Timmy made his acting debut as a sheep. Unfortunately, I waited until the day of the festival to gather materials to make his costume, and after visits to many pharmacies and grocery stores, I realized that you can't find cotton balls in Atenas. I had to get creative and actually sew (definitely not a strength of mine) and finally finished his costume right before dinner time! Whew! In the end, though, he was the cutest little sheep I've ever seen.
When we first got there at 6pm, we had the kids get in their costumes and practice a little, and then we waited... and waited... and waited. Many different groups, all from Atenas, presented some sort of song or dance or instrumental piece.
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| practicing |
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| our adult choir |
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| our pastor Yeremy (far left) and other men in the choir |
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| Timmy on stage! |
It was finally our turn close to 9pm! Our adult choir sang a few songs, Yeremy shared about the significance of what we celebrate on Christmas, and the kids acted out the Christmas story with songs. As our choir sang some Spanish praise songs about Christ's birth that I hadn't heard before, tears filled my eyes as I thought about how much I love these people and this place.
We arrived home around 10pm, tired and thankful. Thankful for the hard work of our brothers and sisters from our church who planned this and practiced for months, and for our pastor and his wife who even learned how to knit and made beautiful scarves for everyone in the choir! Thankful for God's grace over us as our tired kids played their parts and sang their songs perfectly. Thankful for praises to God going up on a public stage in the middle of town! Thankful for the people in the park who heard the truth of the gospel presented. Thankful for the amazing joy of Christ, the Promised Messiah, come to earth.
