Merry Christmas!!!

Well to be honest it does not feel much like Christmas at all. There are no Christmas trees, no lights on houses (that would be mud huts here) and there are no Santa’s laps to sit on at the mall. But then again what is the real meaning of Christmas? I have always felt like I have tried to keep Jesus at the center of Christmas, but being here and having the birth of Jesus really be the center of all the kids talk about and sing about reminds me that He is the focus. We have been teaching the kids Christmas songs to perform to their parents on Christmas. Last Thursday we learned "Do you hear what I hear?" While they were singing I really felt the true meaning of Christmas and for the first time I really listened to the words of the song. We are also reading an advent story to the kids every night. We have been reading about the prophets that foretold the birth of Jesus. I guess not having all the things that remind me of Christmas, I am able to focus on the true meaning without having all the commercialism get in the way. We were able to get every child a good pair of shoes and socks, underwear along with a TV and some DVDs. We are so excited to give them their gifts, we know they will be so thrilled to get there own pair of new shoes.

OK so I didnt write this blog, I have to give Lindsay the credit. We had a very hard time tyring to put this last weekend into words. Lindsay put it so much better than I could.
Last weekend I spent a few days traveling through a part of eastern Ghana called the Volta Region. It is in this region as well as other parts of West Africa including Togo and Benin, that the practice of Trokosi slavery is widespread. It is this region that four of our children at Haven of Hope used to call home.

Trokosi is a belief system in which entire villages believe in and worship a variety of gods. However, in addition to idol worship, this religion requires that in order to atone for sins and appease the gods, one must offer a child, preferably a virgin daughter to the Trokosi priest over the local shrine. That child is then enslaved for a lifetime, at the will and whim of the priest. They are his, for work or for pleasure. There are hundreds of these shrines throughout West Africa, but thanks to the concern and efforts of Every Child Ministries and its full time employees in the Volta Region, three shrines have agreed to the liberation of their slaves just in the past few years and another is being negotiated at this time, hoping for another liberation ceremony in the summer of 2009!

As I mentioned, four of our children come from this region of the country and our mission last weekend, at their request, was to take them to their former homes in order to greet what may remain of their families. While each reunion had its own unique circumstance, their commonality was a lack of attachment, emotion, and love in each instance. As we passed from Sogokopie to Aflau over countless rivers and through soaring coconut trees, I began to ask myself what it was that made these reunions different from those we had witnessed previously in Accra. As much as I tried to avoid the Sunday school answer, it was the only answer that made any sense. The difference was God. Even though they have struggled through poverty, prostitution, and despair, many of the mothers in the streets of Accra know God and believe in the sacrifice of His son. These families in the Volta Region, who participate in an idol worshipping, child enslaving religion completely devoid of the knowledge of the one true God, know nothing of love because God is love. Today I ask that you pray for ECM and its employees in the Volta Region ministering daily to those trapped in the Trokosi traditions, that they may radiate Christ’s love in a land where there is very little.

Please keep the kids in prayer over the holidays, some are very sad about not being able to see their families.