Feliz Navidad to all my friends and family.
Here in Peru, Christmas is celebrated on Christmas Eve the 24th at midnight. So this evening myself and two other gringa friends will return to our host family (we all lived with the same family when we first arrived) to celebrate Christmas with our Peruvian family. The tradition is that at midnight you start with a great feast that includes Panetone (a sweet bread with dried fruit) and Chocolate (hot - chocolate). Yet the eating of Panetone and Chocolate has been going on for a couple of weeks in the communities where we work. In each of the 18 communities we have what is called a Chocolatada - a hot chocolate party, with games, and sometimes even a clown.
I had the privilege of helping celebrate a chocolatada in the community of Los Cipreses. The children loved it and it was so cool to see all the way the mothers in the community pulled together to help with the celebration by organizing dances with the kids and even a live nativity.
More pictures of Christmas Party in the Community of Los Cipreses: http://picasaweb.google.com/lhwoodside/FiestaDeNavidadEnCipreses
When you step into the communities where we work, it is easy to think at first that it seems that these people have nothing, and therefore would have nothing to give. But while material resources may be scarce, these communities really have so much to give. As people realize the gifts the Lord has given them, may it be physical or spiritual (perhaps the creativity to decorate for a party, the ablity to lead, the ability to choreograph a dance, or the know how to make enough hot chocolate for 250 kids, and to know how to distribute it fairly), people also begin to want to share these gifts. It is just this kind development, having a community draw together and organize themselves to serve one another, that Food for the Hungry works towards in the communities where we serve. As I spent time with a few of the mother leaders who helped organize the fiesta, I began to see how God uses the relationships we build in the communities to empower people to serve their own community. I can not describe what a blessing it is to get to be apart of this process. To empower people to serve as Christ serves us.
At these parties, FH also shares what Christmas is really about (even here in Peru - the commercial Christmas has infiltrated all sectors of society) - that Christmas is really about the birth of Jesus. And what an amazing gift - the word, God, made flesh. At Christmas we celebrate the fact that God loved us so much that he actually came down to earth in the form of a baby that would grow to be man, that we could know him better. What more that He would show us how much he loves us by sacrificing his own live to reconcile us to himself. This is the amazing, radical gift of love we all are able to receive and remember at Christmas.
My prayer and hope for all of you this Christmas is that you would experience this love and the peace that paces all understanding.
Que tengan una feliz Navidad y Dios les bendiga,
Lauren
