CHRISTMAS!

So Christmas here was AMAZING! It went really really well! On the 24th we had our special service and we had refreshments and we made a bunch of cupcakes and had chips, sodas, coffee and the youth and children performed. The drama ended up coming out awesome and their spirits were in the right place with the perferct emotions and expressions to get the point of the drama across...it was very powerful! My little kiddies sang their 2 songs and they were so dang cute...everyone loved them and they had a lot of fun singing too ;) We sang Christmas songs and the had a service and just when it was over and we were getting ready to start going to the different houses the lights in the whole village went out! YES they were ALL completely out and it started to rain slightly :( They came back on briefly so we went to the first house and then they went out again haha...so we had tamales by candelight and when we figured they weren´t coming back on we went back to the church...however we brought about 10 of the youth back with us and everyone had coffee and hung out and watched a Christmas movie and eventually the lights came bak on...it was a very different Christmas Eve for them because they´re used to not sleeping and going everywhere, however everyone had a really good time! It was especially different for us because it was the first time we haven´t been with our family and having our anual Christmas Eve party but it was definately a good experience and we had a lot of fun!

On Christmas Day we started cooking for that night early in the morning...Bessy had already prepared the food to go in the oven the day before so it was pretty easy. I made frensh toast for everyone...that was amazing by the way haha...and we called my family and got to say Merry Christmas and talk for a little while. It was a pretty relaxing morning, we had our coffee and just hung out before we had to go and get Donna and Jim from the airport :) We knew it was going to be hectic in the afternoon trying to get everything finished so we were trying to relax beforehand. We picked them up from the airport and my mom and Dad had sent 2 big boxes with the rest of the presants that we couldn´t find here and a bunch of stuff for the kids. No one could help us wrap becasue the gifts were for everyone so we had so much work to do in only a few hours. We didn´t get home until around 3 and everyone was coming over for the big dinner at 5. We had already wrapped about 60 or 65 gifts and we wrapeed 1 more box of gifts and then had an entire box of toys, big things of candy, dress up stuff, etc..this box was like the jackbox! haha We also had another huge box full of brand new Hotwheels cars in the packages that was about 70 cars and then a ton of brand new beanie babies and toys. We finsihed everything just in time to get ready befroe everything started and then got the food ready for the service. The church was set up with big tables in red table cloths and the youth had decorated the church for Navidad previously. It was really pretty and it all looked really good. We had a small service of singing and the kids performed again for Donna and Jim so they could see it and we had some people that did special songs for the night. We brought in all of the food and we had stuffed chicken, vegetables, rice, a specail potato salad that one of the ladies made and later we had 2 huge cakes, 1 vanilla and 1 chocolate. It was so much food and everyone had a ton of stuff. Later when everyone was having cake we brought down the 2 huge boxes of toys and had all of the kids line up from smallest to biggest. We let them take 1 toy or candy (these weren´t pieces of candy, they were like goody bags haha) and go to the back of the line. They went throught the lines until every single last piece of candy and toy was gone and there was nothing left. All of the parents had huge piles of toys in front of them keeping them for their kids and the children were SO HAPPY! They said this a first for the church to see kids happy at Christmas so it was a huge blessing to be able to do something special for them and give them toys and presants..the parents were really excited too and were all seeing what their kids were picking out because they can´t afford to give their kids gifts, so you could jsut tell on their faces how much of a blessing it was to them as well ;)

After the service we had all of the ¨Church¨ members and people we had presants for pile into Bessy´s house where we had all of the gifts around the tree. There were so many of them but we handed out presants out 1 by 1 and everytime someone recieved a gift they all clapped haha...everyone waited until the end and then all at once they opened their gifts. Some of them got clothes, or babies, the ladies got creams and sprays etc, and the men got a new dress shirt and a really cool tool my dad sent from The states...overall it was a really great night! The people were so happy with the gifts and it was VERY special to them. Here getting gifts at Christmas is something that just doesn´t happen because the money just isn´t there...so for them to all get a presant that was picked out just for them was a HUGE deal ;) Bessy said that this Christmas was very different than anything that they´ve ever experienced and that the everyone was really happy and it was a huge blessing to the church...being able to experience Christmas here with these people and seeing the differences was such a huge blessing fir my sister and I and we had so much fun preparing everything and then getting to see their faces when it was all finished. Our lives are forever changed ;)

We´ve been having a really good time this week just hanging out with everyone and fellowshipping. Sunday we said bye to Donna and Jim and then Sunday night we all went to another church that is friends with Ague De Vida. They were having a specail Navidad- New Years service and were having a dinner and having music. The youth performed their drama for them as well and everyone loved it. We said it was New Years Easrly becasue we all wouldn´t be together on the real day so we counted down from 10 and everyone celebrated and went aorund the church hugging eachother. I just kept laughing because It wasn´t the 31st yet but it was fun and we all ahd a good time! Tonight we´re having a special service for New Years Eve and then we´re going to Bessy´s brother´s house for dinner. All of the youth are coming over around 10:30 and then staying for the rest of the night. We´re hanging out and having snacks and apprently there are a bunch of fireworks and people makes these dolls )tey´re everywhere) and everyone blows them up on the 31st haha...so it should be a pretty eventful night! haha

We just found out that on the 12th, 13th, and 14th we´re going back to the mountains (remember my blog about the chickens kicking my seat haha ) to teach vacation bible school. They don´t have people there to teach them the gospel and you have to cross a river to get there but it´s very important that we go. It´s going to be very challenging, but it willl be our last trip that we´ll take while we´re here and one last experience and lesson to learn. They don´t have running water, lights or electricity so it´s going to be very difficult...however we´re going to get to spend 3 days jsut with the children teaching them and playing games and doing something special for them that will bless their lives, so it shouldbe exciting! Pray for us!

We have 1 more month in Honduras and nobody wants to talk about us leaving...someone brings up the date and they just say we still had 30 days and we shoudl just stay. it´s going to be the hardest thing to leave here because we´ve made really good friends and hgave falllen in love with everyone here! They are so special to us and it´s going to be so difficult to go....however we know that this isn´t the last trip that we are going to make here but the first of many and we have a new family in Honduras that we will continue to see and comunicate with! Pray for our last month here and for my family back home. Getting so close and knowing it´s this month is just making it harder for us...and we miss everyone at home and our family a lot so it´s just getting harder. We´ll be home soon and we miss you guys so much! I love you all thanks to everyone that helped made this Christmas possible and for your continued support and prayers!! We love you guys!

Love,
Alisa and Amber