First Christmas in Aberdeen. While we don't have much money to buy gifts, the good Lord has provided everything we need. We were able to find Kioni gifts from Freecycle, plus the multiple gifts from the U.S., we have a wonderful gift-opening time. And of course, we have good food too.

While Dan and I didn't exchange gifts, we each got food we like, for me it's ham, for Dan, a big chunk of cranberry cheese from Costco, and for Kioni, she really wanted smoked salmon. So we had a feast!

God is good, and the best of all, we get to remember while we receive so many blessings, the biggest blessing of all is Jesus, who came to bless us till eternity.

5 precious souls

God gave us five precious souls tonight, not a crowd, but five.

It was pouring rain when we loaded our car with the guitar, song sheets, a big bag of books for Kioni to read, 5 heads of cabbages, carrots, oil, salt, meatballs, sauce, tea eggs, a big bag of rice, rice cooker, steamer, steamed buns, 2 heads of garlic....

When we were on the road with the blinding rain and gusting wind, I grumbled, "Nobody will come tonight in this rain and wind."

Dan was silent, then he said, "We'll see."

I went into the kitchen right away and started cooking. With the help of our five volunteers, we started to get everything ready. I was in the kitchen frying up vegetables when I heard Dan said, "Ni Hao!" I knew, our first guest or guests had arrived! "Good, at least one person came," I thought. I didn't go say hi fearing I might burn the cabbage if I leave the stove. Suddenly, a head poked inside the kitchen, a big smiley face said, "Ni Hao!" to me, that's a Chinese face I have never seen before.

"I just arrived a week ago from China."

When I finally went out to the gathering room, there they are, the five of them, 2 girls and 3 men.

The girl who just arrived from China picked up one of the steamed buns and said, "Where did you buy these?" "I made them." I said, a bit worried that they didn't taste like they should. "You made them?! I miss eating these so much, I didn't expect to have these here. Thank you." Tears filled her eyes a bit. "It feels so good to eat these."

Everything went as planned, except the eating part took a little longer. They sang for the first time "Joy to the World" and "Silent Night", and in Chinese, too.

After Dan's talk about True Freedom, there were good discussions.

Out of the five people, one is a researcher, he is a professor of Petroleum Geology in China. He is leaving in a month going back to Beijing. He gave us his Beijing mobile phone number and urged us to contact him if we were in Beijing.

Three of the other four indicated that they would like to meet individually to discuss the Christian faith. The girl who just arrived and loved the buns wanted an English partner.

We are extremely delighted with the responses and we are sure that we will host another Gathering in a month or so. I just need to have the catering part run a little smoother. Need some more planning.

We have a great night. Kioni was a bit unhappy that I was in the kitchen too long. When I put her to bed two hours past her bed time. I thank her for being part of the "team", she held my hand and said, "You are welcome, I just had to sleep later, that's all." She has been a trooper all night.

Steamed buns, etc...

We are getting ready for the first Oil Lamp Gathering. We are excited, though we don't know exactly how many will come. Patrick sent us the newly designed Oil Lamp logo last night and we will use it for the first time for in our power point. (The website has not been updated at this point.) Dan and I have been thinking about the menu, (yes, we are making our own food), we bought 5 heads of cabbages, 4 large packages of meatballs, cooked up a large pot of sauce, and I made steamed buns! How about that! The steamer comes from a Freecycler, I am so thankful to be given such nice steamer and put it to good use. By the way, in the video below, you will see a Christmas tree, decorations and a sofa (with two matching chairs, that you won't see) all come from Freecycle. If you look closely, there is a tube of ornaments leaning against the fireplace, we will give those out tonight as gifts to the Chinese students who come to the Gathering.

We also practice songs this morning. See below Kioni and daddy practicing a song we are going to sing tonight, we are also going to sing Joy to the World and Silent Night. We hope to bring the true meaning of Christmas to the Chinese students. Christmas is not just an old 'western' holiday when people just set up Christmas trees, give gifts and feast. Christmas is about Jesus' arrival on earth, so that we will be free.

Christmas

It is almost Christmas. It sounds hard to believe that Dan and I are never big on celebrating anything. Yes, we put up Christmas trees and put some lights out in the bushes in front of our house before, give each other a few gifts, that's about it. Having Kioni makes a bit of a difference. Since we didn't bring the 7-foot Christmas tree to Cebu, we spent $2.5 USD to buy a 3-foot Christmas tree, a single string of lights and some angel ornaments. Kioni drew a couple of paper angels. On top of that, we received wonderful gifts from Dan's family. I think Kioni got the idea, though there still is no snow, no matter how much she asks for it.

We are anticipating a loud Christmas night firework display, 'smoke from the firework will come into your house', the old-timers said to us. This will be a new experience for us. We thought we will try it once, if we can't take it, we will go hide somewhere on an island next Christmas.

This is the hottest Christmas I have ever had, even in Hong Kong, the weather is nice and cool. And in the past 10 years, living mostly in the North American mid-west, Christmases were always cold. It is a bit hard to believe that it is Christmas, but the Good News does not come with how low the temperature gets, it does not come with the inches of snow that falls, it does not come with the many Christmas gifts, it does not come with festive foods, cookies, pies, etc., it does not come with Christmas tree, it does not even come with families and friends being together sharing our love.

The Good News comes with the fact that Jesus indeed was born as a true human being while he is still true God, and He came for one purpose and one purpose only -- to bring salvation to a bunch of 'losers' who cannot possibly save themselves. That is something quite fascinating, quite spectacular, quite difficult to fathom. More fascinating and spectacular than all the firework displays and 30-foot Christmas tree, more difficult to fathom than the love of families and friends. Snow or no snow, cold or hot, Jesus' birth is the only truth that matters during Christmas.