The Village Christmas, Wow!

 It was not easy posing 12 kids for a photo when they were anxious to open their gifts, but Amber made it happen!  Brian rented a jumping castle for Christmas and needless to say, all of the children slept very well for a few nights.  The children received gifts from RHI Village as well as from their sponsors.  They made out very well and fun was had by everyone.  This is a really mild explanation of the activities as you can only imagine the yelling and happiness expressed by these little ones!

Sunday Church

So, Bob made a new buddy on Christmas Sunday.  As we all got off the RHV bus this little guy, Siya (Seeya) put his arms up in the air saying he wanted to be picked up.  Bob obliged and Siya was his buddy through the entire service, sitting on his lap and refusing to get down or go anywhere.  Often he would look up at "PaPa" and just stare in amazement.  Once he tried to rub the white color off his skin, even going to the point of wetting his finger with his saliva and trying to clean.  He must have been sure there was dark skin under that light stuff!  At one point he put a huge grin on his face and turned to look at the pew behind us and said "MaMa!" as if to make sure she saw.  Monday morning he headed to the garden where "grandpa" was working and when he found himself ingnored, hollered "PaPa" at which Bob was obligated to go pick him up and talk to him!  We are both in love with this little guy...if we can get him home, he will arrive at the DM airport with us!  Oh, and you are wondering if Bob knows what the service was about...

Christmas Morning Church
We have enjoyed feeling right at home in the local Baptist church.  Joshua is our pastor here.  Not a hard name to remember since Amy & Joe's first-born is Joshua and has the makings of a pastor, too!  He is a Nigerian and became pastor of the "Baptist Church"(yep, that's the name of the church!) in Welkom several months ago.  His message on Christmas morning was from Luke 1:26 & on.  Essentially, it is incredible how God decided the method of revealing Himself on Earth in the form of Baby Jesus.  If we had planned the coming of God to Earth we would have done it much differently, BUT Isaiah 55:8-9 make clear that "...My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts are higher than your thoughts."  Stop and think about that for a minute...you will have chills running up your spine because it is incredible!  To close the service we sang a centuries old hymn "And Can it Be?"  One of the greatest hymns of all time...take a moment to consider some of the lyrics:

Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:

I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Think of it, "Claim the crown through Christ" and "Bold I approach the eternal throne."  Wow!  Ok, so I spared you all 6 wonderful verses but we did sing them all and you get the idea.  Next time you are looking for a devotional, check it out: "And Can it Be"