Filed under: Life in Bolivia, News of Bolivia, Tom, holidays | Tags: Bolivia, Christmas, legalism, Christianity Today, articles
Our little country has hit the big time, at least in terms of the anti-Christmas stance of their “Evangelical” Christians. Christianity Today had the following article today about how Bolivian Christians have pretty much rejected Christmas. This is funny to us, since, at our school, we light the Advent candles, teach Christmas carols and have a huge Christmas program for the parents, and (as Anne has so astutely pointed out) not one parent has complained! Anyway, here’s the article’s link; totally worth reading: “Always Summer, Never Christmas”.
When Christians don’t set aside a holy day for Christ’s birth, [South American Bishop, Frank] Lyons says, “I think the whole doctrine of the Incarnation is lost. We may refer to it every now and then, but the whole historical aspect of the faith that brings it into the present falls by the wayside.” - from the article
Filed under: Bolivian music stuff, Highlands School, Tom, holidays | Tags: high school, Christmas, school, music, program, elementary school, middle school
Today was … character-building. Most of the school converged on this church building for our Christmas program rehearsal. Many - not all, but many - things that could go wrong, well, did.
I forgot about a song I was supposed to help the 1st and 2nd graders with.
The archangel Catalina (surely you’ve read about her in Luke!) got mad at her teacher for some, um, creative decisions he decided to surprise her with.
There were major disagreements with the middle school teachers on how their kiddos should come up on the stage.
The middle schoolers made most of our hair turn several shades of gray by burying their faces in the sheet music and frowning through “Deck the Hall” and “Jingle Bell Rock”.
The middle schoolers suddenly became snapping-challenged in the middle of the big number.
My senior pennywhistle player had an existential crisis.
I left the practice thinking pretty much everyone on staff was mad at me.
I mumbled and frowned my way through the rest of the day, managing with much willpower and not a little grace from the Almighty not to take it out on my high school English class. It was only after discovering that no one indeed was mad at me and everyone was very happy with how the rehearsal went (were they at the same rehearsal?!?!?), that my spirits began to lift and I regained the will to go on.
All that is to say, after the dust clears, I love what I do. Freaky how that works.
We got caroled-to tonight. Our school’s staff - mostly the single folk - decided to go around and sing Christmas carols to the families we know. They ended their round of spreading cheer with our home. It was delightful - and kinda weird - to hear carolers outside our door.
When the doorbell rang, Anne peeked out and said, “Tom, there are a bunch of people caroling!” This was odd because no one carols here. Funny thing is, Anne couldn’t see out that well, so they were, like three songs in before we got up the nerve to open the door. It was a wonderful surprise to see our friends out there, belting out carol after carol after carol.
They decided that, because I like to sing, they should sing every last carol on this songsheet I had made. That’s about twenty Chiristmas carols. In a row. Non-stop.
The world’s longest medley. It was hilarious.
And sweet.
Even if the Panthers had lost (which they did not), this seasonal serenade from our dear friends would still have totally made our night.
So, Anne, Avery and I got to do some heavy-duty shoppin’ today at the Arts and Crafts fair at the local embassy school. Had a great ol’ time gettin’ Christmas gifts. Here’s one Anne got me!
done
So, it’s called a moceño, and it’s very easy to play. Avery actually “mastered” it before I figured out exactly how to make a sound on it!
Filed under: Life in Bolivia, Tom | Tags: Advent, Christmas, holidays, Thanksgiving
If you think starting Christmas early is a rampant plague in the States, just try to be in a country without a major holiday between Halloween and Christmas.
October 31, it’s a death-fest (and here they don’t do “cute” Halloween; it’s all very ghoulish and over the top), and then, before the broken eggshells on the sidewalk and vampire makeup is all cleaned up, Santa and Christmas trees are up, as well as the occasional incongruous snowman (Christmas happens in the summer here)… You have to look hard for manger scenes and angels…
I love Christmas (which, by the way, starts on December 25!)… love it, but there is something, um, missing when you jump from brain-eating Zombies to cookie-munching Santas.
We need a time to slow it down, to give thanks to the Giver of all good things, to chase turkeys around with a musket.
And then there’s Advent: that glorious time of awaiting, lighting the lights, looking back on the longing hope of Messiah and longing for His return…
This is a time to slow down, friends. I just refuse to fast forward.
Filed under: News of Bolivia, Outside La Paz, Tom | Tags: ambassador, Bolivia, NPR, United States, USA, Venezuela
Here’s a brief but informative story that helps to clear up (as much as possible!) the situation:
Filed under: Friends, General, Tom, food | Tags: beef, food, Friends, Lebanese, raw meat
I am… well, a microphobe. Don’t care if that’s not a word; it’s true enough. When I cook eggs, I wash my hands… countless times. When I am forced kindly asked by my sweet dear Anne to buy any raw meat, I use several plastic bags to encase the already sealed package, and then I usually find some hand-sanitizer (Avery calls it “hanitizer”, and so do we); if I’m not carrying any, I will buy some just so I can use it right then and there.
Okay - you get the picture. I like a germ-free (or at least germ-challenged) environment.
That’s why tonight was a monumental display of bravery and cultural barrier-crossing.
You see, we were invited upstairs to our dear neighbors, the Goyarebs. They are the sweet Lebanese family that owns the building. Their daughter, Nur, is the most willing and patient babysitter in the universe. We love the Goyarebs. So, when we, and two other Highlands families were invited over, we were rather eager to go, and (in Nur’s words), experience “real Arab food”. Yum. (more…)
A new way to support the ministry…
Hey! Anne and I discovered something called Amazon.com Associates stores. Here’s a great way to support our ministry in Bolivia: if you are planning on buying something from Amazon, just go to Amazon by way of the search window here on our blog, and you can get the product you were looking for, at the price you would normally pay, plus we get a percentage (between 4-10%) of the price! So, if you buy something from Amazon, we totally appreciate you doing it through our blog! Thanks!
Filed under: Anne, Highlands School, News of Bolivia, Tom | Tags: Bolivia, Highlands School
Filed under: Community Group, Family, General, The Church in La Paz, Tom | Tags: Bolivia, church, Community, Group, la paz, worship
I told the folks at our monthly Community Group, “May’s meeting will be ‘bring your own worship’.” They were given an explanation, that it meant they could bring anything that they thought would build up our little body of believers. “… for the strengthening of the church” (1 Cor. 14:26 - NET)
I was given many responses, usually along the lines of, “I don’t know… I’m stuck… I’m not sure I have anything… that’s not my, um, thing, ya know?”
But, when the time came, they… well, they brought it. They really, really, brought worship!
Just a sampling: Abby (age 4) led us in “Hallelu, Hallelu”; songs of various types were shared both live and on mp3; Avery (age 4) did liturgical dance with Abby; quotes from Henri Nouwen were read; a 4th century prayer was read and reflected on (that was mine); Tim sang while his wife Whitney did a chalk-drawing of the Father carrying His weary child (see photo); testimonies were given.
In short, worship was brought and it built up Christ’s bride as she met in our living room. Amen.
If you wish to see what our evening looked like, check out an extended version of this post at my worship blog. Chau for now!
