Last week was one filled with sweet friends, delicious food, and much deserved worship! Christmas and New Years were both so different from what I have experienced back home but so simplistic and focused on the Lord. I will remember these celebrations for years and years!
*CHRISTMAS*
Going into Christmas, I knew it was going to be different. I knew it would be different, but I still knew that it was going to be special and memorable. On Christmas Eve, me and my teammates laid on the floor and wrote notes to one another, watched ELF, and drank peppermint hot chocolate (even though it was like 75 degrees outside…it was worth it!) We had hung “sockings” on the window bars and stuffed them full of love letters! On Christmas morning we all woke up in our cozy sleeping bags that we have arranged on the living room floor of our host’s quaint home. Within minutes of waking up, we had all taken our socks off the window and read our letters. It was such a fun twist to the typical american stockings that my family always does on Christmas. I definitely want to make this a tradition for my Christmas’ to come! After opening stockings, my darling team leader, Mallory, made pancakes and eggs for the team! We ate and then couldn’t wait any longer to open up gifts, so we all sat in a circle and passed out our secret santa gifts that had been sitting underneath our christmas tree drawing… sadly we couldn’t get a real tree this year. We spent a mere $10 on our gifts but they were all so meaningful and personal that mine now is worth much more than $10 to me. The gifts were wrapped in an arrangement of styles… there were a few wrapped in gift bags, one wrapped in a grocery bag, one tucked inside of a cracker box, and one inside of a milk box. Oh, life on a budget!! For the afternoon we all lounged around, took naps, watched christmas movies, and then feasted!! We decided to make our favorite summer meal because it’s summer here after all so we ate burgers, corn, green beans, AND rainbow cake!! For the rest for the afternoon, we listened to a podcast, read, and just hung out together. AND THEN… we mustered up the energy and motivation to go outside and do the Insanity fitness test! We all came in from sweating and working out and then popped christmas crackers and drank sparkling grape juice in celebration! Christmas 2016 was definitely one to remember!
*NEW YEARS EVE*
This was by far my favorite New Years Eve celebration I’ve encountered. That evening we had Denny, her brothers, and some of their friends over to the house. For a little while we sat in the house and listened to music and then around 7 we began to cook our feast! I helped my new brother, Nvulane, cook pop and then watched the guys cook the meat outside for a while. PS. I am now an expert at cooking pop thanks to him and one of Denny’s sweet friends! Watch out mom, I’ll be coming home with all new recipes to cook for the fam!! By the time our feast was finished being cooked, the campfire outside had grown so we made our plates of chicken, pork, pop, beets, and other veggies and sat around the campfire to eat. That night, we also had the great honor to celebrate Denny’s birthday with her. We celebrated the beautiful woman of God that she is and sang her happy birthday and then ate cake and ice cream to celebrate her. I am so grateful for this woman and she is teaching me so much about what a woman of God looks like. That night around 11 we all sat around the fire together and celebrated what the Lord did in 2016. We shared the joys and the hurts and how awesome our God is for bringing us into another year! And then until the new year and then 30 minutes after, we praised and worshiped God. I prayed about the year to come and stood in expectation of what God will bring me into during 2017. I already know this year is going to be one of surrender, loving deeper, and living in greater intimacy with God, my friends, and my family. For the rest of the night we had a dance battle, a few rounds of games, and then I crashed while everyone else stayed up until the morning… Now I know that African New Years Eve parties last ALL NIGHT LONG!
My time here in Lesotho has been amazing. I have met new friends, experienced a new culture, and celebrated 2 holidays here!! I will be posting another blog soon about the ministry we have been doing here at the youth center, orphanage, and mall ministry! Hope you all had a blessed holiday season and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
