{"id":1795,"date":"2016-12-21T22:03:26","date_gmt":"2016-12-22T02:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/stephen-jordan\/?p=1795"},"modified":"2016-12-21T22:03:26","modified_gmt":"2016-12-22T02:03:26","slug":"a-new-twist-on-an-old-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/stephen-jordan\/2016\/12\/21\/a-new-twist-on-an-old-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Twist on an Old Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

In December 2003, our first Christmas in this village, a group of carolers stopped by our house one night.\u00a0 In a way, it was fun.\u00a0 They sang familiar carols, but the words were in their mother tongue.\u00a0 After they sang several carols, we thanked them by giving them some of Ginger\u2019s homemade Christmas cookies and some Coke.\u00a0 Before they left our home, they handed us an envelope.\u00a0 We said, \u201cthank you\u201d, and handed them back the envelope, still empty.\u00a0 They had hoped for a financial gift for their local church.\u00a0 Carolers came year after year from the \u201clocal church\u201d, until 2009.\u00a0 That is the year our team first shared the Good News to them.\u00a0 Looking back at our pictures of these carolers, almost half of them now attend Faith Bible Church.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n

\"Rebekah,
Rebekah, Chona and Margilynn Caroling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About a month ago, we suggested to the believers that we go caroling in the village at Christmas time.\u00a0 At first, they didn\u2019t seem excited about this idea.\u00a0 But we continued to talk to them about this and then suggested that we not ask for a financial gift from each household, but instead we give each a gift!\u00a0 The believers where ecstatic about this.<\/p>\n

\"Bryan,
Bryan, Jonathan and Luke with Caroling Gifts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Instead of asking for a financial gift, we would give them a gift!\u00a0 So we, along with several of the believers, put together 70 small gift boxes of instant coffee and snacks.\u00a0 We also included a spiritual tract that we made in Tagalog for this occasion.\u00a0 This past Sunday and Monday nights, about 30 believers went around the village caroling.\u00a0 Time after time, people tried to give the believers some pesos (money), but the believers told them that we wanted to give a gift to them.<\/p>\n

\"Abigail
Abigail and Saysay Caroling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Often the villagers didn\u2019t understand, and probably asked themselves:\u00a0 \u201cWhat, carolers who don\u2019t want money?\u201d\u00a0 And they kept on trying to give their few pesos.\u00a0 But in the end, they were the ones who received a gift.<\/p>\n

Please pray with us that God will use this opportunity to bring these people to Himself and they will receive the best gift of all, eternal life.<\/p>\n

\"Believers
Believers Caroling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In December 2003, our first Christmas in this village, a group of carolers stopped by our house one night.\u00a0 In a way, it was fun.\u00a0 They sang familiar carols, but the words were in their mother tongue.\u00a0 After they sang several carols, we thanked them by giving them some of Ginger\u2019s homemade Christmas cookies and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"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":[448,637,240],"class_list":["post-1795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","tag-ethnos360","tag-new-tribes-mission","tag-philippines","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/stephen-jordan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/stephen-jordan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/stephen-jordan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/stephen-jordan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/stephen-jordan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/stephen-jordan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/stephen-jordan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/stephen-jordan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/stephen-jordan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}