A Caroling We Will Go!

Last night I went caroling with a group from the ACA. The previous night they decorated the tractor and drove it out around the villages, but last night we couldn’t take the tractor so we went out in the bus and a couple of cars. I was really looking forward to caroling. It finally felt a little like Christmas! We even had a “Christmas Tata” (Santa) with us. We made stops in a couple different villages and a small town nearby. We started off by singing some upbeat Christmas carols and many of the guys (including Santa) danced. I didn’t know dancing was a part of our celebration! I was pumped! But, then disappointed when I found out that it’s seen as inappropriate for a woman to dance. I had to stand on the sidelines and try to suppress my desire to dance along with everyone else. I couldn’t help but at least clap and sway a little to the music. Finally, at one stop, a woman let me hold a little girl so that I could dance with her. At every stop a crowd would gather as we sang and danced and then we began to share the gospel. After sharing, we sang a few more songs and then left for another stop.

Along the way we came to an intersection where a train was passing through. We took the opportunity to do some more singing and dancing for the people sitting on their motorbikes waiting to cross to the other side. After we ran back to our cars, we visited the village which I went to last week. The kids were so excited to see us. Some of them showed us the bracelets that we gave them and we clapped our hands together as we sang. The few believers in the village gave us some coffee and snacks and we promised to come visit the next day. Finally, we came back to the campus and gave one more ‘performance’ in front someone’s home. Since we were within the confines of our own place, with no strangers around, I was told it would be okay to bust out my moves…and so I did. ;) It was a great way to end an awesome night. It was so great to be able to spread this Christmas message with other brothers and sisters, to those who may have never heard the real meaning of Christmas before.