Christmas is a very popular holiday in many parts of the world, but in French-speaking countries in West Africa, people pay little attention to Christmas. No Christmas trees, no dramas, no Christmas carols, no scripture readings, no reading of the story of Christ’s birth, no gift exchanges. But this year, Christmas caused quite a stir of excitement among parents and children in eight churches in Benin.
The story begins while we were on furlough in September of last year, and we visited the Worcester Adventist Church in Massachusetts. We arrived at that church exhausted. We had traveled by air and automobile more than 10,000 miles all across America—from West Coast to East Coast; from South to North. But little did we know that our last speaking appointment in Worcester was to be a real gift from God, just two days before our departure for Benin.
The Worcester members not only finished our fundraising goals, they also proposed to send Christmas gifts to the children of our little church family in Kandi, and they asked us to make a list. We were excited about the idea and had no doubt that it would be a great help and blessing to our mission project and the people of Kandi. In addition to our 10 regular children, we included on our list the children of friends and families who had visited us at least once. This gave us a total of 24 children. However, in Africa it is terrible to rejoice alone. An African proverb says, “The man who eats alone cannot discuss with others the taste of the food.” So we asked the Worcester Church if we could include children in other nearby Adventist churches. The church was happy to agree, so our list expanded to 73 children in eight Adventist churches and companies. We noted the name, age and gender of each child and sent our list to the Worcester Church in November.
As we entered December and approached the 25th, expectations were very high. There was much speculation about what was in store, and Christmas became a time of excitement for the first time to the 73 children and their families.
Unfortunately, shipments travel slow in Africa. Though shipped early in December, the first gift packages arrived on January 14, and the last ones arrived January 23. By the grace of God, the distribution went fine, and the feedback is heart-touching. All the parents and children expressed their joy and gratefulness.
“I thank the person who sent me more than seven different items, some of them I have never seen in my life!” said 10-year-old Murielle.
“My two sons have never been this happy,” said a mother.
“The gifts are so personal. This is amazing!” said a father.
“My son receive a toy we have been searching for for years,” said another father.
“I received too many gifts!” said Elie-Dana, my four-year-old son. The expressions of joy and gratitude went on and on.
Thank you so much, brothers and sisters of the Worcester Adventist Church! And special thanks to the kids who helped prepare packages (Aiden, Liam, Tristin and Kayla Williams and Kaelyn and Ava Walls).
