by Melissa Roussin

I know Christmas is already over but I wanted to send out a special email concerning Christmas because well… it’s a special holiday!  A holiday where many of us Americans are busy preparing food, shopping for presents, decorating Christmas trees and continually shoveling snow off the sidewalks and driveways (haha sorry Minnesotans, but you know I had to throw that one in there J).  Where families come together, catching up with aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents, and siblings.  A day we have been given to enjoy the mere presence of one another… and continue those age-old traditions from the days of our grannies.  What an incredible gift that is!

With this being my first Christmas away from home, my thoughts often wandered back to these things, ending with a longing to be back with family and all that is familiar.  The annual bingo night on Christmas Eve… forever trying to wake up my brothers for the traditional stinky-cheese-breakfast on Christmas morning… and digging through the pile of presents at grandma’s house just to find out who-had-who for their secret santas… ohhh how I missed those treasured moments this year!

Yet, it was in the midst of this longing that I realized God had given me a gift even greater than all of these things combined.  After spending Christmas Eve with Jean, Christine and Peggy (three other single white ladies), enjoying a pot of Chili and reading the Christmas story together, I came home to an empty house with a full heart prepared to worship.  So I decided to get a little creative and start my own Christmas tradition… beginning with some great gospel Christmas music playing in the background, exchanging the quite unpleasant florescent lights for my one candle (which delicately balanced upon the plastic cover of my Nomi washing powder), pulling out my Bible and settling into the hard-foam couches of my living room.  I spent those next few hours reading through the Christmas Story (Matt. 1: 18-2:23; Luke 1-3), praying and spending time with the Savior I have so often neglected to remember on this holiday.  God used this moment to powerfully remind me that this season is not just about family, presents and Santa Claus… it is about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  And what a glorious gift He is!  I cannot even express to you the kind of joy I received that night, tarrying in the presence of our living God and reflecting upon the true reason for Christmas.  It is a beautiful sight to see God at work, filling the desires and longings of our hearts with something so much greater than we could ever imagine.  Imana Ashimwe (Praise God)!

Christmas Day I went to the Presbyterian Church in Kabeza (where I currently live) for a morning service, which was kickin’!  One choir after another came up to sing and by the end, everyone in the church was dancing and praising the Lord!  Ahhh it was too much fun!  Afterwards, I went to the home of Esperance and Andrew (who works for AEE) to celebrate five of the children within the church who were baptized early that morning.  Eight hours later, I was finally on my way back home, accompanied by Anita, Rukundo and Emmanuel, as we walked up the muddy terrain in the pitch-black night toward the main road of Kabeza.  Once we reached the road, Anita wanted to show me one of the shops in her neighborhood, so we proceeded to cross the street as the boys walked ahead.  We had almost made it to the shop until I took a step straight into thin air, yelled out in surprise and fell directly into the four-foot rain gutter… laughing hysterically at what had just occurred, completely grossed out by the muddy rainwater soaking the lower portion of my body and a bit embarrassed by all of the onlookers staring at this crazy muzungu in the rain gutter, I quickly attempted to climb out, sacrificing both of my sandals as they were stuck good into the muddy gutter.  Laughing and in utter disbelief of what had just happened, I continued to tell Anita “My shoes!  My shoes!  My shoes are still in the gutter, ahhhh!  How can I get my shoes?!”  This courageous girl jumped right into that gutter and pulled out two of the nastiest looking, mud (and who knows what else)-covered shoes I think I have ever seen.  I helped pull her back out of the gutter and with shoes-in-hand, we walked to the nearest shop where we could wash our feet of the muddy-sewage water that had crept into every crevice of our toes.  And wouldn’t you know it, five minutes after washing our feet and crossing to the side of the street with no dangerous gutters, I step into a huge puddle of rainwater and loose both of my shoes AGAIN!  By this time, neither of us can contain our laughter as Anita is now holding onto me for dear life, notifying me of every puddle and dip in the road so that I can make it home without further incident.  Oh the joys of Christmas lol.

By Saturday, I was on my last leg of Christmas celebrations, heading over to Christine’s house for a day of fellowship, cookie-baking and one incredible dinner!  Since the turkeys here cost over $170 per bird (seriously!), we enjoyed a meal of chicken, stuffing, homemade bread, green beans, salad, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes with gravy… which after two months of eating beans, rice and fried potatoes, this felt like eating a piece of Heaven!  So all in all, though my three days of Christmas celebrations were unlike anything I’ve ever experienced back in Minnesota, God blessed me with quite a Christmas. J

It is my prayer that you were able to experience a joyful, exciting celebration of Christmas this year.  May we never forget the true reason for this day and continue to Praise God in all circumstances, trials and blessings.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Every Blessing,

Melissa Roussin