The best way to spread Christmas cheer is designing cards that will help provide jobs and a sense of purpose for a group of people with disabilities.
One of our biggest jobs this month didn’t even involve leaving the workshop. Our host tasked us with designing Christmas, birthday, thank you, and blank cards. The cards needed to be crafted (not involving any handwriting or hand drawing).
We spent hours playing around with string and buttons, trying to perfectly recapture the idea we found on Pinterest. It would have been easy to get frustrated with this task, especially those of us who don’t consider themselves especially creative or crafty. However, we persevered and ended up with 6 of each kind of card.
Our host will now be able to employ a small group of people with disabilities. They will learn how to make the cards and create many of each kind. They will be paid per card created. Not only does this opportunity help provide financially for these people, but it also gives them a sense of responsibility and empowerment. Most people with disabilities are not given any chances or opportunities. Even though we didn’t get to meet them, we kept them in mind as we worked to design these cards. I hope that joy follows both the workers and the people who will buy the cards.
Another big way we spread Christmas cheer was by having a Christmas party at the orphanage. We spent many, many hours translating the Christmas list, buying gifts, and wrapping them all to be ready for 72 children. It was worth all the work to see their faces light up. The young children hugged their stuffed animals, and the older teens showed off their new watches. We were able to get about 3 small gifts for each child. We pray that they felt the love and goodness of the Father.
We were reunited with our entire squad on the 23rd. All 50 of us spent Christmas Eve at a church service and an all-you-can-eat taco restaurant. Kamiren joined me for my own personal tradition of watching It’s A Wonderful Life. We spent most of Christmas Day FaceTiming our families back home. We had worship together and played a WR version of white elephant. (The gifts were things from our packs. Imagine opening a compressible pillow or a package of tissues.)
Some things were like always this Christmas. Vietnam loves the holiday side of Christmas. There are decorations EVERYWHERE. Other things, such as eating fajitas for dinner and opening a gift that was a Circle K bag, were very different. However, the biggest thing remains the same— celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this tiny baby resided the fullness of the power of God. That mystery remains as awe-inspiring from my bedroom in Alabama to a cheap hostel in Vietnam.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. (Colossians 2:9)
