Even though there’s no snow or tacky light tours…the missionaries at Kudjip sure know how to celebrate the Christmas season! This past week has been full of wonderful festivities and reminders that Jesus is the Reason for the Season!
Last Sunday, all the Kudjip missionaries were responsible for the entire service at the local church, Emmanuel, just outside of the station. Jordan, Zachary, Susan, and I accompanied Jeff as he led the congregation in several Christmas Carols…sung in Pidgin of course. My students sang a special…one of their songs from the Christmas play the week before…and the teen MKs read scripture verses of the Christmas story. The entire missionary family came up and sang Silent Night in Pidgin, and Teddy, Bill, and Andy played two songs on their trumpets. The service concluded with a great message by Harmon about why we need Christ….and ended with a powerful altar call and time of prayer. It was a great service!
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| Leading the congregation in Christmas Carols |
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| The entire missionary family singing Silent Night |
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| Bill, Teddy, & Andy - Trumpet Trio |
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| Praying for people during the altar call |
To continue getting into the Christmas Spirit.... Last Tuesday, I took my students caroling up at the hospital. We went to the pediatric ward and sang several songs for the patients and their families. Teddy was able to come and join us for part of the time, and the nurses and some of the patients sang along with us. After singing on the ward, we still had some time before needing to get back to school…so we went and sang at the clinic waiting area. The kids did great!
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| Singing carols in the pediatric ward |
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| Singing carols in the clinic waiting area |
On Thursday, Judy organized gingerbread house building for the kiddos’ in the afternoon. Since there are no graham crackers to be found in PNG…Australian “bush crackers” were used, and the houses were built around solid frames of Paul’s Thickened Cream. The kids had a blast decorating their houses and eating candy and leftover icing.
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| Getting ready to decorate!! |
Friday was our last day of school before Christmas Break!! YAY!!! We played Christmas music all day long, and during lunch, the kids and Judy had a surprise birthday celebration for Jorina and me! At the end of the day, we celebrated by having a small Christmas party with the kids. They received their gift bags filled with fun goodies….thanks to some generous friends and family back home….and had a blast opening them and playing with their new toys!
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| Christmas gifts under our school tree |
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| Kiddies opening their gifts! |
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Jorina & I in our silly birthday hats!
On Friday afternoon, we attended the Pediatric Ward Christmas Party. The gathering was hosted by Sister Christina, the head nurse on the Ped's Ward, and began with a time of prayer and reflecting on the past year. Massive quantities of food were prepared, including a whole cow that had been roasting under ground all day! Yum!! Each guest received a large bowl full of beef, chicken, kau kau, tarot, and roasted bananas.
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| People picking up their food bowls...... what was in the food bowls.... |
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| The A-Team! |
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| Susan and I with some of the nurses. |
Saturday evening was the annual missionary Christmas dinner. This year, it was a dinner cruise theatre and the high school students put on an incredible play while everyone ate their food. At the end of the play, I led everyone in a couple of Christmas carols, and then Santa Clause came for a visit to deliver presents to all the missionary kids! It was a delightful time of fellowship with our missionary family.
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| The amazinig scenery Teddy designed in chalk |
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| Rachel Thompson worked on this awesome sunset |
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| Singing Christmas Carols |
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| Santa pays a visit |
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Me and the munchkins
Although we are missing our friends and family back home this holiday season…we feel incredibly blessed to have such a supportive and loving missionary family here at Kudjip!
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