Celebrating the Miracle of the Incarnation

As it does every year, Christmas has come and gone. It has been a very special season here in San Miguel.

I spent the weekend before Christmas with my friend Rachael (from B.C.) up in Llojeta (another part of La Paz). She had planned a gingerbread house party with her youth group, and we spent the weekend watching a seven hour movie (Little Dorrit), baking and cutting up gingerbread, doing other things in preparation for the party, and hosting the actual party.

At the party I met a girl who had taken sign language courses here in La Paz, and she was able to give me the name of an institute that offers these courses. I was surprised, because I had been told that there was only courses in the cities of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. It also appears that signs in La Paz are slightly different from the signs used in the rest of the country. I believe God may want me to work with the deaf in La Paz, and it would probably be a good idea to take the courses offered here (vs. elsewhere).

For Christmas Eve and Christmas day, it was very special to have Rachael and Janelle (two Canadian girlfriends) with us, since my three brothers are in Canada with our relatives for the holidays. My poor dad was the only man in a house of five women! Last year my mom had a really rough Christmas, so this year I determined to take over a lot of the preparatives and give her a break. I had a lot of fun making my first Christmas dinner!

On Boxing Day (the 26th, for all my American friends), my dad, mom, Mario (a Bolivian Christian who sometimes does ministry with my mom at the prison), Rachael, Janelle and I went to Chonchocoro--a maximum security prison about an hours drive outside of La Paz. We sang Christmas carols (among other songs) and gave out Christmas bread and hot chocolate. My dad also shared a brief message, and we had time to visit with some of the interns. It was a special opportunity to share God's love with people who have experienced a lot of rejection and who don't often get a lot of visitors from the outside world.

A belated merry Christmas to you all! And as each of us heads into a new year, my desire is that God would root and establish us in His love (Ephesians 3:17-18), that we would be filled with inexpressible and glorious joy (1 Peter 1:8), and that God’s peace, which surpasses human understanding, would guard our hearts (Philippians 4:7)!

With love and appreciation for you all!

Celina