Women’s Ministries has a long tradition of supporting missionaries in prayer as well as financially. As you celebrate Christmas in North America, here’s a glimpse of how some of our missionaries have celebrated Christmas abroad now and in the past.

Christmas in Chad with the Venbergs

By Rachel Venberg, missionary in Chad since 2002 with her husband Dan and children, Gabriel, Sylvia, and Tevianna

What is Christmas like? Well, first, we don’t have the seasonal and commercial cues that exist in North America to tell us when holidays are approaching. I have to make an effort to remember what day and month it is, and what holidays are coming up! In our village of Doh, in Chad, Africa, the passage of time is a dimension of life that doesn’t function as it does in North America. A calendar is not used much, and as a rule, there is no need to even remember what day of the month it is.

But it is important to keep traditions for us and our three children, since the people around us do not celebrate anything at this time and know nothing of Christmas. So, it can be easier to stick to what is important and let the fluff go. So, we start with Advent and light a candle each Sunday to count the days until Christmas, and at dinner we read scripture about the coming of Christ. Then a couple of weeks before Christmas, we go into the “bush” and saw down a likely branch. (There are only leafy branches or branches with thorns, but the thorny ones, though prickly, are great for hanging things on!) We bring home the branch, set it in a bucket of sand and decorate it with the few ornaments we have, and the kids usually make a few decorations on their own as well. One year the tree was littered with little drawings of the nativity scene!

Then one day we will all go to the market, which is a treat in itself, and pick something little for one another to give as a gift. Sometimes we go and make something. If we have gotten any packages, these, too, go on top of the bookshelf (as the floor has too many bugs) to wait for Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve is celebrated with a Tea, where we eat lefse and any little treat we have made (we have fun in the kitchen for a few days making these!). Dan reads the Christmas story, we sing, and we open presents.

Christmas in Chad is much more relaxed than here in North America. The kids love it and it is a highlight of the year. For me it can be a difficult time, where I especially miss my family and friends and going to church and singing hymns. But I must say that I do not miss all the Christmas commercialism!

Last year on Christmas Day we had a feast for our friends in the village, and we will probably make this a tradition. We butchered a sheep and cooked a meal of rice with meat and sauce. Over a hundred people came! Dan shared the Christmas story with them from the Bible and read stories of Jesus and prophesies of His birth. We managed to feed them all, and it sparked a lot of conversation. It was a natural way to share why and what we were celebrating, and speak the Good News to them.

Our First Christmas in Taiwan

By Marybeth Nordtvedt: missionary in Taiwan from 1981 - 2001 with

her husband Joel, and children, Micah, Annalise, and David 

One of the long-established Christmas Eve traditions in Taiwan churches is for the youth group to go caroling to the homes of members and friends of the church. This would often be an all-night event with the expectation that tea and snacks would be served at each home. Having arrived in Taiwan only two months before Christmas of 1981, we wanted to be part of this custom that our new local church friends were so enthusiastic about. So how would we be ready and coherent enough to serve tea and snacks to thirty people who would arrive sometime between midnight and six a.m.?

I slept on the couch (not comfortable at seven months pregnant) to be near the door so we could let the "angels" in quickly without disturbing the neighbors (row-house front doors were only fourteen feet apart). We also had hopes that our two-year-old would not be awakened. We kept the water in the tea kettle simmering so the tea could be brewed quickly. Christmas cookies were carefully arranged. Fitfully we tried to sleep on our first Christmas Eve in Taiwan. About two a.m. we heard the sound of angels singing. Up from the couch I arose. Down the stairs Joel bounded and proceeded to brew oolong tea. The melodies were familiar but the words of the carols were so strange. We welcomed them into our home, our new friends in Christ. And then our special friend, Miss Gong, bounded up the stairs to retrieve our sleeping boy from his crib. He awoke with shrieks, and not joyful ones either! But then he calmed down, we said "dzai chien" (good-bye) to the carolers as they moved on to the next home to announce Good News, and we just looked at each other in amazement!

Memories of Christmas as a kid in Taiwan

By Martha Overgaard, daughter of missionaries Chuck and Orvella Batchelder who served in Taiwan 1963-1991

The message of Christmas is the same no matter where a person lives. God sent His Son, Jesus to be our Savior. This message is proclaimed throughout the whole world in Christian settings. However, the way we celebrate may be very different. Here are some of my memories from growing up and celebrating Christmas in Taiwan.

Christmas meant spending two full weeks at home, which was special, since we children all attended boarding school. Time with our whole family was very precious and we enjoyed our times together. I can remember each of us picking out a favorite cookie recipe and my mom assisting us to make the one we had chosen. We were given a set amount of money from which we bought a present for each family member. (On one occasion a shop owner told us what our father had purchased at her store!)

Our family had the tradition of having a live tree every year. We always decorated after everyone was home from boarding school. Each of us had our idea of what the “ideal tree” should look like, but in the end our tree looked great with all the decorations and lights. This is a tradition that I have kept as I feel that decorating as a family and listening to Christmas music at the same time is a great way to prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth.

The churches that my father assisted in knew that our family celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve so they were always gracious in not scheduling anything that evening. One of the highlights was at Midnight between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: our church choir made their annual trek to our home to sing carols for us. At the end of the singing they would sing “We wish you a Merry Christmas” in English. Another tradition that our family had was acting out the Christmas story as my dad read it. We kids always planned out a program for our parents. The oldest child was always in charge and the younger ones usually decorated the program cover.

We were a part of many church celebrations. At our home church when we were elementary school age we were always chosen to be Mary and Joseph and one of our dolls was baby Jesus. This was done as they assumed we looked more like their “picture” of Jesus’ family than a Chinese person would. Many carols were sung and there were always some dances to a few of the Christmas songs. The Christmas programs were very much a time of celebration. At the end everyone went home with a sack of goodies.

Because none of the missionaries had extended family present we became family to one another. We looked forward to the LB mission gatherings. There was always a lot of good food, laughs and the warmth of being together. Singing carols in English and reading Christmas readings from the Ideals magazine was also part of our time together. The day together always seemed to end too quickly, it was so wonderful.

Christmas: A Secular Holiday in Japan

By Christine (Gundersen) Lawson, who is serving her second term as an English teacher in Japan, newly married to her husband, Dan 

Christmas in Japan is like nothing else I have ever experienced. It all starts towards the end of October when you begin seeing Christmas decorations for sale at the local stores. You can buy anything from plastic snowmen to fake Christmas trees, but nowhere can you find an ornament or decoration that has to do with the birth of Christ. No one decorates the outside of their house, so driving or walking down a street at night is quite different. The thing that struck me about all of this is that even though all of these decorations are for sale, hardly anyone buys them.

I thought about this for a long time and in many ways it makes sense. Why would a non-Christian country celebrate a Christian holiday? It has no significance to them. It's as simple as that. They celebrate Christmas like we celebrate Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day has no real significance to Christians, except that it's one day out of a long year when you can show someone that you love them. Christmas is the same for the Japanese non-Christians. On Christmas they give each other gifts to show one another that they love each other and the next day they go back to school and work. The country of Japan has no idea who this Jesus of Bethlehem even is. They have no idea that a baby named Jesus was born 2000 years ago. They just don't know....

On the other hand the small percentage of people that are Christians in Japan do celebrate Christmas in honor of Christ's birth. They still don't decorate their houses or buy Christmas trees, but here’s what they do: they have Christmas parties at the church as an outreach opportunity; they have candle light services to encourage their church members to invite their unsaved family and friends; and they go Christmas caroling as a whole congregation. Can you imagine your church congregation doing that? The largest Lutheran Brethren congregation in Japan is about seventy people, many of whom are elderly. Elderly or not, they are just as faithful to Christmas caroling as the young ones. Caroling is an outreach for them, a chance to sing about Christ. Everything is an opportunity, an outreach to the lost during Christmas in Japan!

A fictional story  

Annie strolled through the bustling discount store looking for bargains. “Ooh! Nice heart-shaped candles and candle holders! Great price, too. Yes. That will be perfect for our Valentine’s Banquet tables – I wonder if they have twenty?” Gathering up the festive boxed sets, she headed across the store to the tableware section, piling her cart high with matching heart-designed cups, plates and napkins. “Only the best will do for our celebration of God’s love,” she smiled to herself.

Annie was looking forward to spending the evening of February fourteenth at a cozy candlelit dinner with her husband and several of their close married friends at church. They were having fun creating a warm ambiance at intimate small round tables in the church’s fireside room. They had even put up a few flyers advertising the event in several local stores – but she wasn’t very hopeful that anyone else would be there – nobody usually came from outside their circle of friends.

It had been a successful shopping trip and Annie was smiling as she headed for the door with her shopping cart piled high with packages, when somebody walked right into the side of her cart! Giving the offender a look of disgust, she kept herself from saying anything nasty. After all, it was almost Valentine’s Day. She was really trying to put her love into action.

Driving to her hair appointment, Annie reflected on the upcoming event. She hoped the speaker they had engaged for this event would be practical. Hearing about God’s love from infancy to adulthood in the church, sometimes it seemed like there was nothing new that could be said.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Annie responded with annoyance to the receptionist. Her regular stylist had gone home sick. Now she wouldn’t be able to get her hair trimmed until after the banquet. That was not good, but the only other person available was Tanya, this new girl with wildly experimental hair and piercings in places other than her ears. Annie tried not to stare, and politely said, “No, thanks. I think I’ll wait until next week.”

Now that’s someone that could use a dose of God’s love, she thought to herself as she left the mall.

***

Tanya hurriedly walked through the crowded discount store on her way to pick up her photos. The offending Valentine’s display was in her way. “How crass can they get?” she fumed. “Heart-shaped pancake molds? Pink measuring spoons tied with red ribbon? Valentine’s Day? Who needs it!” Yet, a display of heart-shaped candles in crystal heart-shaped candle holders caught her eye. “Those are kind of nice,” she thought, in spite of herself. Picking one up, she turned it over to check the price. “What am I doing? I barely have money for groceries!” she scolded herself, walking determinedly to the photo department.

After paying with an already burdened credit card, Tanya was poring over Christmas images of her children as she walked toward the door of the store. She wished with all her heart that she could see her kids more often. “It’s so not fair that he got custody of them!” She quickly dabbed at a tear trying to escape from her eye, and accidentally stumbled into some woman’s overloaded cart. “Sorry,” she mumbled, trying to ignore the indignant glare from the owner of the cart.

Lost in memories of distant days, Tanya drove to the mall where she worked as a hair-stylist. “Valentine’s Day was even a disappointment as a kid! I felt like Charlie Brown with the few cards I got in my mailbox. And when I grew up, my ex – well, he wasn’t much on romance, either. If I didn’t leave huge hints, he wouldn’t have gotten me a thing. What’s wrong with me, anyway?”

At work Tanya learned that one of her co-workers had gone home sick. “Well, that’s not good – but hey! Maybe I’ll pick up some new clients,” she mused. “Or walk-ins, maybe.” But the afternoon wore on, and her business wasn’t great – in addition to the fact that she’d been stared at by some lady that looked vaguely familiar, and obviously rejected.

At break Tanya wandered around the mall, checking out posters at the community bulletin board. “Lonely? Need some unconditional love? Come to our Valentine’s Banquet – a Celebration of God’s Love!” Normally, Tanya steered clear of church, but this event sounded somehow inviting. She tore off the RSVP phone number, and decided to give church one more chance.

***

Finish this story yourself… Will God’s unconditional love be expressed by the group? If you were the speaker, what would you say to meet Tanya’s needs? Does Annie have needs she isn’t aware of? How can we be welcoming to both Annies and Tanyas?

English Tea and Washington Prayers 

An English Tea Room in Pennsylvania
Imagine an English tea room with lace curtains, crocheted doilies on the tables topped with fresh flowers and strings of pearls, candlelight, bone china cups and saucers, tiny sandwiches, bite-sized sweets, and perfectly steeped tea from a decorative teapot and friends to share the experience. Now imagine the church fellowship hall transformed into an English tea room. Maybe that is too much of a stretch of the imagination for you. but it does not have to be that way. Recently forty-five ladies at Mt. Bethel Lutheran Brethren Church in Mt. Bethel, Pennsylvania did not have to imagine. They enjoyed an English tea-time sponsored by the Women’s Ministries in conjunction with the Missions Committee as part of the annual church missions conference. And yes, it was held in the church fellowship hall – well actually in the “new” Mt. Bethel LB Tea Room!

Hard-working committee people covered the tables with burgundy tablecloths, crocheted doilies and table runners, strings of pearls, votive candles and vintage ladies’ gloves. Serving as centerpieces for each table was a cup and matching saucer filled with a fresh (and removable) floral arrangement. The flowers were later given to the person at the table whose birthday was closest to the date. The napkins at each place setting were folded to look like a pink and white rosebud with green leaves (two napkins were needed for this). As a remembrance of the occasion guests were given a cut-out paper teapot with a tea bag attached to the back and the following verse printed on the front: A refreshing gift from me to thee, A loving cup of friendship tea. Wrapped securely in a prayer, For God to keep you in His care.

Lace curtains (right off the windows of one woman’s living room), oil lanterns, doilies and silk flowers decorated the windows. As a focal point near the podium two chairs were placed next to a small bistro table that was draped in a tablecloth and doilies and set up for a cozy tea for two. A Victorian picture was placed on an easel in the background. To add to the tea room atmosphere each woman was asked to bring her own cup and saucer from which to drink her tea and to wear a favorite hat if she wished.

The sister of one of the committee members serves as a missionary in England and she brought over authentic English tea for this occasion this was served in teapots placed on each table and accompanied by lemon, milk and/or sugar cubes. Coffee and water were available by request. Small open-faced cucumber sandwiches and egg salad sandwiches were served along with scones, jam and mock Devonshire cream as well as petits fours and a variety of bite-sized sweets.

The program consisted of singing, special music and speaker Sarah Eggum, wife of Tom Eggum who is the founder of Hope 4 Kids International. While this article is not meant to emphasize the decorations and the food over the content of the program, it is presented as an idea or suggestion of what can be done for a special event. Expenses can be minimized by asking around to see what items people already have in their homes that they are willing to share for the occasion and utilizing those things. There were a lot of very generous people who shared their belongings and their talents for this tea and gratitude is given to them for helping to make this a success.
-by Belinda Myhre, Mt. Bethel LBC, Mt. Bethel, Pennsylvania

Washington Prayers for Seminarians
I have an idea I'd like to share with you that we've done for a couple years now at one of our women's fellowships. We decided each year to take one fellowship evening to introduce the senior seminaries and their wives, and then pray for them. Here is a sample of what we hand out (for more senior profiles, go to www.wmclb.com and click on About Us/Join us in praying).
Idea sent by Mary Pierce, Peace LBC, Olympia, Washington