Happy Christmas at Home Highlights

We had Miss K and Mongolian neighbors over for Christmas Eve dinner.

 Here's the kids hearing their teacher read the gospel according to Charlie Brown.

 Josiah wearing a cowboy hat in colors of the Mongolian flag.

 Renee wearing a new ring.

 Clara with her new tiara and karaoke presents.

Josiah likes his new sword.

 And his reindeer antlers.  

Renee and Jeremy with our favorite present from the kids.

Christmas Eve Service in English

With our three or four American missionary families in Darhan, we figured we had enough to warrant a service in English.  

 We had songs, scripture, a short sermon, and the all-important Christmas pageant.  

Maggie helped with direction and acting as an angel.  Lydia and Johanna were wise men and shepherds.  Clara starred as Mary, and Josiah was a sheep. :~) He didn't seem to mind the demotion from playing Jesus four years ago.

It was nice to see several Mongolians and a few other foreigners take part and talk after the service.

Cama Christmas Party

This was the first year we ever went out to celebrate Christmas.  Here we are in New Darhan.

In addition we marked 15 years of Cama Services at its present location, and the announcement and anointing of Mongolian Manager, Dawaa to take the helm in 2017.

Darhan CR Feeds the Homeless

Being in a position to feed homeless or whoever makes our being here seem meaningful on days like this in December, close to Christmas.  We couldn't be here without supporters, and they wouldn't support us without Jesus.

The heavy lifting of cooking and serving gets done by our Celebrate Recovery staff of CAMA Services.

We trust God is pleased with small efforts to help in a small way, and it helps folks understand Christ cares for them at Christmas.

Holiday Bustle

I hope yours is winding down.  We have a Cama Christmas party tomorrow, the first time we're doing it at a local restaurant.  Added to that is a little bit of extra pomp and ceremony that adds pressure.

Then we will offer a Christmas Eve service to the community in English.  Four or five American families will gather to sing, recite, and see the Christmas story enacted.  We have given out invitations to Mongolians and expect some to come.  That's a bit more pressure.

Then we've got people coming to our home for Christmas Eve dinner, and all the preparations for Christmas morning.  Most of the shopping is done, maybe even over-done.  But wrapping and what else is needed on top of baking and dishes is likely to be a late night.

Christmas Day, the kids have duties with their Sunday School class.  So we're in for a big few days of festivities.  Hopefully that will make the release and rest afterward than more meaningful.

Through it all I wish you peace and glimpses of the treasure of the greatest Gift at Christmas.

Sing Along and Signs of the Season

We got together with faith family to sing Christmas songs yesterday after church.  It was enjoyable to get through six verses of some of these old faithful hymns.

We got to talking about songs we hear in public places.  In years past secular Christmas and New Years songs by International artists like AABA blared over restaurant and shop speakers.

But this year we are noticing more American and traditional Christmas songs with lyrics that announce the birth of the Savior.  What a blessing to be here to witness 'signs of the kingdom'.

We talked about even if the motivation is materialism, the sights and sounds of this season can still act as open doors and opportunities to explain to people the reason for the Christ of Christmas.

Alliance Church Leaders Meeting

Getting together to talk is the first step to encourage shepherds of small flocks in far-flung corners of Mongolia.  We were able to gather in Darhan in late November.

Even though many could not make the trip, we made a little progress in developing policy and structure of this small part of the worldwide Alliance family.  "The battle belongs to the Lord"

Host Bible Teaching

Renee teaching "Bible Storytelling" at Kingdom Leaders Training Center

"Host" is the acronym of the name of our Bible school in Mongolian.