My First Christmas in Tanzania

The holidays can be lonesome when you're away from home and family.  I am so thankful for the blessing of a Christmas filled with friends and fun!

Things really got going the day before Christmas Eve, when the kids came to my house for the year's last session of Weddnesday school.  Here is the older kids' group.  They decorated gingerbread people (for themselves) and ornaments (for my "tree").

On Christmas Eve my friends/teammates/fellow language school veterans--Dorien, André, and kids--came over to spend the holiday with me.  After dinner the kids were put to bed, and we watched the Nativity movie.  In the morning we had hot chocolate, cookies, a pancake breakfast (Henrickson tradition), and of course--presents!

(Mom and Big Sister both had a khanga to wrap up in, so Elisa wanted one, too.)

Once the paper's off, it's time to examine presents...

Afterwards we packed up and headed to their house.  We had talked about going to a Christmas Day church service, but Dorien and I were too tired.  (You have to have some memories to laugh about later, right?  Ours was a mostly sleepless night.  Factors vary, but at the top of the list are cat allergies and the nearby hotel which became a dance hall from Christmas Eve through New Year's weekend.)

The rain came in torrents; I hear that is a local Christmas tradition.  After it cleared up we drove to the Gilmores' house.  Their family opened up their home for anyone on the team to drop by for games and snacks.  Later the Gilmore kids treated us to a special reenactment of their annual Christmas play, complete with programs, costumes, props, special effects, and directed audience participation.

The puzzle table kept me busy.

In the tropics you can play yard games on Christmas!  (Notice the long sleeves... The rain actually brought chilly weather!  Usually it's always hot.  All of us from the Northern Hemisphere rejoiced to "bundle up" for Christmas.)

In the days following Christmas, I paid visits to my housekeeper and one of my night guards.  They were so pleased that I came!  On Saturday my housekeeper insisted I stay for dinner, and I got to try a typical local dish--the tiny little fish called dagaa.  For a little while, they let me join them in preparing the fish to cook (you tear off the heads).  They're served fried crunchy along with vegetables, and you eat by smooshing some into the lump of ugali you grab from the big communal dish.  (Ugali is the staple food, a kind of corn flour doughy paste.)  The dagaa and vegetables were well prepared in a tasty sauce, and overall it tasted fine.  Certainly not as strange as I'd feared!

That was my multicultural Christmas!  Wonder what will happen next year?

Scripture Translated!

Friday marked an exciting milestone for the Mara Cluster translation project.  The first two chapters of Luke have now been translated and published into all nine target languages!  This year translation began in earnest, and the team started with Luke 1-2, aiming to finish in time for Christmas.  By God's grace this goal was realized, and we all came together Friday to celebrate.

Under a simple pavilion on the office compound we gathered to thank God and dedicate these new Scriptures.  It was good to see the Cluster all together, in one body (as many as could come)--missionaries and Tanzanians, translators and support personnel (like myself).  Usually I am not at the office, so I am very grateful to the sensitivity of my students' parents for making it possible for me to attend!  Several church leaders also joined us as our honored guests.  Here they are praying over the new Luke 1-2 booklets after ceremonially cutting the ribbons.

Each of the translators received a copy of the first two chapters of Luke in his or her own language.  Then we heard the Christmas story read aloud, one portion in each of the nine languages.  When the first translator stood and started reading in his language, Jita, I was surprised by how much it moved me.  His speech sounded so different from Swahili!  Imagine, hearing the story of Jesus's birth always in such a different language, never in your own.  As the story continued in eight more languages, I looked around at my teammates and saw that mine were not the only eyes suspiciously moist.

Gospel of Luke, chapters 1 & 2, first time in these languages

Our prayer is that these copies of the Christmas story will get into homes and churches, that people across the Mara region will gain a fresh understanding of God's love for them, for their people specifically, through the gift of His Son.