{"id":446,"date":"2020-12-23T03:10:31","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T09:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/?p=446"},"modified":"2020-12-23T03:10:35","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T09:10:35","slug":"christmas-in-obscurity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/2020\/12\/23\/christmas-in-obscurity\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas in Obscurity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Deeds will not be less valiant because they are upraised.” – J.R.R. Tolkien<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you ever feel like your sacrifices are unnoticed?  Maybe you worked hard today preparing a meal your kids wouldn’t eat, washing dishes that immediately ended up dirty again, or sending emails that no one read.  Maybe you’ve made bigger sacrifices that went unnoticed.  Well, on Christmas, God made the biggest sacrifice in history, and most of the world was indifferent.  In our nativity scenes, we show who was present after Jesus’ birth, but we don’t often think about who wasn’t.  Where were the religious leaders?  Where were all the Jewish people waiting for their messiah?

There is a Chris Tomlin song that says, “You could’ve come like a mighty storm, with all the strength of a hurricane… but you came like the winter snow, quiet, and soft and slow.”  Jesus chose to come and sacrifice for us in obscurity.  So let’s be content in living like our messiah, serving others even in ways unnoticed.

That’s what we have been trying to remind ourselves to do lately.  Matt has been working hard on doing paperwork to help missionaries to get back to PNG.  When people come back, they have to quarantine for two weeks, so we’ve been visiting them from a distance and seeing if there is anything they need.  I’ve been homeschooling and planning for teaching my class starting in January.  Matt just finished his first counseling class.  We’ve been trying to have people over and encourage them.  Our hearts continue to be burdened for caring for other missionaries.  There are so many hard situations, and we want to do what we can to support the missionaries who are in the bush, as well as those around us.

We pray that this Christmas you can find ways to love and serve those around you, even when it is unnoticed, and that you will experience the peace and joy that comes from our Savior, who sees even what is done in obscurity.

Merry Christmas!

Till all know,
Matt, Karissa, Ty, and Wyck<\/td><\/tr>
\"\"
We made a birthday cake for Jesus

Praise God:
– Karissa is trying a new medicine for headaches and so far it seems to be helping
– Missionaries continue to be able to return to the country (some pictured below)
– NCA is scheduled to start in January
– Matt finished his first counseling class

\"\"
The boys with our Christmas tree
\"\"
Karissa visiting a quarantined friend (socially distanced)

Please Pray:
– that the 68 missionaries hoping to return in January are able to do so
– for endurance for Matt as he continues to work hard at helping people to get into the country
– for Karissa as she prepares to start teaching in January
– for missionaries missing home during the holidays<\/td><\/tr>
What are we supporting? \u00a0This month’s tribal focus:\"\"On August 19, 2019 missionaries began teaching the Bible to the Kaje people. \u00a0The entire village, 350 people, came to the teachings, and many came to faith! This past June, 170 people were baptized. \u00a0The Kaje church has been born! \u00a0Please pray for this church as they are learning a new way of life. \u00a0Please check out the links below. \u00a0The first one is a video of the teaching about Christ’s death, and the second is a video of this summer’s baptisms. \u00a0Guys, this is so exciting! \u00a0We are a part of making this happen, and so are you!

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8wIaC4Sacuc<\/a>

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dKCJIN_Z2H0<\/a>

\u00a0Here is some more of what we have been up to:<\/strong>\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Deeds will not be less valiant because they are upraised.” – J.R.R. Tolkien Do you ever feel like your sacrifices are unnoticed?  Maybe you worked hard today preparing a meal your kids wouldn’t eat, washing dishes that immediately ended up dirty again, or sending emails that no one read.  Maybe you’ve made bigger sacrifices that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1074,"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":[],"class_list":["post-446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}