Merry Christmas

Wow, is it ever harder to get a good blog post written when the kids are out of school!  But I wanted to take at least a moment to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  I thought, today, that I would share a few of my favorite Advent reflections.  These quotes are forward looking, live Christmas every day kind of thoughts.  I hope you are moved or challenged by something here.

“We prefer to think of ourselves as givers – powerful, competent, self-sufficient, capable people whose goodness motivates us to employ some of our power, competence and gifts to benefit the less fortunate.  This is a direct contradiction of the Biblical account of the first Christmas.  There we are portrayed not as the givers we wish we were, but as the receivers we are.  Luke and Matthew go to great lengths to demonstrate that we—with our power, generosity, competence and capabilities—had little to do with God’s work in Jesus… We didn’t think of it, understand it, or approve it.  All we could do, at Bethlehem, was receive it.  A gift from a God we hardly even knew.”  William Willimon

So where does that put us, we who love to play Santa?  If we have received, how then shall we return the gift?  One good place to start is to find and read the words to the great missionary hymn, “Joy to the World”.  Ever read that one through?  Can we be part of what God is doing through Jesus?  “He comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found!”  The good news is that we can.  We can keep Christmas through our gifts of service, and of giving to the service of others around the world.

Karl Barth explains it so well.  He says, “Just imagine if we were to adapt everything that gratifies and moves us into the life and movement of God’s Kingdom, so that we personally are, so to speak, taken out of play.  Simply love!  Simply hope!  Simply rejoice!  Simply strive!  But in everything, do it no longer from yourself, but rather from God!  Everything great that is hidden in you can indeed be great only in God. “  Doesn’t this one just make you want to shout, YES, God!   I think my prayer for 2010 will be, “take me out of play, God.  Move through me in such a way that people see Jesus, all year long.” 

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare him room,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found,

Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders, wonders, of His love.

--Isaac Watts

And from the amazing Marva Dawn, a theologian living right here in Washington, “What’s wrong with Santa Claus… is that the theology is backwards.  Santa teaches children that if they are good, then they will be rewarded.  The Christ Child comes instead to tell us that, even though we cannot be good, God gives us the greatest gift of all anyway.”  I think this is such an important truth, and she says it in such a way that it would be simple to share it with our children tonight, or tomorrow morning, after the jolly elf has left his treasures.

 Nan Van Zwol

Catalog Season by Nan VanZwol

Did you ever have one of those moments when you thought God was telling you something, but you weren’t sure, and, more to the point, weren’t sure if you wanted to hear it?  My Saturday mail brought in an interesting juxtaposition of catalogs.  First was the BE: At the Bellevue Collection, a sparkling display of the best our Eastside retailers have to offer this Holiday Season.  But right under that glowing mag of “must-have HOLIDAY GIFTS” was a catalog of actual needs.  Yup, the annual World Vision Gift Catalog has arrived. 

Now, maybe you get the World Vision Gift Catalog, and you see where this is going.  If you haven’t seen it, it’s a lot like the FPCB Alternative Gifts Market Catalog, which should be coming out soon.  The major difference is that the World Vision folk have these glossy, full color photographs of gorgeous kids from all over the world whose lives have been changed by the gift of a duck, pig, goat, or the like.  The FPCB version has projects like those, as well as some closer to home and various ministries our church supports.  The implied suggestion of such catalogs is that we, who have much, could best celebrate the season by sharing our plenty with those Jesus talked so much about.  I imagine the message of the mall catalog and the World Vision catalog arriving on the same day is not lost on many of us.

After spending a few minutes with the World Vision catalog, suddenly that fabulous blue Coach purse in the BE catalog doesn’t seem quite as much as a “must-have”.  I had both catalogs open together, and flipped through the pages.  For the price of that purse, I could provide three women with microloans, and get a fetching hobo bag made by a group of Thai women who received one of these loans a previous year.   Worth it?  Which one would bring me more pleasure in the long run?  I can see the Thai handbag  as a conversation starter and possible relational bridge-builder.  The Coach bag?  Not so much.

Looking at a sweet-faced Bangladeshi girl with her new duck, I was reminded what Jesus says in Matthew 25, how when we care for those in need we are really caring for Jesus.  What better way to celebrate Jesus’ birthday than to give presents that really are for him?

What would happen if we talked to our children about changing Christmas?  Making Christmas about giving in the way that Jesus gave?  Now those are memories worth making!  I am sure there will still be packages with Legos in them under our tree.  I imagine there will be some pretty package from my husband there, too.   And I’m sure we will still do things to celebrate the season—the boys are already talking about Snowflake Lane—but I do think this is the year that God is calling us to make some changes.  I am ready to find out if we can have a memory-filled, fun Christmas if we spend half our Christmas budget on alternative gifts, and half on toys for the kiddos.   I will be keeping my eye out for that AGM (Alternative Gifts Market) catalog.  Will you?

Trying to Leave Rwanda

We are sitting in the Kigali Airport hoping to leave around 10PM local time to Brussels.  It is still up in the air where we will be landing or going from there.  We will keep everyone posted as quickly as we can.

Team Rwanda

Off to CFC

Greetings again from Rwanda!

We have arrived in Rwanagama safely and have starting interacting with the students and serving.

Yesterday we set up all the donated clothes in an unused classroom and arranged for each student (approx 150 students in all) to come and choose a shirt for themselves. T-shirts were for boys and we had feminine shirts for girls. The children are very obedient. They each came in and selected their shirt and thanked us as they quietly left. Not one child begged for more, and when they got to their classroom, they were so excited for their gently used new shirt.

Later in the day we set up tables and interviewed each child for updated information for their sponsor. The children are very curious about America. They all have come from the street. They are happy here and are so thankful to have their basic needs met, such as food, shelter and clothing. So many of them are committed to Christ and you can see the joy of God in their eyes. They are so happy, yet they have nothing. The interviews revealed they long to hear from their sponsors. Getting a letter from their sponsor could be the highlight of their whole season. Most of them don’t have parents, which were killed in the genocide, and have siblings, if any, scattered across the country. They desire so much to have a family, and to have a mother and father and live a family life. There is this sense of longing…longing for something they hope for…a family and parents. The children are very affectionate, and when I talked with them, they gather around me, touching me, putting their arms around me, hugging me and playing with my hair. They need so much love.

Today we helped organize the library. There were about nine of us that worked for 3 hours getting books donated to the school to be ready to be put on the shelf for the children to read. The books were donated through the Peace Corps. This afternoon we will continue our interviewing of the students.

Every afternoon we have a downpour and teaching has to stop because it’s raining so hard on the metal roof, no one can hear or talk. So we just sit and smile at each other while we wait for the rain cloud to pass over!  Right now as I write, there is thunder rumbling in the distance. We usually get a big downpour in the afternoon. Mornings are blue sky, sunny and hot (+90 F).

Tonight our team is going out for dinner in town. Our hotel has been feeding us all our meals so far.

Friday we will be going to an orphanage to visit more orphans in need of love.

On a personal note, today is my birthday. Kat and Steve, bless their hearts, took me into town (we walked) and bought me lunch at a local restaurant. After lunch, we took a “bicycle taxi” ride back to our hotel. It was a great adventure and so much fun!

Thank all of you who are praying for us and have donated in some fashion towards our mission. All items are needed desperately to support the children in their learning. Rwanda needs these children to learn and grow so they can make their country strong again. Please continue to pray for us for safety of travel and that God continues to work in us.  Blessings to all of you.

Mary Williams

Team Member

PS Oh! Almost forgot to mention the US Ambassador to Rwanda just happened to show up at school today. He said very nice things about the mission of the school, thanking us personally. We all got to meet him and shake his hand.

Greetings to all from Rwanda!

We arrived safely, made all our connections smoothly and all flights were on time. We arrived in Kigali at 7:00 pm which was perfect timing since we were all exhausted from 20 hours in flight. We are staying at AEE (African Evangelical Enterprises) in Kigali who had dinner waiting for us when we arrived (just one example of their great hospitality here). Typical food is potatoes, pasta, beef with sauce and steamed vegetables. Breakfasts are usually dry cereal with milk, GREAT coffee, bananas, pineapple, crepes and eggs. We are eating well!

And we are playing hard!

Our first morning, we were up at 6:30 AM for a trekke up to Byumba to a boarding school. Byumba is located in northern Rwanda, near the Uganda border. It took approx 2 hours by car through beautiful, steep hills that wound around the landscape dotted with patchworks of farming fields and terraced gardens that were obviously created by hand. We were met at the school by Joseph Nyamutera and Christine who represented Mercy Ministries...a healing and reconciliation program in Rwanda. Our team was given the task to work side by side with some of the students painting tables, walls, and window shutters of the dining hall at the school. We were given a tour of the school which included observing thier livestock of several cows and pigs. It is considered a great value to have these animals because they generate revenue for the school and the students take care of them, creating self esteem for the students. They served us lunch in a classroom with other students and a few governmental officials of the area which consisted of the same menu stated above. We thought we were all done, but the Headmaster called an assembly gathering to show appreciation towards the volunteers of the day's project, which included issuing certificates to each of us for our work. The children sang accapella for us, which was beautiful and the finale was ALL the students singing and dancing for us, inviting some of us that were comfortable to dance, to join them. When we had finished, dust was floating in the air from all our feet pounding the floor!
My personal experience was with several female students, about the age of 12-14. I offered to help them with thier wash, which they were scrubbing in a bucket in the backyard. They found this offer hilarious and invited to show me their sleeping dormitory. It was about 2000 sf concrete building with bunk beds tightly lined up. They showed me what was special to them...stuffed animals and dolls. We took pictures of each other, and the dolls. They asked lots of questions about America. After the assembly, one of the girls named Jen, called my name out. She had this look on her face of longing. It was crowded and noisy as everyone was exiting. All I could do was stroke her head, look in her eyes and tell her God loves her and will take care of. She has no family to back her up. No parents that she can "go home" to. Once they receive thier graduation certificate, they are on their own. This broke my heart which had just been gloriously charmed by their dancing and singing.

As children of God, we are spiritually connected to all these people here. It is not us in America, and "them" in Africa. We are all under one God. We are brothers and sisters under God. We have a responsibility to take care and love these people. Even though we have different cultural experiences, ethnicity does not get in the way of love.

Speaking for the group, thank you for your support. We see God at work here. They are paving roads, laying down fiberoptics and building schools. Please feel confident that your prayers and support are working.

In God’s love,
Mary Williams
Team Member