Internationals Christmas Dinner

Tonight we had 81 people attend our Internationals Christmas Dinner.  We asked internationals to bring a main dish to share and to invite friends to join us.

Fantastic meal was enjoyed.  I tasted two Asian dishes with two different kinds of noodles.  One dish as cold but delicious.  The other dish was spicy hot. Loved it!

Eleven countries were represented.  Two internationals have just come into the USA in the past four days.  One from Brazil and the other from Sri Lanka.

An interesting question posed last night: "How many languages do you speak?"  I can only speak two, Navajo and English.  But the majority of our internationals can speak at least three languages. Amazing!

The evening included prayer, feasting, fellowship, Gospel presentation, prizes, and lots of food.  We even had a year in review of all our events.  Our team did a fantastic job getting things together.  Our Internationals Coordinator, Celeste Hodgdon, orchestrated a sensational event. Way to go Celeste!

See pictures here.

Impact Cambodia & Portugal for Christmas

From GBIM website, please pray for Kane's and Hawkins as they reach out during this Christmas season.  Check out two other places where GBIM missionaries are using this holiday to share about Jesus (link).

Greetings from our Kids at Grace Place Cambodia

Thanks to John & Bobbie Campbell.  You can watch our kids from Grace Place Cambodia sing two songs:

• O Holy Night (Khmer)
  
• Silent Night (English)
  

My favorite part is after the songs when they shout out, "Merry Christmas!"  I love the choreography too. 

Merry Christmas to you litlle ones!  We love you!

Commissioned to go

Linda Kline was commissioned at New Community tonight.  She was already commissioned by her Children's Church on Sunday, December 13.  Keep Linda in your prayers. She travels over 30-hours to get to Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA. 

Pictures from give-a-christmas 2009

Christmas Concerts for the Community

First Christmas, portrayed vingettes from a variety of stories.  Whether a mom hiding in a bathroom from family and new additions to the family Christmas or a mourning spouse dealing with the loss of a loved one for the first time at Christmas, the segments would appeal to many in our community.

One other story so poignant is the first Christmas while a family deals with a divorce.  The storyteller shared how Christmas was not about a small tree or no tree.  It was about being together as a family and working through the challenges of a split home.  Our program tried to speak into the lives of those who are facing a Christmas in a first-time kind of way.

Interspersed throughout were timely songs emphasizing the message of the birth of Christ.  You can glorify God even when your Christmas is not what you expected it to be.  When everything changes for the worse, what next?  Trust Jesus. 

I wonder if you invited someone to the Christmas program.  Please let me know. I'd love to hear your story and pray for your friend who came.