In early December, Elena, who served here last year with MMN’s Journey International program, returned after a four-month visit home for a second volunteer term. She is living here in a room down the hall from ours, and we enjoy both working and hanging out together. Almost immediately after Elena arrived, the three of us were tasked with wrapping nearly 400 presents for the children’s Christmas celebrations, and we spent many hours listening to Christmas music and chatting while we wrapped gifts and marked off names.
The Christmas celebrations took place on three different days in three different locations: December 16, 17, and 18 in Monte de Sion, La Isla, and Rumacocha. In each location, young adults from the church — dressed up as dolls and clowns — led the children in singing and dancing and games. We then handed out hot chocolate and sweet bread, and finally, gifts were distributed. The kids were told to wait until all the presents were given out to open them, and then our hours of work were gleefully ripped to pieces in a matter of seconds. It was worth it.
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| Kids showing off their presents in Rumacocha. |
There was no church in Rumacocha the Sunday morning before Christmas, but rather, we had a Christmas Eve eve service that night in Monte de Sion. We sang Christmas songs, some familiar and some less so, listened to a sermon, and watched a skit in the newly-expanded building decorated with festive curtains, lights, and ribbons. Afterward, we ate a meal together of barbecue chicken, rice, and potato salad, which felt a bit like a summer picnic except for the Santa Claus faces pinned around the room.
Peruvians celebrate Christmas on the 24th, so the whole household gathered upstairs that night for a Colombian meal of stuffed pork and some kind of addicting fried dough balls that reminded me of hush puppies. And rich Colombian hot chocolate (yum!). Afterward, we exchanged Secret Santa gifts that had been piled under the tree in the living room throughout the day.
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| In front of David and Cecy's tree on Christmas Eve. |
The two of us opened our presents on Christmas day after a late breakfast of leftover hot chocolate and panettone. Wanting to keep ourselves in the holiday spirit (it’s hard to do in 90-degree weather), Elena and Serena also baked and decorated sugar cookies that afternoon.
New Year’s Eve involved yet another feast, this time American, with roast turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and chocolate cream pie. It was, admittedly, more reminiscent of Thanksgiving, but when Cecy asked Elena to roast a turkey, we decided to run with it. After stuffing ourselves, we played Phase 10 (a card game) until midnight.
We started English classes back up again this past Thursday after a two-week break and are settling back into our normal routine. But since most of the usual children’s ministry leaders — including David and Cecy — will be leaving Saturday for a month-long sharing and learning trip to Colombia, children’s ministry is on hold until mid-February. With Juan Carlos and Cielo still in Colombia, this also means many of the church leadership tasks will fall to Elena and us. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue our work and take up new responsibilities in the new year.
We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you have a blessed new year!