Christmas, kids, and Karina

Sunday was the Christmas service at church. Christmas in Latin America is celebrated on December 24th at midnight, so since the 24th falls on a Saturday this year, the church did their Christmas service, live Nativity, and various Gospel Presentations (plays, video productions, and songs), plus a traditional service at church this past Sunday. It lasted 4 hours and it was about 90 degrees inside. No fans, no a/c.

The kids from the children's home came, so it was great to get to meet them - so sad, and yet so adorable.



Tony's and his buddies



Dani, 5, the youngest at the children's home, with Keren the Mime, who did an
excellent mime presentation of the gospel



First Dani smiled, then she got shy and wouldn't look at the camera
(with Keren and her mime partner in crime - they were so good I thought they were professional thespians)



one of the youth from church; Tony as one of the Three Wise Men; a girl who was abandoned at the
children's home (I didn't catch her name), and Keren



Keren (pre-mime make-up) with her guitar, and the kids presenting the Christmas songs they had been practicing 



the little kids didn't get up on stage, just the bigger ones



Karina in the white, and her brother, holding the sign with Rafa, the Youth Leader, in the background



An entirely different group of kids from a difficult neighborhood where a couple from church has been evangelizing every Saturday; their outreach is called "Hora Feliz" (Happy Hour). Here they are preforming the songs about Jesus and Christmas they learned. I could have taken them all home with me.



After the three-hour service was over, they served dinner. At 10 o'clock (which is typical dinner time here in Argentina). Just sandwiches and sodas and sweets. By 11:00, kids were still running around, ours included, so we ended up talking to the people that head up both outreaches, the Hora Feliz and the children's home.

Here, the church takes a break in summer, which starts tomorrow. Sunday School classes end, outreach programs take a break, active evangelism programs slow down. Everyone takes vacation pretty seriously here. Plus, the 100 degree temps and blazing desert sun with no air conditioning (I know, I've mentioned the no air conditioning thing more than a few times...) make going outside just plain difficult between the hours of 12 and 6 or 7.

It makes us sad to think the kids will get no visitors this summer. Tony and I are seeing if we can do something with the kids at the children's home while everyone is on vacation. We would love to be able to visit them once a week, have them come over to play in our above ground pool we brought from the U.S., and Tony is working on getting permission to take them on a tour of the local TV station he freelances for. I don't know if we will be allowed to do any of this, though, so please pray God would open the doors and guide us into just the right thing.

:)