Merry Christmas from Kadiolo

How do you prepare for Christmas? Decorate your house? Invite family or guests?Prepare food ahead of time. Take part in your Church Christmas programs?Sing carols? Buy gifts? Enjoy the snow?

We can do all of these things in preperation for Christmas here in Kadiolo. Except for the snow. If we had grown up in Arizona or Florida, the snow would not be as much a part of our Christmas tradition. But in Michigan, or Winnipeg, snow is inevitable. So we have to adjust to how Christmas preperations & celebrations go here.

Feet painting. Ladies here get their feet painted before a big holiday. So many of our church ladies get their feet painted for Christmas. Yesterday, Lisa, Hilary, and Joannie all got their feet done. (I cooked lunch and supper...)Here are three pics of the process they use to paint your feet.




Sunday School program. Here is Ben in Sunday School with the other kids his age.He has been practicing with them to sing Christmas songs during their Christmas program on Sunday morning.




Singing Carols. Lisa was asked to sing a carol in English each of the last two Sundays.She chose "the first Noel" Noel being the word for Christmas in french.And "O come O come Emmanuel, where the chorus directly translates to french.

Here is a study room story:
We are doing well. Enjoying Kadiolo. Lumps and bumps and all. The people are great, and that's why we're here. Spiritual redemptive conversations everyday with moslems. The study room has been an amazing way to open these relationships.For example, I had a student who wants to work on his english. His name is Issa. (That's the moslem name for the prophet Jesus.)Anyway, amongst the Christian literature I had bought for the study room was a verse a day calendar. Issa was finished with his english lesson for the day, so I suggested he read a verse from the calendar in french. The verse was John 11:25 "Jesus said "I am the resurection and the life, he who believes in me will never die. He who believes in me will live even after he dies." Great verse. So this guy Issa is saying what? You never die? How can that be? So I was able to share with him how we are body, soul and spirit, but we are eternal beings. Our body will die, but we will live out eternity in either heaven or hell. And that Jesus is saying that belief in him will enable us to live forever in heaven. Issa will think about this conversation for the next week or so, once in a while he will ask more questions based on it...These conversations happen 2-3 times a day. People are spiritually hungry, but this is caused by spiritual ignorance. So when they hear or read something about God or Eternity, they are drawn to it. But you have to explain things to them on a very basic level.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!Tom & Lisa