Christmas Day!!!

Finally, it's here! Yeah for Baby Jesus and yeah for all of us! Can you imagine the hopelessness we would all be living with, if this was as good as it gets? We had no opportunity at eternal life due to our sin nature? There was no grace, no forgiveness, no sin sacrifice, no ressurection, no ascension, and no hope? Thank you Father for loving us so much that you sacrificed Your Only Son, so that we did not have to pay the eternal price for our sins - seperation from You forever! We have all received the free gift of eternal life, if only we would choose to receive it. Have you? On this day, of all days, we pray that you would all come to know and accept our Savior Jesus Christ!
We got up early and got to the FV in time to drag out all the toys, gifts, dolls, coloring books, crayon pkgs, markers, purses, monster trucks, Legos, soccer balls, footballs, basketballs, jewelry, stuffed animals, Barbies, Happy Meal toys, Silly Bandz, Play Doh, jump ropes, flip flops, clothes, and so much more! Cindy and Tallia arranged them so each child could get 3 things and then we had a bag with the Brazilian translation of the Candy Cane story in it, so they could read about Jesus Christ and His story of sacrifice for our sins. Pastor Josue and Kyria had a great program for the kids in the morning with lots of singing, dancing, and prayer. Boyd and Sonya read the Candy Cane story to all of them, while Kyria translated, and Colin snapped photos of the celebration.
The big program was that night and we had more than 100 villagers attend. I believe there were more men at Church than I have ever seen before, which I think was due to our efforts during the week of getting out to meet everyone as we passed out the Church invites. All the men stayed near the back, but we encouraged to sit with their families, which I think is culturally different for them, but they were nice and did it for us. The children had a big musical, which told the entire Christmas story, complete with angels, wise men (Boyd, Douglas, and Emerson), a manger, Joseph, Mary, and a REAL baby Jesus! One thing about the Fishing Village, there is always a new baby around for a manger scene! On a personal note, this baby was born on Dec. 1st, which just happens to be my birthday, which they all knew somehow... I guess Facebook is good for something!
After Church, we treated the congregation to cupcakes, Rice Krispy treats, and Chocolate Puppy Chow (I know it sounds weird, but it is really good!) that Cindy and Sonya made with the village kids on Friday and Saturday. We stood around under the starry night sky, visiting in our broken english/portuguese, and being thankful for our time of fellowship. Afterwards, we had a private time to exchange gifts with the Church staff and our helpers - Breno, Wilson, Emanuell, Valeria, Elias, Eduarda, Orlando, Bruno, Williana, Aurora, Jose, Ismail, Pollyanna, Junior, Geise, Vania, Emanuelle, Danello, and Gigi. So much fun, just sitting around, talking about the night, and celebrating all that God is doing in Abreu do Una. We will all sleep well tonight! Tchau and Boi Noite!