The Spirit of Christmas By Cheri Birkey On Saturday morning, December 14, 2002, Duane and I headed out with a group of HCJB missionaries to help with a children’s Christmas party at the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church of Carmen Bajo.Now I had never been to the neighborhood of Carmen Bajo before. It was similar to many poor neighborhoods around Quito. We drove down a winding, bumpy dirt road to get there. The buildings we passed were made out of cement block and many were unfinished and/or not even painted. |
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What surprised me was that the church was built on the steep side of a mountain. We parked above the church and had to carry our cupcakes and other supplies down a steep embankment badly eroded by water. |
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First there was a time of singing praise and worship songs. The children knew all the songs by heart and enjoyed praising the Lord. Then I helped lead Spanish Christmas carols. Finally, the leaders of the church did an excellent job putting on a skit that was both fun and taught the true meaning of Christmas.
After the program we went out to the dirt road in front of the church to do face painting and play games. The children enjoyed all the activities. To end the morning, the children were brought back into the church for refreshments and a time of handing out the Operation Child gift boxes (from Samaritan’s Purse, run by Franklin Graham). |
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Before the gifts were handed out, the pastor asked the children if they were going to keep everything in the box for themselves. I thought he was going to encourage them to share them with their family. Imagine my surprise as the one boy answered, "No, we are going to save something for the poor children." |
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I told her in some churches the women’s groups got together to pack the boxes for the children and in others the people would receive the box at church and then as a family they would pack it with gifts and then return it to the church. |
Her face lit up and she asked me, "Do you mean to tell me that these are from our
brothers and sisters in Christ in North America?" I replied, "Yes," with a big smile.
Then she happily told the children what I had told her and she asked me to lead in a prayer to ask the Lord to bless those who had given the boxes. I was very happy to do so. I went home very blessed that day. I had gone that morning to try to show Christ’s love to some poor children. But as is typically true, I walked away very blessed by the people I went to serve. Seeing the love of Christ in that small unfinished church in Carmen Bajo was a blessing to me that I’ll never forget. |
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Praise Items: Praise that over 500 children were able to hear the gospel at the Christmas parties in San Lorenzo, Rancho Alto, Atucucho and Carmen Bajo. Praise for the dozens who accepted Christ as their Savior! Praise that Cheri’s parents were able to come visit us at the end of January. It was a treat to see them. Both Rachel and Nicole enjoyed their time with Grandma and Grandpa! We are thankful for working visitor, Tiffany McIntosh, who is helping Duane in the photography department for two months. Prayer Items: Pray that the church in Carmen Bajo will continue to be a light to the people in its community. Pray for more women to attend Cheri’s Tuesday afternoon Bible study. |
Duane will be participating in the annual Christian Center of Communications retreat with his college students from March 6 - 9. Pray for safety as they travel and for a time of spiritual renewal.
Pray that all would continue to go well with the construction of our new condominium and pray that God would bring along the right buyer for our current place. Due to the rising cost of living in Ecuador, the amount of financial support we need was raised by 10% as of February 1, 2003. Please pray that God would provide for our needs. The Christian & Missionary Alliance Church has announced their desire to no longer continue with the administration of Alliance Academy where Rachel attends first grade. Please pray for wisdom and guidance as solutions are sought. |
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