Melanesian Christmas

Jeff writes:

Our son Jonathan suggested that we send him some Christmas photos from our celebration here in PNG, so here they are.

We begin by wishing all of you a Merry Christmas. At this time of year we miss you more than ever. However, God comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to offer His comfort to others. (2 Cor. 1:3-4)

Yesterday, these men in the picture distributed Christmas presents - live chickens for a special feast. We had a choice between a big live tough bird or a smaller, more tender, frozen one. Guess what we chose?

Sue likes to bring Christmas cheer indoors. Yesterday, these dahlias were cut from our flower garden just outside our kitchen window.













We have a locally-crafted manger scene. The animals and figures are burned into bamboo by a red-hot piece of coconut husk. You should be able to recognize a shepherd, two sheep, a donkey and a cow, Mary, Jesus in the manger, Joseph, and the three wise men.

The entire scene is back lit by our Christ candle. We wait to light it Christmas morning to celebrate our Savior's birth.




We had a request to show all of you what our weather was like on Christmas day. This photo was taken from our front porch. It rained hard all last night so the morning was foggy. However, at about 9:00 a.m. the fog lifted. The mountains in the background are still hidden by clouds. In the foreground our neighbor's garden is in view complete with their banana trees. They put a sack over the banana bunch to help it ripen and to keep the flying foxes (fruit bats) from eating them.













Sue is modeling her "elf hat." She received this as a special gift at our Christmas Eve service. It lasted from 7:30 to midnight. Our principal gave these out as special incentives to get people to stick around for the whole thing. First, he presented hats to all the kids, then at another break the moms, and then (I assume) the dads. However, by that time we were both dead tired (I had preached twice that day.) We went home at 11:00 in a pouring rain. Needless to say I did not get my matching "elf hat." (If some of you are worried about our principal handing out "elf hats," he didn't. I just call them that. They were actually give aways from our vet Te Awamutu Veterinary Services. Each one has its name boldly stitched on it.) Notice that Sue is wearing hers inside out.

Sue took this shot to make you all feel envious of our perpetual spring-like weather. Of course, the drawback to it is it doesn't feel like Christmas. It got up to around 80 today.













Our principal Ezekiel started our Christmas morning service off by reading good wishes and Christmas greetings from our friends throughout the world. People really took care to create a festive holiday atmosphere in our auditorium. The poinsettias in the flower basket were picked right here on campus.









What would Christmas be without a special story for the children? Don, who is a great mate of mine from Australia, entertains the kids. Don and his wife Heather are SIL missionaries doing Bible translation work for a neighboring people group. Don is an all-around guy, who helps with all kinds of "fix-it" projects including our computer network. His wife Heather planned the worship time for our service. We enjoyed hearing the Christmas story and singing lots of familiar carols though some of the tunes were different from what we were used to singing.


The kids did a Christmas drama. I especially liked the eight-legged camel which carried the wise men to Bethlehem. Four kids got under bed sheets to bear the three wise men. One stood up at the head, and the other three bent over and held on to on to one another with each one carrying a wise man on his back. We all laughed a lot. Here they are singing their final song.









Our principal Ezekiel preached the Christmas sermon. He spoke about the two sides of Christmas. He said just like both sides of a bank note tell a person that it is genuine, the Christmas story too has another side to it which makes it true - Christ's death on the cross. The baby in the manger without the cross is not the true gospel, and neither is the cross without the Incarnation.








After the service we dedicated a new 15-seater college van to the glory of God. This van was part of a bequest from a supporter of the CLTC. This person made it possible for us to buy two vans and to pay off our remaining debt on our Port Moresby campus. We had a lot to be thankful for today.

After church Sue and I headed home to our own private celebration. She made lots of good food. We got to take a nap. We opened presents; had some cheese and crackers; ate apple pie. (Yum!); and watched the Nativity Story.

Well I have been working on this entry for a couple of hours now. (Our Internet is very slow, and Blogger has not been very cooperative.) I am going to head to bed. God bless you all and Merry Christmas!