december 2024.

December’s blog post is coming to you in mid-January! Oh, what a full December it has been. I thank God for His blessings. It has been a wonderful month, and I am so grateful. This month was filled with fundraisers, Christmas concerts, celebrations, caroling, end-of-year projects, report card writing, farewells to students moving, church services focusing on the birth of Christ, advent, and community.

This month, I continued reading the book The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg, and his writing has really impacted me. Here is a quote,

“Prayer becomes real when we grasp the reality and goodness of God’s constant presence with ‘the real me.'”

In his book, he writes about the importance of authenticity, honesty, and vulnerability in our relationship with Jesus. Jesus cares more about us, our growth, our success, our hurt, our desires, and our unique wiring than anyone else and He longs to do life with us. Thus, prayer is the pathway to intimacy with Christ. When we confide in Christ, He can reveal His goodness to us in personal ways. I have been challenged by this book to bring God ALL of me. Even the parts I’d rather hide away or ignore to avoid discomfort. He is oh-so loving, patient, good, tender, and forgiving & best of all is that He loves each of us as we are more than we can even comprehend. How good is He?

This month, we celebrated International Disability Day on December 3rd, and I had the awesome opportunity to go into classes and teach lessons to the students on inclusion and difference. We had great, biblical conversations about how God views individuals with disabilities, and His purpose an plan for humanity. These conversations fuel me and get me so excited about the mindset shift I hope to see in the next generation – adults who understand that difference does not have to coincide with negative ideas, but rather that it is purposeful and necessary for God’s great plan. The students learned about neurodiversity and we reflected on the many ways God has created our brains to work and how we can glorify him knowing how we’re made. After I taught the lessons, I asked the students to write on their desks what they learned and their takeaways were amazing! I am so grateful to be in a position to teach an international community of children about the selfless, unending love of God through His creation.

Our school did an amazing Christmas fundraising project (I mentioned in the last blog) and it was so beautiful seeing the school come together to raise funds for some amazing organizations in the country. The fifth grade class I work with did a jog-a-thon to raise money, the second grade class held a bake sale, the fourth grade classes wrote and auctioned off psalms, the third graders sold their art pieces, and this was only the elementary side of campus. The middle and high school students also came up with so many creative fundraising ideas too. On the last day before break, a school-wide assembly was held where we invited the organizations to come together to receive their donations. We sang some worship songs, some Christmas songs, and shared with each organization what we were able to bless them with financially. Our goal as a school was to raise 13,000 USD, yet we greatly surpassed our goals and fundraised over 21,000 dollars! It was wonderful seeing the students and community come together for the kingdom of God.

As is tradition, I went to visit my market friends twice over the holiday, once to deliver them some homemade treats and the other time to spend time together praying over the new year. This year I made 24 plates of cookies and was able to not only bless my market friends but also the guards and workers for my compound and other friends in my community. It was so lovely catching up with my market friends as it is harder to see them as often now that I live across the city. We enjoyed talking so much that I forgot to take any photos for you! All I have is a photo of the goodies. In addition to the treats, thanks to your generous donations, I was also able to bless them financially to support their various individual needs (cooking items, food items, school fees for their children, fares, rent money, etc.). It was a wonderful Christmastime. I’ve enjoyed creatively blessing my friends for the past 5 years and I am already thinking ahead to what we can do together next year. If you have ideas for this next year, please share them with me! I would love for them to see more of the faces behind my wonderful supporters who make this annual blessing happen.

I, personally, got an absolutely incredible gift this year for Christmas… One of my best friends came to spend the holidays with me! If you’ve been following my blog for a few years now, you might remember this familiar face. My friend, Meganne, was my roommate back in Canada before we both moved overseas to teach. She came to spend Christmas with me in 2022 and it was so special having her come back a second time to visit. We had such a wonderful time together and made memories we will cherish for a lifetime. We enjoyed exploring new places, resting, reading, and being together. Holidays can be an extra difficult time when you live overseas, so I feel all the more thankful to have spent the holidays with ‘family’ this year.

I want to close by speaking a blessing over you all. Your support truly makes this ministry possible. Thank you for your partnership. I am deeply humbled and grateful for your faithful support, encouragement, and prayers.

May the Lord bless you
    and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you
    and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favor
    and give you his peace.

-Numbers 6:24-26

With gratitude,

-j.