Christmas

Our kids helping Mwanje make chapatis

There are certain things we love about having Christmas in Uganda.  One of our favorite celebrations is our staff Christmas party.  We all get together and have a traditional Ugandan feast that usually includes beef or chicken sauce, rice, chapati, potatoes, and matooke (plantain) with peanut sauce among other things.  Sometime during the day we play various games or competitions such as wrestling or carpetball.  Of course, the party is never complete without a huge water fight!  No one is allowed to walk away dry!  It usually lasts for several hours as it ramps up, dies down, and then someone gets it going again.  Overall, it is always a time where we laugh and play and just enjoy having fun together.  

The water fight

"Bobbing" for watermelon

Heidi and Abigail helping each other eat ice cream

One of our other favorite parts of Christmas in Uganda is delivering basins of food and household necessities to widows and struggling families in our community.  With about 20 other members of our church, we drove through our neighboring communities and delivered 40 basins to people in need.  Many common household and food items like sugar and soap become very expensive to buy around Christmas time, so people struggle to have enough money to buy the essentials, let alone have a nice Christmas meal.  We love being a part of a church that reaches out to our community by helping people to see God's love for them and help in their time of need.  And that's the true meaning of Christmas, right?  Because of His great love for us, God sent His Son to us in our desperate need and provided a way for our salvation (Romans 5:8).  

I hope that all of you are enjoying your Christmas celebrations too and that Christ remains at the center of all you do during this holiday season!