While it was hard to be away from family at Christmas… if I had to be anywhere else..with anybody else this is exactly where I would have picked to be. Sitting in Mozambique in the 100 degree heat, living under a one small roof with 20 people from my Z-Squad family.
As you may have come to realize… we often have to improvise on the World Race. When you are living out of a backpack on a limited budget you don't have much to work with. Thus, we created a new kind of Christmas. It was simple, yet holy. Cheap, but full of so much love.
My traditional stocking over the fireplace has been replaced with a dirty sock hanging from a piece of cloths line.
Getting dressed up in a special outfit for Christmas dinner now means putting on something you haven’t wore in at least a few days (which hopefully means it smells halfway decent).
I may not have gotten a kiss under the mistletoe this year, but I did get a hug from Enya under the "hug mistletoe".
My traditional Christmas Eve candlelight service at home has been replaced by 3 candles and a computer for playing silent night.
Instead of going to the mall to see Santa, he came to our house, bringing gifts of chocolate and diet coke (perhaps the only thing any of us actually wanted for Christmas this year).
Instead of opening presents this year, I spent Christmas morning cutting bread and serving a meal to over 450 kids at a small church.
The live nativity I have seen so many times has a much bigger impact when you see it done by a group of Mozambican kids who literally have nothing in their lives, except for the love of Christ.
I will finish with a poem written by one of my team mates as a secret santa gift for Shannon.
Twas The Night Before Christmas (In Mozambique)!
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Mozambique
Not a racer was stirring, or making a peep
Ankle socks were hung off a clothing line with care
In hopes that some chocolate would soon appear there.
Team Sound was on the floor, sleeping pads as their beds
While visions of re-fillable sodas danced in our heads
All in our bug-nets, and all waiting for sleep
“No Malaria!” We cried, or we’d all surely weep.
Oh, such an annoyance, how intense is the heat.
But after long days in the fields, there’s little that sleep can’t beat.
Our nails are dirty and our shoulders are burned,
But the true meaning of beauty is what we’ve all learned.
Perfect hair and fancy jewelry, beauty is not
Good thing too, because there’s no way that’s happening when it’s this hot
No, beauty it seems, is not found in make-up or new jeans,
But rather in hearts, willing hands, and a love for the least of these.
Proverbs 31 women, we all long to become
Our hearts are set above, striving after the One.
The One who purifies, redeems and makes new
Never on this earth will we find a love so true.
Yes, Jesus is it, our hearts and our reasons
We will run after Him through the changing of seasons
Even though, it appears, winter exists in Mozambique not,
Sound will keep running forward, even though here, it is HOT.
So, although it is Christmas, and we’re all far from home,
We’ll continue on this race
And keep running toward the throne
For family we’ve become, sisters, all of us
And Christmas with the ones we love, surely is a must.
From Shannon, Kat and Maggie,
Jess Britni and Sara, too
We wish you a Merry Christmas
From our little home in Africa, directly back to you.
