The Same Story

Angel Gabriel in 2013

Over the years we have created some family Christmas traditions on the islands. Remember, it is our hot, humid season. So instead of Christmas fudge, we have fudgsicles. Instead of bundling up and playing in the snow, we get in our swimsuits and go to a river to cool off. Every year we do a Christmas party with our English club where we explain about Christmas and try to help them understand the religious versus secular significance. On Christmas Day, we usually do a puzzle, and while people do the puzzle, someone reads The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. We make a variety of snacky creations and eat throughout the day. We video chat with people back home. And at some point we read through the Christmas story from Luke and Matthew, acting it out as we go.

Traditions give us things to look forward to and can be comforting sources of stability when so much around us changes. We like that it is the same every year. That’s the point! The downside of traditions is that sometimes they get old. Sometimes we forget why we do them and they lose the significance that they may have carried at the beginning.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a little book about people rediscovering the Christmas story when the main roles of the pageant are taken over by rough kids who don’t know the story at all. In the end everyone ends up seeing the story (that had become old and familiar) with new eyes.

Mary & Joseph from 2015

Our English Club Party has lots of the same components each year. We sing, we have snacks, we play a few games, and we share the Christmas story.  But we try to mix it up and make each year unique. It can be a challenge. Especially the story…how can we come at it in a new way? We worry about the people who have come every year and hear the story each year— how do we help the story impact them anew?

Our Christmas enactment is not a rehearsed or polished pageant. Costumes and props are grabbed and created with what is on hand. The casting is usually done on the spot. But every year we have fun and we engage with the story in a new way. It helps us to remember details that had been lost to us. It’s the same story, but it is different each year and is always a memorable experience. 

We’re thankful that tucked into our traditions are things that force us to look at the same, old story with fresh eyes each year, because it is an amazing story. It may be old and it may be the same each year, but we pray that it never grow tired or stale in our minds.

A people walking in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned… For to us a child is born, unto to us a son is given….

Shepherds visit in 2018

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our teammate had her stent removed without issue and was able to return to the islands with our other teammate, they arrived on Clove Island on Christmas morning! (They were able to be sheep/shepherd and wisemen for our enactment!) Our island sister on the small island who was being threatened had an island brother stand up for her and talk to the man who was threatening her. Seeing that she wasn’t alone or unprotected, the man pulled back his threats!  Continue to pray for her reception in her village. Our Christmas party Club went well and we had opportunities to share the significance of the story— we pray that it leads to more good conversations and questions. The house that we want to rent has water! The landlord set-up a cistern and pump, so that there is now a working water situation, meaning we’ll sign a contract and hopefully move in mid-January!

Wisemen in 2020

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our teammates’ house was broken into on Christmas Eve and some money was stolen. Thankfully they didn’t find much and thankfully the landlord has already been working on making their backdoor more secure. Please pray for the thieves and that our teammates would feel secure in their home. We know of two island sisters who had gatherings for their extended families for the holiday where they shared the story and good news. Pray for the seeds planted and for their opportunity to follow-up with their families. We have colleagues that have been trying to get off the islands for months to go to Madagascar (where the wife is from and where they need to go to get a passport for their newborn)— pray for supernatural intervention to open up the way! COVID is making a reappearance on the islands— the smallest island is seeing an increase in cases with a steady rise this week. So far we haven’t heard of any new cases on our island, but we continue to pray for God’s mercy on these islands and its inadequate healthcare in the midst of the global pandemic.

Happy New Year Everyone! May 2021 be full of joy!