Even more exciting is how much closer an experience we are having to the real Christmas than ever before. We see shepherds perhaps much like the ones that came to visit Jesus herding large groups of cattle down the dirt roads, and we even met up with an old wise man (granted we visited him instead of him visiting us). At 103, he has had more Christmases than I can fathom and if I didn’t know better I would wonder if he was there for the actual birth of Jesus. He also gave us a sheep to be slaughtered and eaten on Christmas, so although we won’t be lying in the stable with sheep like Jesus, we will be eating one. And finally, at least one person on my team has been known to follow a star (ahem, Aaron) to find the store.
Although it is hard to be away from our friends and family during Christmas, we are blessed because no matter where we are in the world Jesus is close to us. Overall, our time in Kenya has been good but challenging. The living situation is tight, but it has continued to improve as some people have moved out of the house we are staying in and into their tents. The first week we spent doing door-to-door evangelism and praying for people in the community during the day, and had open-air meetings during the evening. Last week we hosted a conference at Pastor William’s church (the pastor whose house we are staying at), and next week we will have open-air meetings every night and we are asking the Lord what He would have us do during the day. For Christmas Team Judah plans to visit homes in the surrounding community to pray for them, give them rice and beans, sing them some Christmas carols, and invite them to the church service we will be having that day.
