Merry Belated Christmas!

Oops! I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas on the day and planned to do so but our weekend didn't go completely as planned. Saturday I worked as expected and Shannon got some electrical work done in the basement. On Sunday, Christmas Eve, we went to the 9AM church service where I sang for choir and Collin worked in Kids Church. Then we drove out to my(Christine's) parents home to celebrate Christmas with them. We had our traditional Christmas meal of hot oil fondue. This has been a family tradition since I was a child in the early 70's so I don't remember ever not having it. We cooked steak, marinated steak, meatballs with cheese in them and smokies dipped in a breading batter. Everything was yummy. We also had salad, baked potatoes and french bread cubes dipped in a chipped beef dip. After clean up we had fun opening gifts with mom and dad and my sister and her boyfriend. We all thought it was funny as we opened gifts we asked if we'd say, "Can I borrow that when you're done with it?" We gave my dad a DVD we wanted to borrow and I got several books from my mom and sister that they wanted to read. Shortly after opening gifts I got very sharp stomache pains and ended up spending the rest of the day off and on the toilet. That evening, my sister ended up sick with vomiting. Then Christmas Day I was still fighting the bug when it kicked in on Shannon. He ended up home from work today too with it. Needless to say, I didn't get here to post due to how I was feeling.

I hope everyone reading this was able to havea good Christmas visiting with family and friends and enjoying each other while remembering Jesus' birthday. Collin was again a shepherd but this time in our church Christmas Eve service. Unfortunately I missed it as I was home sick.

I still don't have my Christmas letter sent out. It is looking like it will be a New Year letter. I hope it doesn't become a Presidents Day letter. We did send email greetings to some of our overseas friends and heard back from one today. Alex is the nephew of Pastor Richard in Tanzania. He was Pastor Richard's "right hand man" while Shannon, Collin and the team were there in September. We believe he will be pretty involved in the ministry when we get over there and look forward to spending time with him. I want to share with you a bit of what he wrote as he talks about Christmas preparations. He also speaks of flooding. Tanzania has two rainy seasons. When it is rainy, it is really rainy and the rest of the year it is a drought. I have left his writing in his original self-taught English spelling.
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may this CHRISTMAS SEASON be filled with precious moment of of joy and happiness to your family as you are celebrating the precious memory of the coming of our Lord Jesus the savior to save the world.as what says in luke 2:11and wish all the best success and cheerish love in saving the Lord inthe coming new year 2007.

here in mwanza everybody was busy since 20th of december,buying new cloth for kids and women for christmas as well as cards,flowers,some food etc, even though it has been a defficult season with much rainfall to extend that some of the areas here in tanzania has been affected with floods,some roads and brigdes has been destroyed.but we thank God at least on 24th,25th and 26th the rain has hold on for a while atleast to give a chance to people to celebrate in good harmony.

Again here in mwanza everybody is doing fine pasor Richard and Getrude are moving forward with the ministry and the church is growing well.

that's all for today but i will be intouch with often.
love to you'

Alex
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Please pray for the people of Tanzania, especially the children on the streets as they weather the current rainy season. Shannon and I wish you a joyous and blessed New Year and we look forward to another year of living for Jesus.