The last few weeks have flown by very quickly. We seamed to just get back into the swing of teaching again and then it was Christmas. There has been quite a lot of preparation at the school and events going on with the lead up to Christmas. The church and school have been decorated with Christmas trees, tinsel, nativity scenes and Christmas lights.
Last Sunday was a particularly busy day with first a baptism in the pool in the morning followed by a special Christmas Service where many people from the school and community came along. After church most of the regular congregation then went to the hospital in Chiang Kong to sing Christmas carols and pray for the sick. And then that evening a small group went out to do some Christmas carolling at some of the surrounding village leaders houses. There was a dozen kids in the back of the truck singing along to the guitar and tambourine as we went, it was a fun night. We made 5 visits and they were very well received. Our final visit was the police station and they were particularly excited to hear us all sing. One of the officers that could speak English excitedly thanked us all in Thai and in English.
On Monday it was a holiday at the school but everyone was busy preparing for the school Christmas concert that was held that night. The concert was a huge afternoon and evening event where all the students and parents came along and it was packed with 1000+ people. There was food, raffles, singing, performances from different year groups and of course the Christmas message. It was a wonderful night and such a huge event and turn out to glorify God and remember the reason for Christmas! It was a very good testimony to all the families that came along.
Christmas day was busy for us as when we had found out a few weeks ago that there was nothing specific planned for the day we had organised to spend the day with all the kids who board at the school. So we had 27 kids and we played games, cooked pizza and gingerbread cookies and shared the Christmas story with them. With much thanks to everyone who has supported us over our time here you all helped make it possible for us to give them each a small gift (a little bit like the shoes boxes we have given with the Samaritans Purse in previous years) and a personal letter reminding them of Gods love and plan for them. The kids were filled with such joy all day and it was such a blessing to have been able to share Christmas Day with them. We really were so happy to show them a small glimpse of just how special each of them are in Gods eyes.
After all these events we were exhausted but also full of joy from the amazing gift of Christmas this year. It was a bit of a challenge the next day to get up and get back into teaching and we have had a few busy days of teaching to finish the week. We are looking forward to this weekend to have a few days off with a few holidays at the school due to new years. It will be a good time to catch up on things, organise our final classes and perhaps decorate the English classroom for the next teacher.