On Saturday, we hosted a community dinner for Christmas. This is one of the most fun meals to host all year, as we get a chance to just tell the community how much we love them and the reason we are here: because we are Christians, we love Jesus, and we want to love them as Jesus does.
Typically, the community dinner also kicks off the community gifts, but we mixed it up a bit this year. The community was quite obviously expecting the norm, and that is just never fun. As soon as we set up the Christmas tree, kids were asking if we were going to give presents again. In an effort to maintain an element of surprise, we’ve been playing the “I don’t understand” card for nearly a month. It’s been quite funny to have kids trying so hard to think of the English words, wishing we knew more Burmese; we even had kids drawing pictures of us giving out presents or get other kids to act out a scene to communicate it to us. Pretty much every time, we end with something along the lines of, “Yes! Christmas! Very good!” It’s been fun, and that is probably our first high.
It also gave us a day to focus on a meal and time with the community, and provided a few more days to finish purchasing, sorting, and wrapping over 150 gifts in secret.
High: Thidar is amazing. She is a mother of seven, a new grandmother of one last week, and just lovely. She has helped us coordinate meals in the past, but we felt bad asking her with her new granddaughter less than two weeks old. However, she offered. She heard we were planning the dinner, and offered to coordinate it all. It went off wonderfully, and we are so grateful for her.
High: The market was fun, as always. We headed off with Thidar early on Saturday morning and had over 40 kilos of rice, 20 kilos of chicken, 5 or 6 kilos of potatoes, 10 kilos of oranges, and all the necessary ingredients by 10am. We simply give her the money and let her teach us the ropes.
High: We had a team of chefs started by 12pm.
High: We asked our friend to come translate for us. He has a new job now but was willing to use his day off to help us. He’s a great translator, and as he’s a Christian, too, he understands and translates well for us. He came from 12pm to 8pm and was a huge help.
Low: With a translator there, we had some business to sort out. We met with some specific families, and it was hard. They were hard, draining conversations as we discussed drunkenness & family disputes, broken families, hurt, and poverty. It was just a reminder of desperate these families are for hope.
High: When talking with people, seeing their pain and watching them wipe away tears makes ache and cry and hurt, you know just how much you love them.
High: A hug can go a long way.
High: In the midst of these conversations, a group of ladies used the translator to tell us they think we are “angels dropped down from heaven.” We laughed pretty hard at this, particularly because it was in the middle of a conversation where we thought we had helped the situation and really we hadn’t been as successful as we hoped. We would be the worst angels ever.
Low: Someone brought by a snake they found just behind all of our houses. It was big.
Low: That snake was made into a curry. It was a female snake, and as with many animals here, the immature eggs are apparently the highlight of the curry.
High: Our house was full of people all day long. It was so fun to have everyone so comfortable, filling our couches and chairs.
High: This wasn’t a disaster! They have really learned the ways of a Western house, if you will–don’t stand on the couch, don’t wipe your hands on the couch and walls, don’t flood the kitchen while you wash dishes because the water has no where to go, etc.
Low: We did have one glass break of a favorite little family treasure from my childhood. Sad.
High: We left our house open as we walked around talking to different individuals and families, and while we transported people home and such. We had people in and out washing dishes, cooking, serving, sitting, and chatting. For the area of town we live in, this is pretty amazing, and just an example of how much trust has grown between us. We really all just help each other out and look out for each other, and it’s a really beautiful thing!
High: Stephen did a great job sharing our love and our heart and our faith.
High: We managed to serve the food in an organized manner! I’m telling you, we are learning a lot. Previous years have been a stampede of people grabbing food, hoarding food, and trampling people. This year we gathered everyone in the street for Stephen to share a little and pray for the food. We then had a team of people come into the house to serve and the gate was opened just enough to fit one single file line through. We had two guys manning the gate, and we were able to serve people in a line! I realize this doesn’t seem like much of an accomplishment, but IT IS. It means that we had enough food to serve well over 200 people and not one of those 200 people were trampled.
Low: There was still a little hoarding. It seems to come with the territory.
High: It was so fun having everyone together after a pretty rough year for everyone. Six months ago we walked out of our house and thought all of these friendships were over, and God has given us more time and more amazing opportunities!
High: When one of the men came in to get food, perhaps already a little tipsy, and shouted, “YAY STEPHEN! YAY KELLI! YAY STEPHEN! YAY KELLI!” while clapping loudly and awkwardly. It made me laugh out loud.
High: This was easiest cleanup of a community event yet. I did one extra mop-through (using soap, as they had just used water), and that was it. This is an EPIC HIGH. Previous community events have taken days to get all the chicken grease off the walls, to drain the kitchen of water with food floaties in it, to pick up all the Q-tips that were used to clean out ears and then stuck to the wall. This was such a relief.
High: All of our kitchen utensils were returned! Again, I know this sounds like a horrible thing to say, but it’s significant. At previous community events, we’ve lost towels, mixing bowls, knives, cutting boards, serving spoons, cups, bowls, and more. It’s difficult to know what is intentional and what is simply misplaced, but we have come to expect it. On Saturday night I realized I had lost two utensils, one being a really nice spatula from the West that Stephen got me for Christmas last year. {You really value odd things when you live somewhere else. A nice spatula that your husband hunted down for you in another country is a real treasure.} We counted it as a loss and thought we’d just have to search for another, but a-ha! Both were returned to us on Sunday. And really, it isn’t about the spatula–it communicates a level of respect for property, for each other, and for friendship. Friendship becomes more valuable than whatever it is you can get out of it, whether its a spatula or a free meal or a Christmas gift. Again, this is a pretty epic high.
High: Post-cleaning, a group of women and children gathered on the porch to tell stories and laugh. This is always a good thing!
I think I’ll leave it at that. It was one of the loveliest community dinners yet!
sounds like you have really earned these people’s trust & hearts,
god
bless you both-we had our oldest grandson,wife, two grandsons, & oldest ones girlfriend today, had a good visit, they went over to the school & played basket ball for awhile-pray for my 37 year old grandson, who is having a problem, with drinking & drugs- his name is Philip-he turned 37 today
I love this!! And I love that they called you angels 🙂 :). You certainly spread His fragrance and reconciliation so well there. Love it, love it!
We are so glad we know you! You are a blessing to so many, including a lot of folks back home! God bless! (Sorry I am not as good a writer as Janel)