Super Long Blog about Christmas in Mozambique

This was our third Christmas in Mozambique...and like the last two we especially missed family and friends and the cooler weather during the holidays. However, the Lord also gave us a neat time with new friends and co-workers here in Mozambique and the season was special for us despite the distance from home and the ever-present heat.

We kept really busy this December with work/ministy as well as finding ways to prepare for and celebrate the season with our boys. Cohen is just at the age now where he is beginning to understand the Christmas story and the various ways we celebrate Christ's coming. He is also beginning to understand more about sharing and giving and we had several opportunities to express that this year. One day we took the boys out to an orphanage on the outskirts of town and spent the morning making Christmas decorations with the kids. We had several Christmas gatherings with friends and co-workers over at our house both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day--which the boys seemed to love.

We also had an interesting (but typical) cultural experience in giving some gifts to our guards and maid. We employ two men who trade off guarding our house during the night hours and one woman who helps out around the house. In thinking of what we wanted to share with them, we decided to put together some large boxes of food to give to them and their families as gifts. Saving and planning ahead is not as important in this culture as it is in ours, so often, by the end of the month of December as in other months, many families here are low on charcoal (for cooking their food) and low on even the basics...which makes it difficult for them to have a good meal during their holidays or to really celebrate with their extended families who all flock in from their small farms to spend Christmas in the city. Because of this, we wanted our gift to them to be a practical help...but also somewhat special. So the boys and Stefan and I did some shopping and bought some staples like beans and rice, as well as some special "treats"--sugar, drink mixes, cookies, and some candy for the children. We wrapped up the boxes and put bright red bows on them. You have to understand that exchanging gifts for most Mozambicans--who are extremely poor--is just not something typical--especially not going all out and wrapping with paper and bows. We really wanted this to be something special--an expression of kindness and blessing that flows from our own gratititude to the Lord who so generously blesses us!

So the day came to give out the gifts and...Well, I don't know exactly what we were expecting.... We have lived in Mozambique for over two years now and are somewhat familiar with certain aspects of the culture that are so foreign to our own Western culture...Anyway, let's just say the gifts were not received in a manner we would have expected after putting so much thought, effort, and resources into them. Our maid accepted her box without so much as a smile or a thank you and went on her way...very much as if she had expected to receive that or more. The response of one of the guards, though, was so completely shocking that I'm glad it was Stefan who had the experience instead of me! When Stefan gave him his gift and the man looked through it, his response was...not "thank you," but "Where's the oil?" Apparently, he felt that if we gave him beans to cook, we should also have given him oil to cook them with.

!?!?!?!?!

Here's the thing, no matter how good our intentions are...no matter how much we truly desire give someone a gift for THEIR sake--as an expression of kindness and love to them, there is something that we from our own culture just naturally expect or anticipate as a part of that exchange--some form of thanks or gratitude. But alas, as we found out this Christmas, that was just not to be...and somehow as with so many aspects of a culture so different from our own, we have to be able to get past that--get past the things that frustrate or annoy us about a culture to truly love the person that God does and that He so sacrificially sent His son to redeem.

We were able to celebrate in some ways that reminded us of home, though, and that were special for our family. The following are some pictures from our Christmas Morning with the boys.

We made a special big breakfast to celebrate the day. We found special treats at a local store that imports things from South Africa such as sausage (not typical in this heavily Muslim area), sparkling grape juice, plumbs, and even grapes!

Here is Christian getting ready to snitch a grape before breakfast...

Cohen and Christian shared a box of chocolate milk...also very hard to find around here!

After breakfast Stefan told the Christmas Story to the boys and talked about different traditions that we associate with celebrating Christ's birth.

Different friends and family had sent some gifts gift/money that we used to buy the boys some presents. This was the first year here that we actually had a Christmas tree--something we also found imported from South Africa. Before opening each gift, we talked about the person who had sent it.

Legos from some friends in the States were a big hit!

Hugs for the boys!

We knew the boys had some gift money coming their way, so in the months before Christmas, Stefan began his search for a bike with training wheels for Cohen. Although he's only 3 and a half years old, he is kind of tall and we thought he would be able to enjoy a bike already. We had him cover his eyes as Stefan brought it out...it was SO fun to watch his expression when he realized that this was for him!

Christian enjoyed the gift too, since the bike came with a seat at the back for a "passenger"!

We were truly blessed this Christmas despite missing home!