John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life....

 We have mentioned before that on Sunday mornings at 7am Kent and I are teaching the book of John to the children 10 years and older. We began this shortly after we arrived here nearly 14 months ago. At the same time, these same children were attending confirmation classes at the local Lutheran church here in Tanzania.  We wanted to teach the book of John so that every child would have the opportunity to know what it means to follow Christ.  Christmas was the time decided for 12 of our children to be confirmed. This was one of several events taking place during our Christmas season.

Christmas in Tanzania is not very commercial but a time of remembering that Christ came to earth to die for our sins so we might live in eternity with Him. This is what is celebrated here and there are no gifts on Christmas day. The children get up on Christmas morning and go to church and come home to a nice meal and a quiet day.

On Christmas Eve this year, we did have a wonderful time of reading the Christmas story in Luke, punctuated with Christmas Carols. We did this in the "banda" and all the children had glow bracelets and glow sticks for the evening. It was a special way for us to celebrate Christmas eve with the children.

All of our children received new Christmas clothes to wear on Christmas day. Many of the new clothes were traditional shirts and dresses but some had also been provided by sponsors. All of the children looked really nice going to church on Christmas morning.

Many ask what we give the Children as gifts for Christmas and this varies from year to year. Usually a small gift is given to each child, such as a coloring book or small journal. We also use gifts sent by the sponsors for many of the children. There is also a game suitable for each cottage and all these gifts are given on December 26th which is "boxing day". I love that the focus of Christmas is Christ and not gifts.

All that being said, we did give some really special "gifts" this year that incredibly arrived on December 24th. Christmas here in Tanzania is often filled with special blessing and this year we received these blessing from two different sources. The first arrived after a couple from the US visited us on the 22nd of December. They called on the 23rd and said a special gift for the children would arrive on December 24th. Needless to say, Kent and I said nothing to the children until the gift arrived.

Untold excitement

 The couple had purchased SIX new bicycles in Arusha (a town about 80 kilometers from us) and they were delivered around dinner time on December 24th. There is just no way to describe the joy seen in these kids. We have a few bikes here but they are very worn out with 60 riders and they are often in need of repair! The couple had sent two large, two medium and two small bikes with training wheels. Some of the children who had never been on a bike now were able to ride.
The man who delivered the bikes was a Tanzanian safari driver. He brought his whole family to see the work here at Rafiki and delivered the bikes FREE so he could share in the joy of these kids.

Finally able to learn to ride a bike

 Now if that story isn't enough to make anyone excited about "giving" in the Christmas season, we had another true gift of generosity on December 24th. Early on the 24th my assistant called me saying that someone at the Church where our children go, would like to donate 10 kg of meat 10 CASES of soda and 30kg of rice for our confirmation celebration!! What a wonderful surprise at the perfect time. Confirmation was scheduled for the 26th of December.

We had 12 children confirmed and confirmation in Tanzania is a BIG event.We had white dresses made for the girls (which will be passed down to the next group) and the boys looked really smart in their black pants and white shirts.

The children were each to invite 4 relatives or friends to the service and meal which followed. The church service lasted three hours but I must say it was beautiful. It was also very warm for a December day under a tin roof. We returned to Rafiki where the mothers had decorated the dining room for the children. The mothers also designed and purchased their own dresses to match for the service. I was so proud that the mothers had decided on their own and at their own expense to honor the children by dressing in a festive way.

 With three BIG events of joy and a lot of small events of joy over the Christmas season our hearts were again warmed by the privilege of being in this country. Kent, Hannah Marie (a short term missionary who gave up her family Christmas to help us here) and I cooked all three meals on Christmas day. I can't not tell the.... now funny...... story of Christmas breakfast.

Head table for the confirmation children

Those of you who know us well, know that it has long been a tradition in the Martin house to have pancakes on Saturday morning. Soooo, why not make pancakes for our children for Christmas morning before church? I am moderately familiar with the kitchen in the dining hall so thought that this would be a relatively easy task... and our mini missionary works at Panera.... so no sweat... right?  Well we decided how many recipes of the pancakes and got to work. Hannah mixed and I fried and Kent set tables. We had the timing down pretty well and the children arrived for the pancakes. I was getting pretty hungry as they smelled really good so just before I took them to the tables, I pinched off a small piece............OH MY WORD...... I THOUGHT I had used wheat flour but low and behold I had gotten the Ugali (corn) flour!!!! I promise you they look the same when they are in a 30 gal container!  At this point there was nothing we could do but serve the pancakes. I will say these children are amazingly forgiving!!!!! NOT A SINGLE child said they did not like the pancakes... I can't say they said they LIKED them either, but they all disappeared with no complaints.  A day in the life of a childcare director at Rafiki.......

a very proud grandfather

Mothers all dressed for the party

 I must say that the holidays are different here with family so far away... but I will certainly say we are not bored and have little time to dwell on being anywhere but here! We love what we do and enjoy our jobs and surroundings. Maybe you should consider joining us next Christmas here in Tanzania. I promise you, it will not be like any Christmas you have ever experienced and I promise you will be BLESSED.

Peggy with one of our Confirmation children