So you want to know what's happening with the Brittan family?? Of course you do, you have come to our blog site to see.....(snicker snicker)
Here is the Brittan family on Christmas morning!!!
The Brittan children Christmas morning
(Hattie (9), Emma (7), Harry (3), Nellie ( 17 months))
The Brittan family has been blessed today in so many ways. We are all healthy, and the kids are all wise. Harry and I are still asking for wisdom. We have been blessed also by all the people around us. We have received many phone calls today, so chatting with family and friends has really been a blessing. Visiting many churches here this past week, we have learned so much about the work that is going on here. Visiting with friends here also has been a real blessing. We started a new family tradition this year. Harry made fresh salsa, and we packaged some chips for our local friends here (sorry, no preservatives meant we couldn't ship any to the states). We took these special packages to each house, and the family sang Away in Manager, Silent Night, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. It was a fun time for all. Our friends said it was a special treat. We have received many boxes from the states with gifts for us, and our Christmas Day has really been a blessing.
So what's Christmas like here in a country that doesn't know why we celebrate?? The monks still collected their daily rations from the people, and the Buddhists still prayed and gave offerings. Animists still gave offereings to the spirits. Muslims still prayed to Allah. I am sure many people went to the Wat this morning for their morning blessing. The shops all opened this morning like a typical Monday. I know many of you have heard about taking the Christ out of Christmas, and here it is just like that. The difference is that not everyone buys and gives gifts like in the states. Many shops bring in special items for this season in anticipation of gift buyers. There are very few places that are decorated, and there is no Santa Claus. We noticed last night that the houses are not decorated for Christmas either. So there are some differences, but it is a glimpse of what America would be like without Christmas. Today we can go anywhere and get anything we need. Almost all the shops are open for business today. We ate our Christmas lunch at a Muslim restaurant that we love to eat at. The food is very good. They do not serve turkey. We had some typical foods that we eat here in Thailand.
The kid's school will have a Christmas celebration on December 28th, and it will consist of Santa Clause, presents, and some games. This same day the school will celebrate the New Year also. It is hard to imagine this celebration, so I will have to write more about this later.
The Brittans have been very busy in the past few months, and I admit that I have missed writing about many events. There is just not enough hours in the day to do it all right now. Just like in the states, the day starts fast and furious, and by the end of the day I am wondering why I didn't feel like I got anything done. Each day is different, but it seems that there is always something going on. I have been getting for the children to be at home full-time in order for us to get our homeschool work done. They will at home full-time by the end of this week. They are very excited. We have also been involved with Sports Day, Emma's birthday, Christmas Dinner for the M Community, finishing up with Training Center, and a few more small events. We are still studying language full-time also. So many things on our schedule right now, and the Lord still uses us to do his work. We are anticipating the upcoming year and all that it will bring.
We will host our first training session for ARLDF the week of January 15-20th, 2007. This week is coming up quickly, and we have many things to prepare for this week. The training center should be ready for training on January 10th. This week is dedicated to acquiring things that we will use to facilitate training. The training facility will be used to house the trainees during the training, so we must also prepare for housing and feeding the students. The Lord has been working to introduce us to many potential training groups, and we have also met many potentional national partners. The first training session will be with the Lahu people. There will be about 25-30 men at the training. These men are pastors. The training will be used to give them an overview of agricultural technologies, and we will also have time to train them in doctrinal items. Please pray for the preparation of this training session and many more like it this year.
Please stay tuned to the blog. I am really going to try to get some updates on what's happening here. Thanks so much for being patient with us on updating the blog.
The Brittan family wishes you and your family a Blessed Christmas Day!!
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