November 15, 2009
We must not seek the child Jesus in the pretty figures of our Christmas cribs. We must seek him among the undernourished children who have gone to bed at night with nothing to eat, among the poor newsboys who will sleep covered with newspapers in doorways.
–Archbishop Oscar Romero
Dear friends,
Isn’t it amazing how we always get to the last month of the year and can’t quite figure out how it snuck up on us? No matter what, it always feels like the year flew by. This year was no exception. Filled with renovations on the ministry center, changes in programs, many visitors, and some difficult stuff too, I can hardly believe it is almost the end of 2009. We still have a lot to do to finish off this year though! Here are the dates of some of our Christmas celebrations so you can be praying with us as we go:
- December 5: Christmas party at the ministry center for the youth who have left the streets. We will gather with some 30 youth who have found freedom from the street to spend the day doing Christmas activities, sharing a meal, and much more. The exciting part is that the ministry center is almost completed and looks amazing thanks to a work team that came down in October. We have grass in the backyard now, everything is painted, and we’re only missing a few final touches!
- December 8: Street outreach Christmas party. We will invite around 120 youth who currently struggle with life on the street to join us for an evening of dance, mime, games, a shared meal, a Christmas message and more. We’re also hoping Santa Claus is going to stop by as well to pass out gifts as the youth leave. This is one of our oldest traditions in WMF, and probably one of our craziest activities of the year.
- December 15: Girls Bible Study year-end celebration. We will do a craft, share a meal together and have our last lesson of the year about advent. The last few years we have lit advent candles together at the Bible study and remembered together that Jesus is our hope, our peace, and our joy.
- Also in December, we prepare baskets of food to take to our friends who have left the street. Some of these youth will participate in the activity on December 5, but those who don’t, we will visit in their homes. This year we’ve had several churches working with us to collect dozens of bags of rice, lentils, sugar, and much more. Putting these together and delivering them is a huge project, but we love it!
May we remember together that Christmas is a time to celebrate the coming of Emmanuel, God with us. May we know God as our hope, peace, and joy.
Love,
Linsey