Winter is here!

Once again, the poinsettias are climbing to the sky bursting with their bright red flowers.

As the night temperatures drop below freezing turning the morning mist into frost, the clear blue sky is a backdrop for the snowy white crowns of the Himalayan mountain peaks along the northern edges of the valley.

The coldness of the winter brings out more layers of clothes to be worn as one sits close to the warmth of the gas heater as it spreads its warm air throughout the room.

Advent is here!A time of preparing to celebrate Jesus' coming!

I recently led the morning devotion time at both the HDCS and the NBCC offices. It got me thinking about some things for which I've been grateful to God. So many things come across my mind from this year! Let me share a couple of them.

Late October, 10 women arrived in Kathmandu on an American Baptist Women's Mission Tour to Nepal and India*. We had a great time together seeing projects, meeting people, and going places! God really worked during our time together, speaking to people's hearts and making things come together in spite of obstacles.

A very significant time for me was when these 10 new friends met 8 women, my Baptist friends here in Nepal from different countries: Nagaland and Mizoram in India; Korea; and Japan. But the event almost didn't happen. On Thursday a city-wide strike was called for the next day, Friday, the day my friends were to come to my house for afternoon tea to meet the Tour Group women! A "strike" is called by groups of people in opposition to something that is happening politically.The effect on me is that there is no transportation to get anywhere and almost all the stores are closed.This was the first strike called in AGES!!! So, Thursday evening, I started calling friends to consider canceling the meeting for Friday! But as I talked with them, one after another said, "I'll walk to your house!"I was blown over. Some would have to walk nearly 1 ½ hours to reach my house, not to mention having to walk home again. Yet they willingly came!

As an ice-breaker using separate maps of the US and of Nagaland and Mizoram in India, Korea, and Japan, each person wrote her name on the map at the location nearest to her home. Then my Baptist friends each shared how God worked in their lives to bring them to Nepal. What a tremendous time of sharing it was, hearing how God had worked in each woman's life. One friend shared in her Naga language and her friend translated into English for her. My Korean friend spoke in Nepali and I translated into English!!!

Then after each one spoke, the tour group women asked questions…. but first they had to state where they were from and in which ministry they were involved. That way, my friends learned about the American women, also.

In closing, after everyone shared, each Baptist friend read her favorite verse in her own language, and then I read it in English. It was a REALLY powerful experience hearing God's word being read in so many languages!I am so thankful and so grateful to God for answering our prayers of getting us together.

Then just the other day my Baptist friends gathered at my house again. We shared special ways we celebrated Christmas in our own countries, sang some Christmas carols, and shared and prayed for each other. To my amazement they wanted to sing the Christmas carols in English. They loved it! Each one also bravely sang one of her favorite special Christmas carols in her own language. In closing we prayed for each other in our own languages. What a special time that was for me, thinking about all the ways Christians celebrate Christmas all around the world and hearing God being worshiped and praised in languages I didn't understand.

In the devotion time at the offices, I had shared about Advent and it's meaning to me….

.… preparing ourselves for celebrating the first advent in anticipation of Jesus' final Advent;

…. being grateful for what God has done for us;

…. celebrating what God does in other people's lives.

In the time together this past week with my Baptist women friends, we each commented how much the decorations in our homes and churches, the Christmas carols we hear and sing, and the special aromas from the kitchen all help us to get into the mood for Christmas. Here in Nepal, those things familiar to us are greatly reduced. But, we're learning that wherever we are, and however much our surroundings create the mood of Christmas for us, what Advent is ultimately about is preparing for Jesus to come and live and work in our hearts.

• During this Advent season, I ask that you please pray for our Nepali friends and colleagues, as they prepare their hearts to celebrate Jesus' first birth.
  
• Please pray for our international colleagues, missing friends and family in their own countries, as they learn new ways to celebrate Jesus' birth here in Nepal.
  
• Please pray for us as our family, separated, celebrates Jesus' birth in three different countries: Bryan and Jyoti in the US with family, Valerie in Burkina Faso with other Peace Corps Volunteers, and we here in Nepal with friends.

Thank you for much for your prayers.

As you are preparing to celebrate Jesus' first birth in preparation for His final Advent, our prayer for you is that the joy of Jesus' first coming will fill your hearts and minds with thanksgiving and peace whatever the circumstance is you are facing.Merry Christmas!

* If you want to see more pictures about the ABW Mission Tour go to this link.

http://www2.abwministries.org/image_gallery/category.cfm?CatID=13