December 24, 2008

A Night to Remember...

The Christmas presentation was a HUGE success! Thank you so much for your prayers. When you click to see the rest of this post, you'll find a few photos and a video.

We split into three groups yesterday morning to visit all our neighbors. (Quite fun, since most only spoke Guarani. I had a "small" conversation with one older gentleman who complimented me for trying to learn it! YAY!) SIDENOTE: Each group came back with a load of fruit that the neighbors shared with us. Our little group had grapes and mangoes, and some sort of small round fruit bigger than the grapes but smaller than a plum, that opens up to a very sweet, gooey ball of fruit inside.

It has been at least 100* here for the last week, but about an hour before starting time, the temp dropped to 85. This was a very bad sign, as it could only be signaling a thunderstorm. When it rains or even THREATENS to rain in Paraguay, the world stops. No school, no church, many don't even go to work. They just settle in at home and stay put. So we were just a little worried that the clouds would scare everyone off.

But we had a great turnout, and the play began with the moderator reading the Christmas story from the Bible. We started at the angel's visit to Mary and went all the way to the shepherd's visit to Baby Jesus. I just loved the little angel chorus below!

The three kings decided to put some decoration on to distinguish themselves from the shepherds, so Caroline actually has a pink guitar pink hanging on her forehead from a bobby pin. Once the idea was in her head, there was no turning back. The others are donning pillow cases, of course! Caroline is on the left, their friend Emily in the middle, and Camille with the blue cape.

Mary is being blocked by the star-studded coconut tree in this photo, but the little family is surrounded by the angels and some visiting shepherds. The gifts left by the wise men are on stage (they are boxes wrapped in soccer jerseys...)

The video below is all the girls, with the Marcos Witt song, "Es Navidad" (It's Christmas) in the background. I shot it with my regular camera, so the sound is pretty bad. Caroline is in the red and white shirt with a scarf draped around her like a skirt. She comes forward in the second group of dancers. Camille is on the stage, mostly blocked by that aggravating coconut tree. She's on the left of the screen in the first group. The girls here are always making up little dances to songs, so they were excited to present this last night.


Here's a crowd shot. We were so happy with how many came from the community. As soon as the sound equipment and all the props were brought in, the bottom fell out of the sky and we had thunderstorms all night. Thank the Lord for holding off the rain and giving us the opportunity to proclaim the real reason for NAVIDAD!


4 comments:

  1. Looks like a really nice program!
    Merry Christmas to you all! I´m sure you are missing your family´s but hope you do have a joyous Christmas!

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  2. Glad it was such a success and that the rain held off.

    See you tomorrow!

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  3. Awesome performance!! The guitar pick was the perfect touch. Must move the coconut tree next time though-Loved the peppy music!!!!Most taleneted girls in the world (OK, just because I'm the grandma, I may be a little prejudiced!!

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  4. Girls: You did a fabulous job! Thank you so much for making an effort to share the real reason for Christmas. God bless you guys!

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