the holidays

La Navidad, El cumple de Daniel, el año Nuevo, Día de los tres reyes magos

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and a few more celebrations!

Much of the time spent here in the last few weeks has been preparing for one celebration after another. First we baked a lot of Christmas cookies, went shopping and decorated a small, fake, but precious tree in the Call's house. Christmas is not as big of an event here as it is in the US. Its more a family thing than a huge, commercial thing. To give an example, there was only half an aisle of Christmas decorations in one of the bigger supermercados close to our house. I really enjoy the attitude towards the holidays, it has been showing me how important time spent with family is here in Uruguay. This Christmas Rebekah and I went to her family's house overnight to have a pretty American Christmas, with their family's usual traditions in a Uruguayan setting. We found what ingredients we could for the food. Everything took a lot longer than it does back home, probably because it is a new place for all of us (the Call's just moved into their new house about two weeks ago). I missed my own family a lot, but it was time well spent and nice to be around the kiddos.  One of my favorite things about how they celebrate Christmas here is the fireworks at midnight on Christmas Eve. Everyone stayed up until midnight playing games and we all climbed up on the roof to see the spectacle. We were surrounded by fireworks on all sides, booming and flashes of light. Since you can see pretty far across the city from their rooftop, we could see a plethora of fireworks. the feeling is kind of indescribable.

 The next big event was Daniel's 8th birthday on December 30th. We had a party with the family to make it special. For this Rebekah and I attempted making a lego ninja looking cake to match the lego theme.

     

The most recent was the new year celebration. Again, they Uruguayans rang in the new year celebrating with fireworks at midnight. This time we watched them from the street (the big heavy blind on the balcony had broken and we couldn't get to the roof). This worked out fine though, because we popped some of our own fireworks and got to meet the neighbors for a brief moment. These encounters are incredibly important for the family. We have been learning that many people in their neighborhood have lived there their whole lives and their family members live nearby as well. Pray that these connections and encounters would keep developing for the Calls as well as the Richlines when they return. 

Also, for the New Year, a member of the church came over after her night nursing shift to spend the night with us. Veronica is originally from Peru, but came here to Uruguay for school awhile back. In her nursing classes she met Sandra, the wife of Mauricio, the pastor of IPU. In return for fixing her computer the family invited her to come to church one Sunday. She felt she owed them something, showed up, and there Christ started his work in her. She is a bubbly, happy personality and so fun to be around. Her joy for being a follower of Christ really does radiate through her. Veronica has been a huge help in understanding the "quirks" of Uruguayan culture. Living thousands of miles away from her family, I know she understands some of where I come from too. She faces many of the struggles that a Christian in a very secular country is bound to face, getting mocked and not understood by coworkers for example. Her attitude through all of this and desire to grow and ask questions has really affected me. I hope to call her a close friend by the end of the time here!

"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, MIGHTY GOD, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 ESV