Many people have asked us if we enjoyed our Christmas. Our answer has always been, "Any time you get to spend with your children is wonderful!"
We traveled to Nigeria on December 18th in order to celebrate Christmas with Katrina. We were able to stay for two weeks and began our return trip to Kenya on December 29th.
While we were there the University of Jos was on strike but we were still able to meet several colleagues of Katrina's. We attended a faculty prayer meeting, were invited over to two homes for lunch, and had several visitors drop by the house to meet us.
Although we didn't get to see Katrina in action teaching , we did observe her working with YACPIF (Young Ambassadors for Community Peace and Interfaith
Foundation) members. The Christian youth wanted to host a Christmas party for their Muslim friends. We were able to observe the planning and successful celebration of about 50 young men brought together in mutual respect and understanding of one another's religion. Weekly they watch a movie that focuses on the effects of violence in order to learn how to help bring about peace. The week we were there they watched Blood Diamonds. The discussion that followed was excellent as they realized that those that were committing the violent acts were being used by others and they weren't gaining anything. John participated in a weekly computer training class that along with their other activities is half Christian and half Muslim.
Here is a link to the YACPIF website for more information.
We celebrated Christmas with the McCain family. Although we weren't able to be physically with Andrea and Melissa, we skyped and had our annual Christmas family photo taken! Several days later their package arrived and we enjoyed opening packages a second time.
For more photos,
click here.
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