Well, this was definitely the most unusual Christmas I have experienced so far. Not for the holiday itself but in terms of setting, etc.
The most obvious thing being that I’m not at home – I’m not in the same hemisphere, let alone country or even continent. Mozambique, in terms of housing, roads, etc. looks nothing like the UK and so it doesn’t exactly feel like Christmas. Local people have been excited about Christmas from what I can tell, but I’m more likely to hear ‘Feliz Natal’ than ‘Merry Christmas’ being wished to me – the language barrier takes away somewhat from being able to enjoy the experience together. Also, instead of cold weather (last year there was even a little left over snow on the ground, closest to a white Christmas I can remember) this year I found myself pouring with sweat at least once during the day.
The most pressing of course is that I’m not spending time with family – I’m not waking up at my dad’s to have chocolate coins for breakfast, I’m not going to church with my sister to watch the kids share what Santa brought them during the night, I’m not going to my mum’s with my extended family in the afternoon. God was so kind to me though, because I was able to speak to my family back home – something no one else here has been able to do.
A group of us this morning went and helped out at a church who were giving food and drinks out to over 400 people after the Christmas service and we helped out with preparing and distributing the food. Not the quaint Christmas morning service I’m used to but still amazing (even if I can’t understand Portuguese or the local tribal language). Afterwards, the missionary who had picked us up took us back to his family’s house for lunch and we discovered that he had fast (even for UK standards) internet. So despite the fact that the internet at our base was out and no one else could speak to their family (even for the guys who came to his house with me as it was the middle of the night in the US when we were there) on Christmas day, I was able to have conversations that could even handle video calls. Thank you Jesus.
I am blessed however, to be able to be with my Z Squad family. We had a mini Carols by Candlelight service on the evening of Christmas Eve and it was great to see, because we could be more sure of coming together not only because of tradition but because we had all gone out of our way to put time into praising God (it happened not because there was a church or group that ‘just does that at Christmas’ but because we wanted it and put effort into making it happen). We also did Secret Santas and hung up our socks as stockings for people to leave encouraging notes in, so we got to give out those in the afternoon. These guys are a family to me during this year and we were all the more grateful to spend time together when we realised that we will never spend Christmas like this again.
So MERRY (belated) CHRISTMAS EVERYONE from Team Siloam – and here’s to some Happy Holidays & Season’s Greetings. Enjoy them with friends, family and those you love.
