Christmas in Kadiolo

Lisa came back from Bamako with Ben. Ben is on a school break from Dakar until January 11th, when he flies back to school. We're pleased to be a 4some family this Christmas, although we miss Hilary being with us.

Another big event this next week is our car purchase. We've agreed to buy a Mercedes 200-c 4 cylander diesel. It is an older one, a 2000 model. But it will be much easier to find mercedes parts in Mali than it was to find parts for our mitsubishi. Another point about driving a mercedes vs any other kind of car is that they are so common here, there must be 20-25 Mercedes here in Kadiolo. (We always want to be aware not to stick out too much when we purchase a house, car, or motorbike... we want to have what the people have...)

Tom goes to Sikasso with the current owner on Tuesday to do the title change.
We thank so many of you who have given, and prayed for a car for us. It worked!
Here is a picture...



This video is from our church in Kadiolo... Men singing Silent Night.. joined by everyone... I bet you never heard words like this to silent night! Video done by Frazees' Papa Harley who is visiting...http://youtu.be/o9Los5FIYsE




This is Christmas week. People here are excited, getting ready for the "fete".  Getting ready means preparing to make a special family meal, preparing a theatre  piece with the other youth, men, or women in your group to share on Christmas Eve's all night party, buying this year's Christmas cloth and having clothes made for everyone in your family before the Christmas party, getting hair done, painting hands and feet with henna.
The Christmas celebration here is focused differently than our American traditions of Christmas. There is not an expectation of a lot of presents. (women consider getting this Christmas cloth their present, and kids are pleased to have new Christmas clothes, sometimes an extra orange...)
The focus of the celebration is church family, not individual families. With eagerness, they come to church Christmas eve, hear a sermon, (I was asked to preach...) then sing a lot, then share their theatre pieces with one another, a lot of celebration and laughter, then a midnight coffee, (cuz you're very very cold at midnight, it might be 65 degrees!!!) Then dancing starts. Now in our tradition dancing may be considered sexual and bad, but here dancing is joy, dancing is worship. Lisa is looking forward to dancing with the ladies... they often go until 3 am.... Then Christmas morning... everyone wakes up... slowly... they come back to church for a morning service, where: you may have guessed it... (They asked me to preach for the morning service, too..... lol) This will be a challenging one to preach, people blinking back sleep the whole time!
Some years there is a potluck following church. But this past year has been a lean year, so everyone will go home to eat with their families instead.

May God bless you and your family this Christmas season.
This year as you celebrate, remember your Christian brothers and sisters worldwide who are also celebrating Christ's birth in their traditional ways!

Thanks for stopping by
Tom & Lisa




Tom and Lisa work with Worldventure in Mali, West Africa. If you would like to donate online to help this ministry, click this link: http://worldventure.com/Give/Give-Now.html?id=4569 If you would like to email comments, our email is: tlseward@gmail.com