Village Christmas!

As Christmas season comes to a close, l thought it would be a good time to provide a glimpse of what a village Christmas looks like. Christmas in rural Uganda looks quite different that in America. The traditions, decorations, music, and food of a Uganda Christmas are very distinct. In Uganda, Christmas is more of a day than a season. Everyone saves up so they can buy new clothes and shoes. The Christmas celebration would not be complete if rice and meat (most likely beef) were not served. Here is a visual of what a village Christmas looks like:

Our Christmas season started with our church's annual conference. There were about 400 people there from over seven villages. The theme of this conference was Jesus' second coming. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, praise, and learning God's Word. I helped out in the kitchen area (what they call "the power house") much of the day. Pictured above, some of the kitchen staff serves food to the many, many kids that attended the conference. Below, some of the men are mingling posho, a starch made from maize flour. 

Of course I had to include pictures of this little girl, Katie. Her parents are very young and not married. Her mother had a very complicated delivery and was rushed from hospital to hospital. Thankfully, she survived. What a blessing it is to love on these little ones every day! 

We made Christmas cookies multiple times. The whole process becomes a little harder with Makai. I'm pretty sure he ate more frosting than what he put on the cookies. 

Decorating cookies with other missionaries in the village! 

Christmas shopping also looks different in Uganda. Not much changes in the store except for a little more tinsel and other Christmas decorations. It was so fun to explore new parts of the market and find some fun stuff! 

The week of Christmas, we went to town with a couple of youth and had such a great time! We walked around town for hours and went to parts of town I didn't know existed. We also got ice cream! 

Lots of mint mochas during school!

Christmas Day we had some of our nieghbors over for a big meal. It was so fun to eat, play games, take pictures, and just hang out with our neighbors. Many of them had been away at school. There was six birthdays in two weeks so, of course, we had to have cake! At night, we had about 20 youth over to watch the second Home Alone. They laughed so hard! It was so fun to listen to all their comments and giggles. 

Some of the youth. Many of them had been away for school or work. It was so nice to have them all back for Christmas!!!

The month of December was busy with shopping, parties, ministry, and spending time with friends. Every year, my eyes are always opened to something new about the Christmas story, and I could write so much about it. As this month ends, my goal is to live out the Christmas story all year long. Too often, we celebrate Jesus' birth as Messiah and Savior only in December. On Dec. 26, we go back to living in this dark world. Many of us leave the hope of Christmas in December. We loose sight of the sacrifice Jesus made when he came into this world as a baby. Jesus left the comforts and perfection of Heaven to come heal a broken world. We are also called to live out of our comfortable, safe routines and spread hope to a desperate world. All of us are searching. Searching for something to heal our brokeness, fill our emptiness, relieve our pain, bring us security, accept us, etc. At Christmas we celebrate a baby that was born to bring us hope. Yet, we don't share it. When Christmas is over, even Christians go back to searching for answers. What if we held onto the hope of Christmas through the entire year? What if we spread the light of Jesus' birth everyday, everywhere we go? There are so many people who are longing to hear the message of Christmas. If you know the Christmas story, the hope it brings, and the power it has to change someone's life... why wouldn't you share it? Many of us think we have to go great distances and across countries to share the hope of the gospel. However, serving God begins at home. Share the message of Christmas with that person God brings into your life. Many times our mission feild is right in front of our eyes, but we fail to recognize it.