December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas!! We started out today getting a little bit more dressed up then usual. Brandy even let me borrow one of her entire African outfits to wear! Then we headed to church. All of the kids get new outfits on Christmas day, so it was so good to see them all in clean clothes that werent messed up! The looked so cute! We all grabbed some kids' hands and headed to church. The church service started off with the kids doing their Christmas play once again. Then John did like 3 messages... Kanesa isn't as good about translating for me, but she at least gave me the bible verses, so I could study on my own. I enjoyed the singing most that we did in between each "message." It is amazing ot be able to praise God with songs that you don't even understand the words. He is a God of all nations and all tongues and I have seen his greatness so much while I've been here, that I just have to praise Him! Also, at the end of church, John and Marie and their children sung about 5 songs that they'd prepared. It was really good. What really cracked me up was that there was on boy who just couldn't figure out which way he was supposed to sway. I'm surprised that we never had a collision!

John's family is so amazing, because I don't even know which children are his, and which are ones that he's adopted. Brandy said that he and Marie are always taking children off of the streets and into their home. He truly is looking after orphans in their distress! After church we headed back home to get all our food ready to take to Niamey. So, we had some Africans that wanted to hitch a ride, me, Brandy, Kanesa, about 50 wheat rolls, 2 pies, a green bean casserole, a sweet potato casserole, sausage balls, and honey ham. How did we make all this amazing American food in Niger you ask? Well, the sweet potato casserole - Niger does have a type of white sweet potato, but we wanted ORANGE sweet potato casserole. Kanesa happened to have some yellow and red food coloring, so we used it! haha! For the honey ham, we bought some slices of ham, and then made a honey-cinnamon paste that we put on it before putting it in the oven. Then the sausage balls - we had to make the sausage and the bisquick in order to make the sausage balls... yes, we are awesome!

But anyways, we're driving to Niamey, all this food in our laps, trying to dodge pot holes and not hit our heads on the top of the ruck when we go over "hills." We made it to the mission house though with everything intact! We went into the misson house to get online and call our families. I was able to talk to my mom, dad, and jason! Then we headed to the sustar's to eat Christmas dinner with the entire mission team. Everyone was so joyful, but there was also a feeling that people really missed their families. Missionaires make such a sacriice to be here. They are away from family, they leave confortable America for a much harder life. And sometimes they seehardly any harvest. They get sick so often, and are in a place with very porr medical care.

When we got to the sustar's we found out that karis, their younger daughter was sick and had been throwing up... on Christmas. Children get sick here so easily. It's something tha tI had never thought about before. I dont' know if I would want my children living in Africa, when they could be in America. If god called me here, it would be my choice to go, but my children wouldn't be able to make that same choice. And I cannot imagine my future without children. I think that I could live with the fact if it wasn't God's will for me to get married, (thought that sounds terrible!) but if it was the case, I would still want to adopt at least one child. And could I even put him or her though that? I have so much respect the missionaries here, and was so honed to celebrate the birth of our saviour with them.