Tis the Season

Boy, oh Boy the Christmas season starts early in the Philippines. I think I've mentioned it previouslly but some people put their Christmas trees up in September - I kid you not! I've always LOVED Christmas but ... September? This will be a very short entry. One of the Things that is really popular in the Philippines and... I've discovered... in most densely populated areas.. is the "Light the World" program. The program started several years ago with suggestions about how to light up the world with Christlike activities all during the Christmas season. As a part of that program the church developed "giving machines" whicg are big vending machines that are set up in malls from approximatey Thanksgiving through New Years. It is an opportunity to donate in a unique way to a charity of your choice & depending on where you are in the world the charieties in the vending machines and vary in both cost and type. You can arrange to have school supplies delivered to a village or town, and in some places you can even donate chickens or goats for self-reliance programs. There are vitamin and vaccination programs for pregnant mothers and children and the list goes on. Missionaries in the Philippines participate by being on hand to answer questions and help folks through the process (that is IF they need help!). We did a shift this week and have several more scheduled for right after Sarah's Christmas visit. You don't hunt people down begging them to donate... we just answer questions and it was truly fun. I've included a couple of pictures of our shift and encourage any of you that want to enrich your holiday season .... especially with a reminder about the "reason for the season" check out the websites explaining both Lighttheworld.org program overall AND LighttheworldGivingMachine.org NO PRESSURE... just a fun way to "light" up the holiday season.

We had just arrived and were capturing the moment while we relieved some missionaries that had been there several hours. We had a fun evening.

Roy and I having fun during our shift. In the background was the MOST amazing light display and of course like everywhere in the Philippines ... music was BLARING in the background.