JOY to the WORLD!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Although I have been missing my family back home, I have been so blessed by many Christmas celebrations with my Zambian family.  I have been staying at Zimba mission during this school holiday.  On Christmas Eve I went to the Zimba Mission Hospital for a candlelight service for the patients.  The photo below is from the pediatric ward where several young children were facing HIV related problems as well as several severe burn injuries.  The light of the world has come and that light shines in the darkest of dark places bringing hope, joy and peace wherever it goes!! 

On Christmas day we woke up to a delightful steady rain.  This was almost as exciting as waking up to snow on Christmas since many areas of Zambia, and also nearby Zimbabwe, have not been getting enough rain. It was really a Christmas blessing!  However, it also meant that we would be walking the three miles to the village church in the rain, through streams and mud… but it made for a great memory and adventure as we sang songs like “Oh the weather outside is frightful…” and “Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain!” and “I’m dreaming of a wet Christmas”

 When we arrived at church we spent the day singing many praise songs, including Silent Night, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, and Hark the Herald in Tonga!  The day’s celebration ended with a delicious meal, including my first taste of cow intestine and liver- YUM!  And- “Nsima roasting on an open fire… houseflies nipping at our toes…” J

I was sad to not be with my family for Christmas this year.  It was my first Christmas away from home.  But as much as I missed them, I can’t think of a better way to spend Christmas than worshiping through song and dance to celebrate Christ’s birth.  The removal of all the consumerist-focused traditions replaced by Christ-focused worship was immensely refreshing.  To be in a part of the world where getting coal on Christmas would be a very generous gift makes me so grateful that Christmas is not about the toys and gadgets, but it is about the fact that GREAT JOY has come to the WHOLE world!  THAT is something worth celebrating J

We were blessed with this beautiful Christmas sunset :)