For about the past eight years, every year during the Christmas season we have tried new ideas and sought to establish various family traditions. We have done many different and interesting things: from the traditional modern American Christmas celebration with decorated tree, gifts galore, and big meals with family and friends, to no tree and limited gifts, to gifts on Christmas Eve and serving at a local shelter on Christmas Day, to no gifts until New Years Eve (taking the focus off of gifts on the 25th and giving us a chance to buy some gifts at killer post-25th prices!), and just about everything in between. This year we did things even more differently, and the consensus thus far is that we all like it... a lot.
Starting four Sundays before the 25th, we began nightly family devotions related to what is traditionally called "Advent". The devotions are themed each week with a corresponding candle representing each theme. The first week was about the prophecies of the promised Messiah. Each night we read one of the hundreds of prophecies written by the various Prophets of Israel foretelling the coming of Messiah. The second week's theme was that of the preparation for the coming of Messiah as a baby in Bethlehem. I guess, by default, His incarnation was part of this theme, and we nightly read verses together and discussed further prophecies relating to His birth and incarnation, as well as some of the historical passages in the Gospel accounts of the actual birth. The third week's theme was that of joy: the joyful proclamation of the Good News of the promised Messiah's birth in Bethlehem by the Angels to the Shepherds and by the Shepherds to the people of the surrounding villages. We talked about ourselves and our own joy in proclaiming the Good News that Christ did, indeed, come as promised and that He will come again. The theme of the final week was the truth of His second coming. While the leaders and people of Israel were awaiting the coming of Messiah 2000 years ago, and He did come in fulfillment of that prophetic expectation, we now await His coming again to establish His Kingdom on Earth. While we celebrate His first coming the 25th day of each December, we also look forward to His second coming with the same expectation as Israel had before His first. This is the complete joy and truth of Christmas: that Christ
did come as promised in Scripture - in meekness and humility to seek and save that which is lost and to die as a ransom for sinners -
and that He will come
again to establish His Kingdom on Earth, a right which He secured by His sacrificial death and substantiative resurrection from the dead.
During the course of the season were we blessed to do several family activities together, tying in some of our American cultural traditions with our newly developing family traditions and even some East African themes. We found a handful of locally crafted decorations which could be hung on a tree (which we didn't have nor did we think we would have one but thought we would save them for next year).
After decorating the "tree" with the local made decorations, we bought some paper, glue and glitter and spent a day making our own decorations, including an Angel tree topper that I made from used toilet paper rolls.
The next day we got a peice of red and green Maasai cloth (what the Maasai wear for clothing) and wrapped the pot and bottom of the "tree" with it. All in all in turned out to be a really teriffic "East African Christmas Tree" if there is such a thing.
We also made sugar cookies together as a family and decorated them with two other families.
Christmas day we slept in, did devotions, spent some family time together having fun and eating, and then finished off the day with a big meal with our friends followed by family devotions and bed. The meal was Mexican themed and was delicious (a great touch of "home" for those of us from Southern California, which was all but two of those in attendance).
The Meal
Some Music (Me on a mini djambe, Arie, Dave on guitar, Nasiema, Natasha on guitar)
Helping Caleb with his rhythm
Natasha, Jada, Keenan, and Clay
Twinkle and Sophia
Arie reads a story to us
Listening to Arie's jokes during the story
Kevan laughing at Arie's funnies
Dave and BiancaAfter dinner we ate the aforementioned sugar cookies for dessert and then each of the kids recited a memorized Bible verse pertaining to the coming of Messiah. Kevan went first, reciting Jeremiah 23:5-6.
Keenan went next, reciting Isaiah 9:6.
Caleb was the last of our kids to go. He recited Isaiah 7:14.
Now you may be tempted to think something like, "Oh those poor missionaries can't even give their children gifts for Christmas." Don't! God is our source and provider and He has always and will always take care of us. We don't have money to poor down the drain in overindulgent spoiling of our kids or ourselves, but we
are going to do gifts this year... well not actually
this year. In order to keep the focus on Christ and avoid the temptation for materialism and selfishness on a day dedicated to remembering our Saviour, we've decided to go with an ancient tradition practised in many other cultures in Europe and Asia and exchange gifts on January 6th (or it's eve). This is a traditional date held by many as the day on which the wise men gave their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Jesus. Since gifts were never really supposed to be the focus of the Christ Mass, and yet He
did receive gifts from the wise men, we're using this as our 'loop hole' to enjoy the pleasures of gift giving and receiving. Additionally, we will be blessed to receive one tremendously special gift this coming year on January 8th: a visit from my parents! And knowing them, the kids will certainly not go without gifts.
So there's a not-so-brief summary of our Christmas season thus far. I hope you're still awake after all of that, and pray that you had a wonderful Christmas as well.
I was able to locate a "tree" for us a few days before the 25th. I put the "tree" in quotes because it's really just the top three feet of some poor tree from the forest surrounding Nairobi that now stands headless and sad. I'm not even sure what kind of tree it is/was, but it's appearance is a
little bit similar to the Noble Fir (though still quite different). We then decorated it with the local ornaments we got the week before (along with one that Keenan made out of some plastic trash that looked similar to an angel).
Our friend and roommate Natasha, a missionary to Kenya from Russia.
The "tree" after the first round of decorations.
The Meal
Some Music (Me on a mini djambe, Arie, Dave on guitar, Nasiema, Natasha on guitar)
Helping Caleb with his rhythm
Natasha, Jada, Keenan, and Clay
Twinkle and Sophia
Arie reads a story to us
Listening to Arie's jokes during the story
Kevan laughing at Arie's funnies
Dave and Bianca
The whole family has been struggling with coughs, congestion, and runny noses for over a month now. I think we are officially on round two. Please pray for strength and patience through these times, and ultimately for complete healing for the whole family.
We were so thankful to receive an infusion of new clothes for the kids from my mom. Our visiting friends were kind enough to lug them over here for us. In addition, they took the kids to town to pick out a few toys from the used toy “store”. Thanks Bond and Heather!
Jon continues to work with our friend Gabriel, a local Tanzanian and recent graduate of Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta, California. Together they are having a weekly Bible Study at Gabriel’s house on Saturday evenings. The response has been very good, with most seats full each week.
Last month, during the question and answer time after one study, a young man asked a bold question about the passage from Romans 1 which Gabriel had taught. He said, “You read that we should be able to see that God exists by looking at the world around us. I don’t believe that God exists. How am I supposed to see Him when I look around me? Can you prove to me that God exists?”
