Christmas 2011

Christ ~ always Christ
Heartwarming Christmas movies
Remembering childhood Christmases
Intimate family celebration
Snow on Christmas day!
Two hundred kids loved on
Music filling the house
A new puppy, Bella
Saviour's miraculous birth

Ashaninka volume 18

Rainy and muddy.....this was our day for the big Christmas party at the Ashaninka community.  Hot chocolate, made from chocolate bars, cinammon, cloves, sugar, powdered cocoa and evaporated milk for 150 people, a slice of the traditional Christmas sweet bread for each, called paneton, and a toy for each child were what drew the crowd.  The kids acting out the day of Jesus' birth, singing songs about God our Father, and the reading of Luke 2 were hopefully what will stick with them.


A new believer, Emma, from Pichanaki, heard what we were going to do and insisted on donating the gifts for the kids.  We know God will bless her for her generous heart.

 Lydia, our Ashaninka host, insisted on making the hot chocolate over her open fire, getting up early to get the water good and boiling and using cacao beans from her trees to add to the flavor.  We know God will bless her for her servant's heart.

A pastor friend, his daughter and two friends, all from Lima, traveled the 10 hours to share Jesus' love with these people, bringing with them games for the kids, songs, and many smiles.  We know God will bless them for their sacrifice and love.  This is actually the 4th year they have gone to this community to give some Christmas joy.  They are the ones who introduced us to this group and are very loved and appreciated.

A week later, we reapeated this whole thing at the Ashaninka elementary school of 107 kids and 4 teachers, which was a new and sweet experience for us.  The kids were rewarded for their accomplishments during the year and performed poems, songs and dances.  We were the honored guests, but were the ones who left being blessed.

A baby changes everything

Don't you just love that song?  "A baby changes everything"  Isn't that the truth!  Babies change our schedules, our sleeping habits, our perspective, our desires, our passion and our convictions.  One baby changed the course of history.  JESUS.

I imagine a young, frightened Mary, holding Joseph's hand as she delivers her firstborn.  I imagine her praising God, praying to God, trying to grasp what is happening.  And HE was born.  A human baby, crying for his mother's milk.  GOD, the baby.  How would you care for God?  How did Mary treat him, teach him, look at him?  So many questions I would love to ask her some day!

This baby did indeed, change everything.  He not only changed Mary and Joseph's lives but my life as well.  Without this miraculous birth, life would be meaningless.  Without his perfect life, there would be no hope.  Without his death and resurrection, I would be lost.


"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.....and His name shall be called Wonderful, Prince of Peace, Counselor, the Mighty God......"


My whole life has turned around
I was lost but now am found
A baby changes everything, yeah,
A baby changes everything.
Faith Hill

Ashaninka volume 17

Tonight we planned our big Christmas party which is scheduled for this Thursday, the 15th now!  There is a group from Lima also coming to help us.  We pray the seed of the Gospel will be planted in many hearts on this day, and that Christ's love will be felt through us.

As we sat around the table on tree stumps (they always give Brent and me the biggest ones, I wonder why), while the newest baby slept in a crude hammock, Kati and Edison were confronted once again with their need of Jesus in their lives.  They both admit that if they died today, they would be in Hell, but are not ready to accept Christ's gift just yet.  Please pray for them with us.

Little Mizula usually has secrets for me that go something like this, "Will you bring candy next week?"  or "Can you bring Coke next time?"  She is 4 years old and as sweet as she can be.  Of course, I can't say no to anything she asks, so this time her little secret was "Do you have some shoes my size?"  My heart just broke.  I looked at her foot and made a big deal of measuring it and promised to return with some shoes for her.  I'll probably return with Coke, candy, shoes, cookies, toys.......who knows?  (The picture below is of her.)

I have been limping around for 2 weeks now with an injured foot (dropped something very heavy on it), so Lydia took pity on me and told me to sit down (on a big tree stump) and prop my foot up.  She then proceeded to pour an oily substance from an old, dirty bottle all over my foot and gently massaged it.  She used a dirty stick to get out more and some of the chunks that were in the bottom of the bottle.  She was using snake fat.  I didn't ask if she had killed the snake or how long she had had this particular bottle of fat.  I just humbly thanked her for her kindness and told her I would follow her instructions and see if my foot felt better in the morning.  It didn't...... but the fact that she cared for me and tended to me so gently touched my heart.


She is such a servant.  She has gathered some cacao beans and has them drying in the sun so we can use them in our hot chocolate on Thursday.  She does what she can, just like the widow in the Bible who gave everything.  She made sure we were loaded down with mangos, papayas and even a small watermelon from their orchard.  I hope they are learning from us, but I can say with certainty that we are learning from them!

Ashaninka volume 16

How fun it was tonight to watch the baby ducklings follow their mother around the yard!  Also to watch the roosters and chickens wandering around.  The puppy, the little cat, the bats and the numerous bugs!  It is such fun for animal loving kids!

The air was filled with excitement as we planned our big Christmas party, to which the entire Ashaninka community is invited (all 70 families).  There will be around 120 kids and we are going to have the traditional paneton, which is Peruvian sweet bread, a must have at Christmas and hot chocolate, made the Peruvian way!  I have made many huge pots of this hot chocolate over the years but never over an open fire.  Our Ashaninka friends cook each day outside, using fire wood.  So, this will be fun and new, making hot chocolate on a blazing hot day, over a hot, hot fire!  I wonder if the taste will be affected by the smoke, I'm sure it will be.  Can't wait to taste it.  Each child will bring his own cup, mug or bowl and there will be a gift for every child.

We will play games, we will sing and we will share Jesus with all gathered.  This is an opportunity like none other.  We have not met the great majority of this community and we can't wait to meet them.  I hope we will be accepted with all of our foreign-ness.  Please, please pray that the seed will be planted in many hearts on this day (the 22nd of December) and that this will open the door wide for us to go back and revisit the ones we will meet for the first time.

Tonight, Ernan came.  He is a 9 year old boy who lives an hour up the side of the mountain and walks this hour every morning to school and every evening home from school!  He was shy but he stayed and listened to the story of Joseph.  The Bible repeats "But God was with Joseph" throughout his story, even in the worst of circumstances.  The kids repeated over and over - "But God was with Joseph", "But God was with Joseph".  As He is with us, every minute of every day.

A Christmas tree's journey

Brent's and my second Christmas together as a married couple found us counting pennies and unable to afford a Christmas tree.  Our first Christmas had been spent with family so we didn't really feel the loss or necessarily want a tree.  This year I did.  Some dear friends found out we didn't have one and were just aghast at the thought, so they generously gave us a check with enough to buy a huge, gorgeous artificial tree, and also gobs of ornaments and decorations.  The tree touched the ceiling in our little apartment and was bigger than any of our furniture!  I sat for hours and just looked at that tree, it was beautiful and decorated exactly how I had dreamed it would be!

The following year, we enjoyed the same tree.  The year after that, we were traveling on deputation to go to Cuba so the tree and fixin's were all stored.  The following Christmas, we were in Cuba and bought ourselves a sad, scrawny little tree and decorated it with sad, scrawny little ornaments.  The following year, we were with my parents and heading back to Cuba.  The following two Christmases we used our sad little tree in Cuba and were thankful for it.  The next year, we came to Peru and actually shipped our precious tree and set it up in our even smaller apartment in Lima.  Oh, how happy I was to have that tree again!  It survived storage well and was as lovely as before for the next 2 years.  The following year, we were in the U.S. with my parents once again and the tree was stored.  The next 4 years in Lima we were able to fully enjoy our great tree, used the same ornaments and added new ones each year.  A couple years ago, we spent Christmas in Texas in our own home, so we bought ourselves a small, not too scrawny tree and new ornaments.  We called it our furlough tree.  We are now back in Peru and last Christmas got our dear faithful tree out of the musty, dusty storage room and set it up, still with some of the original ornaments.  It is showing some age but is just as beautiful as ever.  

This Christmas, we are here in the jungle of Peru and once again, big green is stored and we have bought ourselves a small, scrawny little tree and some new ornaments.  I was a little sad, but the thought of digging all of our Christmas paraphernalia out and stuffing it into the back of our car and bringing it here, to set up in our even smaller apartment......just didn't seem right.  So now we have our Pichanaki tree and my sadness disappeared as soon as my Lucas started dancing around and saying how pretty it was!  My perspective was made right once again.  After all, it's only a tree.  Christmas isn't about trees and life isn't about having what we desire.  I love that tree and all of its trimmings and I'll never forget D & D who gave us the money for it.  I love the journey of my life more, though, and that tree will just have to wait until we're ready to pull it out again!

Now I need to go plug the Christmas tree lights in and enjoy our Pichanaki tree!