{"id":345,"date":"2017-01-16T06:10:42","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T11:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/dj-searcy\/?p=345"},"modified":"2017-01-16T06:10:42","modified_gmt":"2017-01-16T11:10:42","slug":"christmas-in-common","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/dj-searcy\/2017\/01\/16\/christmas-in-common\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas in Common"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most missionaries from western countries who serve far from home would be willing to tell you that \"\"Christmas is not an easy time of year. \u00a0Our first Christmas on the field was spent in a remote village. \u00a0Unlike most new missionary families, we actually did get to spend Christmas\u00a0with at least part of our family. \u00a0DJ’s parents were serving in that remote village. \u00a0We also got to experience our first near-sinking while navigating one of the sets of rapids on our way up to the village. \u00a0In a speedboat. \u00a0With our 18-month-old twins. \u00a0That was when DJ learned that riding the rapids when you are the kid and your dad or a local friend is driving is fun. \u00a0Riding them when you are the driver and something goes wrong while\u00a0your children are in the boat is terrifying.<\/p>\n

Our second Christmas on the field was in the capital city. \u00a0We were overseeing (and living in) our \"\"mission’s guest home there. \u00a0God gave us a two-week break in the normal busy guest schedule and we put up a fake Christmas tree. \u00a0Until this year, that was the only “family Christmas” (by western definitions) that we have really celebrated\u00a0on the field.<\/p>\n

The following Christmases blur together. \u00a0We moved back to the village of the near-sinking. \u00a0Started using bigger boats to avoid more near-sinkings. \u00a0Became part of the life of the village as much as possible. \u00a0Which included 2 days and 3 nights of church meetings every year at Christmas. \u00a0The kids usually opened presents on Christmas morning. \u00a0They just had to hurry so we could get to the first meeting by 8:00. \u00a0We usually tried to bake a chicken and have a team Christmas dinner sometime before or after the days of meetings.<\/p>\n

Our believing friends in the village certainly would not have understood our need for a family\"\" dinner or the opening of presents (or certainly any concept of sleeping in.) \u00a0To them the 2 days and 3 nights of meetings are\u00a0very festive. \u00a0As is\u00a0the 10-12 hours spent by all the ladies in the village making cookies, banana bread, and other snacks to feed the potential several hundred attendees of said meetings. \u00a0And the huge pots of rice and cauldrons of meat and vegetables cooking over open fires in somebody’s yard.<\/p>\n

One thing we did have in common, despite our very, very different holiday trappings. \u00a0We both knew that Christmas was about Jesus. \u00a0This year in our n\"\"ew ministry location, when we finally got to set up our fake tree again, and open presents, and go to only ONE church service on Christmas day (which was at 10:00, by the way), I thought about those blurry, busy, often lonely Christmases in the village. \u00a0Can’t say I ever learned to love them. \u00a0But I sure learned to love a lot of the\u00a0people I sat on the floor making cookies with or stood in the yard stirring vegetables with. \u00a040 years ago they had no idea what Christmas was. \u00a0Now they have a beautiful, cultural way to celebrate the coming of\u00a0God’s Son to save us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most missionaries from western countries who serve far from home would be willing to tell you that Christmas is not an easy time of year. \u00a0Our first Christmas on the field was spent in a remote village. \u00a0Unlike most new missionary families, we actually did get to spend Christmas\u00a0with at least part of our family. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[448,637],"class_list":{"0":"post-345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-ethnos360","8":"tag-new-tribes-mission","9":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/dj-searcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/dj-searcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/dj-searcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/dj-searcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/dj-searcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/dj-searcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/dj-searcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/dj-searcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/dj-searcy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}