Today your Savior is born in the city of David. He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a vast, heavenly army appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased!” Luke 2:11-14
I hope you enjoy these stories and pictures. Can't wait to celebrate with you all when I am home!
1. Christmas Play: We had our Elementary and Middle School Christmas Play this past Friday. My 3rd Graders were dressed as angels and sang a song about proclaiming the Good News of the birth of Christ.
Good News, Good News of great joy
Glory, Glory to God on High
Jesus, the Savior is born
Bringing peace on earth, forevermore!
What a wonderful time to come together as an ECA community to remember what the real reason we are celebrating this Christmas. Here are some pictures of our Christmas celebrations:
"God thank you for this day. I love you, Lord. you are worthy and you are the first thing in my heart, but some things don't let me to obay and do the right things. Amen."
3. Thoughts from a 3rd Grader:
I will respect other people because God respected me.. I will not rob, I will not kill, I will obey, I will be respectful, I will serve others, I will not lie, I will not use guns, I will not be violent, I will not disobey.
I will not be proud, I will respect the school property, I will not do bad things, I will not say curse words, I will not say bad words, I will not be a bully.
God always keeps his promises and never sins. He died on the cross to give salvation. John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, who ever believes in him will not die but have eternal life.
God made us special!
4. Christmas Cookies:
We decorated Christmas cookies in class as we talked in language groups about cabinets vs counters and the words: angels, cookie cutters, and snowmen. It's really fun to teach about what Christmas is like in our country.
I tried baking a family Christmas cookie recipe :-0 Well, this is always more difficult when living in another country. I bought something that I thought was cornstarch, but when the cookies ended up FLAT, spread over the whole pan, I knew something was wrong. I decided to pour the rest of the dough in a pie plate and made Melting Moment pie :-) Here are pics of the pie and the actual cookies I baked with REAL cornstarch as a gift for my students.
5. ECA Christmas Dinner: We enjoyed a time as an ECA family before we all separate for the holidays. The Colombians shared songs from the different areas of their country including one about a donkey going to Bethlehem :-)
Tuki, tuki, tuki, tuki
Tuki, Tuki, Tuki, ta...
Apurate mi burrito, que ya vamos a llegar!
They had awards called the ECA-ers (like the Oscars) and I was nominated for "The Grinch"...
What do you think? I'm sure my Christmas hat and the twinkling lights show me to be very grinchy!
Prayers and Praises:
Please pray for my decision for next year. I am hoping to decide over Christmas break. Pray that God would guide my thoughts and would give me clear direction on ministry for next year :-)
Safe travels as I fly back on Thursday, December 19th! Hopefully I will you when I am home visiting. I will be in town until January 6th :-) Please pray that it would be a blessed time with family and a relaxing break.
Bendiciones,
Carrie
