Holiday Celebrations

There are two huge holidays here in Honduras—Day of the Child in September and Christmas. Both the Kluge family and I have pulled a lot of our own resources as well as requesting from many others for the church and the feeding center. The Christmas meal for the feeding center was blessed by an answer to prayer through the Women’s Group in Florida. A potluck was already in plan with the church members for a lunch on the 31st to celebrate the entire holiday season. However, that still left the gifts for Sunday school kids.

A few weeks before Christmas, I E-mailed a local person requesting to be put on the list for Magi gifts from the States. He informed me that he didn’t have anything for us because the list was already full. We have 84 kids that are regular or semi-regular in attendance. Yet, on special days, we always have more. Preparing that many gifts was going to be a financial burden that we feared.

But God, once again, provided blessings for all of us. The Barker family and Harmony Holland were basically stranded in Tegucigalpa (another blog for another day). When they finally got their luggage, they had tons of toys and goodies. They spent one morning making up gift bags for each of our 84 students. YEAH! Then, the next day, I received a phone call to pick up Magi boxes. How incredible! We not only got a “yes” to our prayer, but a “yes, and there is even more than you could have asked for or imagined”. :)

On Christmas day, Melissa and Brandy had their hands full with 128 kids in class. They had to put tables in the open space between the classroom and church building to make room for the extra kids.









That day everyone received coke and cake (made by Melissa and Brandy). However, they didn’t bring all the gifts (about 10 large trash bags) to discourage kids from coming only for presents.















The next Sunday (when I had returned), we had a lesson about the three wise men. We talked about how they came much later after the birth of Jesus. We explained that, somewhat in comparison, they would receive gifts late from Christians far away that wanted to show love.

We had a list for each of the Magi boxes to correspond with their ages and sexes. So, the regular 84 students received boxes while we gave the Barkers’ gift bags to those not on the list (an additional 40). We had a total of 115 kids and babies, but not all were our “regulars”. Those who did not come from the list, we saved the boxes to give later. The remaining sacks we are saving until our next large celebration. The kids were thrilled beyond measure! Just look at their smiling faces!

Also, we celebrated as a church family in our potluck—my first in Honduras. The kids were served first during the class time (right before they got the gifts). Then the adults dug in. God used the hundreds of people involved with Magi boxes and the Barkers to bring a little extra joy to our kids. Any of you that have been here know how little they have. The gifts were treasured by each and every one of them. If you were involved in any way, thank you for allowing God to use you to brighten these days.

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo!