Merry Christmas!

We had no idea how we were going to spend Christmas day. Christmas Eve was just about how we figured it would be, lots of loud music until after 1 am! I (Sharon) have not been sleeping well anyway so the music just kept me company as I stayed up late reading and thinking. The music started out in English with the old Christmas songs then changed to, I think, Arabic and tunes that I did not know. What I did understand was the joy and enthusiasm of the singers. Believe me, it was LOUD and joyful. As the people were leaving the church you could hear young men shouting "hallelujah" and women still singing.

There are two reasons for so much joy. Celebrating the birth of Christ and celebrating being alive and there being no fighting this Christmas! Talk about putting things in perspective.

We got a call about 7:20 wondering if we wanted to go to a Christmas day service. Not knowing this was a possibility I had just put a banana bread in the oven and it would not be ready in time so Lynn stayed home and I went with Leisa (mission co-worker). We left home about 8:30 and returned about 12:15! It was a wonderful service! We sat in an open tent and with the kids there were about 180 of us. The preacher preached in Arabic and it was translated into Anywaa with some English thrown in for us but Leisa said it was mainly for me. I love the start of the sermon time. The preacher (a woman) got up and started preaching and then stopped and called a young man up. She then explained that she knows English, Arabic and Anywaa and asked if they all knew Anywaa which they did not so she preached in Arabic and the man translated into Anywaa and she threw in English here and there so that Leisa and I could at least get the gist of the message. If the translator got it wrong then people shouted out the right translation!

At the end of the service the singing really started and then the jumping! The women went outside the tent and jumped in beat to the music - not high jumps but jumps of joy and enthusiasm! It brought a huge smile to my face but, no, I did not join them even though I kind of wanted to:) So much joy all around me! How humbling and focus changing.  It is not that they do not get gifts ( all the kids were in new clothes) it is that the focus is on Christ. I have so much to learn from the people here.

This has been a wonderful Christmas in spite of my worrying about being away from family. God continues to show me that if I just trust in Him, He will make things work out. Why, oh why do I (am I the only one?) have to learn things over and over again?:) 

I hope you all had a Christmas filled with as much joy around you as we did.

I am not one to do a lot of this kind of writing so why am I doing it now? Having just moved to Juba, South Sudan there are lots of people I want to stay in touch with and share this experience with and this seemed the easiest way.
This is a country of that means a lot to me - my parents were missionaries here back in the 50's and early 60's. I lived here the first 4 years of my life and then came back after college and met my husband here. I feel like I am coming full circle to be back here now. I wish my parents could be here to see this new nation - a nation that they had prayed for for many years.

We have been here for two weeks and from day one it felt comfortable and "normal". We have always loved living in Africa - the pace is slow, people are important and God is so real and close here. There is a freedom here, a freedom of the Spirit that I cannot explain. Maybe it is that life is so basic and people believe in good and evil here in a way that we cover over in America. Maybe it is the slow pace that lets us experience God in new ways or maybe it is the fact that things really are out of our control here so we have to rely on God even more. Whatever it is, I have always felt very close to God here.

We are living in a small 1 bedroom apartment that is very much like a motel in that they clean our rooms for us and wash our sheets and towels for us as often as we want. The kitchen is....small! but, we have wifi, air-conditioning and electricity 24/7 so I will deal with a small kitchen. We live right in town and for me that part has been a real adjustment. One of the perks is that in a 2 minute walk we can be at a resutrant that serves Ethiopian food so I will deal with living in the city!:)

Today Lynn and I took a walk down to the Nile river and had cold drinks on a patio. Sitting there, watching the Nile flow by I was struck with how ageless it is and wondered about all the people who have sat along its banks - it makes one feel small. I thought of the early missionaries and how hard it must have been for them. I thought of the Sudanese and how they have lived off the Nile for ages and how this river holds so much potential for this new nation.

We are hoping to learn Juba Arabic while living here and for me it will be a challenge! I find myself wanting to speak in Swahili or maybe a little Amharic - I am not sure this old brain can take any more confusion:) Lynn is better at languages than I am so maybe I will let him learn and I will just send him to do the shopping!

Enough ramblings for a first posting. Please keep us in your prayers and keep the people of South Sudan in your prayers. Pray for peace.