OK, I know Christmas is over and we’ve already moved on but I just had to say something. And you know it’s true... “Kid’s Christmas Plays, although cute, are extremely painful.” Go ahead, admit it. Even if you have kids in the play, it’s still hard to sit through (at least for me, anyway). I’ve got 8 children, and being on staff at a local church for almost 10 years, meant that every single one of my kids have been in Christmas Plays every year. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not “a hater” and I’m not “a scrooge” when it comes to Kids Christmas Plays. I don’t know what the deal is, actually. Maybe it’s all the weekly practices that wear me out. They usually start rehearsing in August (I don’t even think Jesus starts thinking about Christmas that early). Or maybe it’s the music CD that they give the kids to listen to so they can practice the songs? You know the one... it’s the one that your kids want to listen to every time they get in the car. I don’t want to sound like a jerk but usually by the time the end of October rolls around (and we’ve already heard the CD a million times) the Kids Christmas Musical Soundtrack CD’s at our house usually get a “mysterious” scratch on all of them and our CD players in the house and in the car won’t read them anymore... huh? That’s weird. I have no idea how that happens (wink, wink). Not only is it a mystery, that could also be parenting tip #17 in my new book entitled “Making it Through the Kids Christmas Musical” but don’t tell my kids. Lol!
Anyway, when we moved to Brazil in September and walked in to our first Monday Night Outreach, that we do here on the mountain, guess what they were doing? That’s right... they were practicing for a Christmas Musical! The only thing worse than practicing for a Christmas Musical is practicing for a Christmas Musical in Portuguese! For real. So for 3 solid months, every Monday Night, we sang Portuguese Christmas songs. None of which we re-makes of ones we sang in English so that made it even more difficult. The reason they were practicing is because there was a church in Jardim Paulista (the same church that partners with us and teaches the kids on Monday nights) that wanted all the kids to come and perform for them for their Christmas production on December 23rd. It was painful having to practice songs over and over and over that you couldn’t understand. Getting motivated to go every Monday night was hard, I’m not gonna lie. And don’t forget the fact that we didn’t have a vehicle yet so that meant that not only were we having to endure the musical part of it, we had to walk down the mountain to get to practice. It was the equivalent of having to walk the plank on a pirate ship each week... “you did it even though you knew what was coming next wasn’t gonna be good.”
But, as painful as it was to go through all the practices each week, it was worth it. It was worth it because all the kids from the mountain (ranging from 6-21 years old) had never been in a Christmas production before. Heck, I don’t even think they’d even attended a Christmas production before. So, when the bus pulled in on the 23rd, to pick everyone up (the church sent a city bus to transport everyone to the church 25 minutes away), and I saw everyone in their “Terra Nova” shirts, smiling, proud, ready to go... all the Monday Night practices that we had to endure didn't seem to matter anymore. It was worth it. But that wasn’t the best part. The best part was when we got to the church and they sang their butts off (sorry I couldn’t think of a better analogy) and it sounded great! That was the best part. All the painful Monday Nights of singing and practicing (and I must confess... I complained about them each and every week) was worth it. You guys would have been proud of them. That was one of those times when you could see something here that you knew was making a difference. So from Me, MJ and the rest of our family... thank you for all your prayers and support. We couldn’t do it without you. Being here ministering in a remote part of Brazil is difficult, but nights like that make it all worth it. Thanks.
And by-the-way, the pictures at the top are of that night (duh, sorry for stating the obvious). The one at the very top is one of some random little girl who got up (while the pastor was praying at the end) and stole baby Jesus out of the manger while everyone’s head was bowed... classic Christmas Play action, for sure: )
Love Ya,
Jim
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