We spent our second Christmas in the Philippines last month. It was an eventful holiday season. It all started with the APTS candlelight Christmas service. Unfortunately, we missed this one as Lindsey was having surgery in Manila, but the kids attended and performed “Silent Night” in American Sign Language with the Young Kids Bible Club. We made it back on time for the faculty Christmas party at the Lewis’ house. We also enjoyed a Christmas party at our neighbors, the Bowdoins, where Chris illustrated the “totality of Christmas” during a pictionary game.
A couple of days before Christmas our friends Ray & Deborah Miller, missionaries on the Philippine island of Mindoro, came up spend Christmas on campus with us. They joined us on Christmas Eve for a visit to the Baguio General Hospital where we, along with other evangelical missionaries in Baguio, delivered Christmas gifts to the sick children .
Then, LaChrisha, a missionary here at APTS joined the Millers and us for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of beef brisket sandwiches. Tasty! Of course the kids couldn’t wait until after dinner when we opened up the Christmas gifts. We ended the evening sitting around our fire place.
On Christmas morning LaChrisha came over to help cook for the brunch we hosted for all the single students on campus. We served homemade cinnamon raisin bread, Amish egg casserole, fruit salad, apple cider, hot cocoa, coffee, juice, and chocolate chip muffins that Hymes family (fellow APTS missionaries) brought over. The kids opened up their stockings and passed out stockings to all of the students and friends who attended our brunch.
Christmas evening we joined the rest of the campus for a pot luck dinner. We had everything from turkey and cranberry sauce, to noodles with squid and kimchi! It was great time to rejoice in the birth of our savior with Christians from all over the world. It was like a little glimpse of heaven. We were truly blessed with a wonderful Christmas.