Christmas in Ukarumpa, 1

As you enjoy your Christmas celebrations this month, you might wonder what Christmas is like for us here at home in Ukarumpa. We'll try to give you some idea through a series of blog posts. Today is the first day of my holiday break from work, and Joyce and the kids have been out of school for over a week already, so what's on my mind is Christmas in the workplaces. Like a lot of offices in the US, offices and departments here take some time to celebrate Christmas together. For most departments, this includes sharing a meal together outside the office, and having time to talk and laugh and enjoy each other's company. This year, with all the jobs that Joyce and I have, we got to enjoy three different office Christmas parties.

Some of the people Neil works with

A couple of weeks ago, all the people I work with in my role as Director for Language Services took a couple hours on a Friday afternoon and shared a delicious meal at the Training Centre dining hall. It was a great blessing to also celebrate the retirement of a faithful groundskeeper, Api (pictured below). Api has worked at Ukarumpa for 32 years, most recently looking after the grounds at the Training Centre. What a great time of remembering his years of service here! We thanked him, presented him with a certificate of recognition, and prayed over him in this time of transition--and then Api surprised us by presenting his four "bosses" (me, the department manager, the Training Centre manager, and the Ukarumpa employment supervisor) with handmade bilums (string bags).

Praying over Api (photo by Phil King)

(Joyce writing):  The day after final exams were over, the teachers took a break from grading to get together, along with the principals and school employees, for a baked potato lunch (we each brought a topping) in the high school library.  After we ate, we shared memories from the year: God's healing for a spouse with cancer, God's protection for a staff member's child studying in Tel Aviv, an especially meaningful staff devotional time, gratefulness for such a great group to work with here at Ukarumpa International School.  We also bid farewell to one teacher leaving on furlough, and another leaving "finish" (the PNG way of saying "leaving for good").  It was a pleasant time--and especially fun for me, as I "had" to bring William along (his brothers were still in school) . . . he quietly enjoyed the food and loved the color-changing LED "candles" on the tables!

(Neil again):  Then last weekend, Joyce and I went to the home of one of my fellow Directorate team members for an evening of games, coffee, and desserts with the other Directors and their spouses. We ended that evening by singing through a bunch of Christmas carols together--one of Joyce's and my favorite things to do during the Advent season.

Speaking of music, we've also enjoyed a number of caroling groups at our house this month. The first group was James's Sunday School class. How great to be caroled by our son and his classmates! The next weekend a pickup truck laden with band members from the middle school and high school pulled into our driveway and we were treated to instrumental caroling. And after that we had another group of singers come to our door, which included James' good friend Calvin.

Singing a hymn or two together is always a part of our family's bedtime tradition, but during the weeks of Advent we've already sung through most of the Christmas carols in our hymnals multiple times. Joyce and I are especially loving the family carol singing this year, as it's the first year that all three of the kids are singing out strong on the hymns. It's been great to hear such volume and such joy in singing every evening.