At the dedication of our newest Kodiak, pictured behind us

Christmas in the Tropics

        What is it like you ask?  Well it is nothing like the Christmases that I have ever spent!  It is downright hot on most days which makes for a lot of sweat!  Makeup just runs off my face or won’t even go on due to the sweat already there right after a shower.  Rather than give you the wrong impression by talking about all the negatives, I will share what is right about Christmas here.  We share it with some pretty amazing people who love our Lord Jesus with all of their heart.  Hearing our old familiar Christmas songs sung from the heart in the Indonesian language warms my heart beyond compare!  I Know that we worship the same Christ child who put off heaven and came to earth to love us and that makes us brothers and sisters.  Who do we want to spend time with during the holidays but our family?  We are doing that!  Yes, we miss our immediate earthly family but we are getting a foretaste of Glory when we shall all sing God’s praises while in His presence for Eternity!  I understand that more over here.  We are not the same color, and there are many different dialects of Indonesian heard all around us, but we love the same God.  There is much work to do in translating God's Word into those many dialects.  They all need to hear the great news that Jesus Christ is born!  
That is why we are here! J

         All that being said, a huge difference between being here and home (or anywhere else on earth) are the “Pondok Natals” Christmas huts as pictured above.  These are huts that are built for the supreme purpose of blaring Christmas Music to everyone in ear shot for at least a mile around.  They are not just wimpy huts, they are stout buildings.  When you have 3 or 4 of these in your neighborhood, they all go off at different times and frequently together.  They are not coordinated at all so to each of them it might be a “joyful Noise” but to those around it is just “Noise”.  I must admit though that hearing Christmas music is delightful to me.  It is my favorite time of the year!  They decide to play them at 2AM or whenever their blessed little hearts please!  Maybe it is a lash back at the muslim mosques that go off regularly and blare their uncoordinated chants.  We can hear 3 or sometimes 4 mosques at any given time.  The first one goes off @ 4AM.  At least we know that one is coming. The Pondok Natals have no schedule. 

The last day of school before Christmas break we had a "Read in", where we wore our PJs to school and the kids brought blankets, pillows stuffed animals etc. and we lounged around the room reading.  The neighboring 3rd grade class joined us.  We opened the adjoining door and the children moved freely between the rooms.  My room turned into tent city!  The blankets were draped around my desk, over desks and tables, and we  used binder clips to hold them in place.  We have reading buddies   with the Kindergarten class every Thursday so they joined us for 30 minutes of the day.  They were overjoyed at being able to read in tents! :)

My 3rd grade partner teacher Sarah Sharp and I 

Half of my class,                                                                        the other half left early for Christmas break.

   

Tent City

 Most of the children I work with have never seen snow except in pictures!  When they sing “White Christmas” they only have seen the idea.  I am amused when I see them put on their jackets on a windy day and say they are cold.  I haven’t been cold once here.  I was a little chilled when we visited Wamena in the highlands but not cold!  I actually put on a sweater in June while we were there.  Most Papuans think that Wamena is cold.  They also believe that wind will make you sick.  If Western people turn on a fan in a restaurant, the Indonesians will move away out of the “Wind”.  A bride and groom will sit for hours greeting guests and sweating rather than turning on a fan to cool themselves off.  Some brides get their younger cousins or siblings to fan them with a handheld fan.  Why that is O.K. and an electric is not O.K. is beyond me!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and pray that you are able to keep “Christ” in Christmas amidst all the noise of the season.

I have much more to share with you that I haven't had time to blog about.  Look for more blog updates between now and Jan 13th.