Christmas 2009 in the Congo

Our first Christmas in the Congo was very different. At home wealways start decorating everyinch of the house by Dec. 1 and don't take things down until after school starts in Jan. Every decoration has special meaning and seeing them each year is like having old friends come to visit. So, the first big difference was that here there are very few decorations and they only went up a few days before Christmas. Although the Congo is a Christian nation, they commemorate the birth of the Savior with very little fanfare.
We found a tiny tree and some blue plastic ornaments imported from China. We also found some blue ribbon left behind in our house, so we made it look pretty good. We put it on the dining room table where we could pass wherever we went.

We tried to find some Congolese traditions to incorporate into our celebration, but the only thing we found when we asked people about traditions was that they buy live chickens and have them for dinner.

Slaughtering a chicken just wasn't going to happen for us. However, live chickens in baskets were on women's heads all over town & people were walking home holding quirming, squawking chickens by their wings or feet.

The week before Christmas we went to Likasi to celebrate with 10 missionaries there.

They are a great group of elders and we had a fun party.

Then on the afternoon of Dec. 24 we had our 20 Lubumbashi elders in our home for a party and snacks. (They ate like a troop of boy scouts. How much can you get on a plate?) We played the "white elephant" game with them. It's the game were you can pick a wrapped gift from under the tree or steal a gift from somebody who's already opened their gift. We had to do it a little differently since they couldn't bring anything. We bought a new tie for each missionary. Each tie was different, so they were stealing ties that they liked from other elders. They really got into it and had fun. It was good to see them enjoy themselves. They are so serious most of the time. Then we played the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional that Scott had sent to us (in French). They listened so intently to every word. Then Brent shared a Christmas message. It started to rain really hard just as they were about to go. It rains hard every day now that we are in the rainy season. So, the elders stayed and visited and we just had a great time with them. When the rain had slowed to a drizzle, we sent them off so that they could get home before dark. Our hearts were full as we watched them walk down the street after leaving our home-our wonderful little army of elders in the Congo. We have developed deep feelings of love for each of these young sons. How can we let them go when transfer time comes?

On Christmas Eve we talked to several of our children and Ryan had us call and read the Nativity from the scriptures IN FRENCH while his children acted it out. It was a real treat.

We were able to talk on Skype with all our children. It was so fun to share a little Christmas with those we love most. They also sent videos and emails and it was delightful to share Christmas with them. What a blessing it is to have supportive children when you are serving as senior missionaries!

One of our favorite family traditions is Christmas caroling to our friends as we take goodies to them. We got to enjoy caroling as our family members, first the Jameson in Utah, and then the rest of the families all together in Arizona sang "Hark the Angles Sing" and "We wish you a Merry Christmas" to us on video.

We have sung these two songs to our friends and neighbors for 35 years. Now we were to have them sung to us. We also wanted to share something with others like we do when we give goodies to our friends, but we didn't have anybody to whom we could take goodies. So, we came up with an idea that turned out to be so much fun! We got 13 envelopes on which we wrote Joyeux Noel/ Then we put 2,000 cf in each. Two thousand Congolese Francs is about $2, but here it can buy a lot for somebody in need. (for example, you could buy 20 small baguettes of bread, or 10 apples or oranges, or a dozen eggs, or water). Then, we drove through town stopping to give envelopes to people who looked like they could use a lift. We could have given out 130 in twenty minutes. There are so many who would have been happy to have it. But we gave them to a young man shining shoes, to a man who was pushing a heavy chariot, to three

policeman whom we stopped, instead of having them stop us (that was really fun). We gave one to a young boy selling eggs on the street corner, to a mother with four little children, to a man dipping water from the gutter into a bidon, to an old man who was wheeling himself down the street in a wheelchair, to a mom and her little boy who were pulling a heavy suitcase down the street and to two charcoal sellers, who had been riding their bikes loaded with charcoal for miles.

At first, each one was somewhat hesitant to come to our car window. Then, as we held out the envelope and said, "Joyeux Noel," with curiosity, they took the envelopes. Then they looked inside and smiled broadly and replied "Merci ! Merci! Merci!" We wished that we had another 100 envelopes to give. We thought of those dear friends and neighbors at home to whom we would have taken goodies and we knew that they would have been glad to share with these sweet people. It was a great experience!

We had just prepared dinner, our traditional meal with a Congolese twist, when the power went out. It was out for the next six hours. But, the timing was good. We had visitied with family on the internet, and cooked our food. It was a great Christmas here in the Congo. We felt the joy of celebrating the birth of the Savior, of giving and of being with our eternal family. We could ask for nothing more!

***PS. We were even able to send gifts to our family thanks to our dear Utah friend, Beth Ann Hammer. She bought books for each family, wrapped them, printed out the letter we emailed to her and mailed it all to our kids for us. Thanks go to Beth Ann ! Having something under the tree for each family meant a great deal to us! Plus, conspiring with her and doing it as a surprise made it even more fun!