 days it will be Christmas.  So even though it’s hot and it just doesn't “feel” like the Christmas season, we have started playing Christmas music.  Hopefully this week our decorations will get put up.  We did have a very special treat last Sunday night at the English Fellowship.  It was a night of singing Christmas Carols.

   Conrad has agreed to lead the worship part to the English Fellowship service every week.  I usually help out some way, sometimes it’s playing violin and other times it’s running the power point.  It’s a way that we feel we can bless others. I remember the first Sunday here and being able to sing in my heart language (English) after spending 10 months worshiping only in Portuguese.  Tears flowed down my face.  The words were familiar and I could just worship without making sure I knew what was being said by translating everything in my head.  Recently, we heard of a young man between 10-12 ,who has asked his family to come every Sunday night so he could worship in the language of his heart too.   So we do believe it is filling a need here among the English speaking Christian community.  Since Conrad is in charge of music, we decided to do one night of carol singing this year.  Originally, the carol sing had been planned to be right before Christmas.  But since we wanted to have another missionary who plays piano join us, this last Sunday was the only Sunday this month that worked for both of us.  So we planned an evening of singing Christmas Carols with the Christmas Scriptures read amongst the songs.   I put up a few Christmas decorations to help “set” the mood inside the room.   It was such a special night as even in the heat, we could celebrate the birth of our Savior and the reason that we are all here.  Without Jesus’ birth, there would be no reason for me to be in Mozambique. 

   While the weather outside doesn't remind me of Christmas, Christmas is coming.  Christmas is a time of celebrating the birth of a child named Emmanuel that changed the world forever with His sacrifice on the cross 33 years later.  So even in the heat I will hang my Christmas lights, put up the tree, work with the kids on memorizing Luke 2, and be thankful that God was willing to send His only Son to the world to save me from my sins. 

As you entered the room

This was in the front.  Alissa helped put the decorations on the tree and set up the nativity.  She was soooo pleased with how it turned out.