Sharing Christmas with my international friends- Christmas Eve
My homemade Christmas card from my young Vietnamese friends
This afternoon I went to Christmas Eve Service at my church with friends from China and Vietnam. It was fun to share a Christmas Eve candlelight service with my friends who had not been to one before. I had a nice surprise when I picked them up. My friends from Vietnam made a Christmas Card for me.
Cong, Yen, Tuan, Paula and Quang waiting for the service to start
Huiyua and Zhou Heng waiting for the service to start
Quang, Phung and Tram waiting for the service to start
My friends liked the story for the children and singing Silent Night by Candle Light. I always enjoy singing Silent Night by Candle Light. I enjoy it because of the simplicity of sitting in Candle Light and singing a song that expresses the meaning of Christmas. It is always a peaceful moment and a time to reflect quietly on why we celebrate Christmas.
After the service they helped me record a video of me saying Happy Birthday Jesus in various languages which I posted on my facebook page. I drove them home and stopped at the store as it was really starting to snow. Now I am sitting in my house playing on my computer and hoping I can visit friends tomorrow.
Huiyuan and Zhou Heng from China in front of Christmas tree at church
Phung, Tram, Quang, Paula, Yen and Tuan from Vietnam in front of a Christmas tree at church
Sharing Christmas with my international friends- A Simple Christmas can be very Meaningful
Sharing Christmas with my international friends has helped me to understand that a Simple Celebration can be very meaningful. Sometimes it is too easy to get caught up in all the activity and shopping and lose our focus on why we celebrate Christmas. We do not celebrate Christmas to spend more than our neighbors so we can one up them. Christmas is not a competition. It is a celebration. We do not celebrate Christmas to have the perfect recipe. The first Christmas they had simple food in a stable full of animals. There are many other ways we can get caught up and too busy.
Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of a child, but not just any child. Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of the Son of God. A time to celebrate the fact that god loved us so much that Jesus came into the world to show us God’s love. I have been reminded of this many times by celebrating Christmas with my international friends. For me the best way to celebrate Christmas is to spend time with others and show the love of God to them. That is why tomorrow I will spend some time with my Karen friends and then with my friends from Peru. A time to remember God’s love. I would like to share a few pictures with you that show simple yet profound Christmas celebrations.
My friend Roxi in Romania preparing food
My friends Cristi and Alexandra in their small apartment in Romania that was full of love
Cristi and Alendria had a friend come visit on Christmas day to share friendship
some of my young friends from Vietnam experiencing a Chirstmas program for the first time
reunion of old friends Brigitte from Belgium, Yoshio from Japan, Julia and Jochen from Germany at a Chirstmas program
Paula and Yen sharing time at a Christmas program
some of my friends seeing a Living Nativity for the first time
Carlos and Amelia at our Christmas program. It is Amelia's first Christmas in America
Sharing Christmas with my international friends- Many friends from many countries
This has been an awesome Christmas Season so far. I have been able to share Christmas in various ways with many friends from many countries. We have experienced Christmas programs, parties, baking cookies, and watching a special Children’s program. If the weather does not cancel it, we will enjoy a Christmas Eve service together. I would like to share who the many friends are and where they are from.
me with my friend Brigitte from Belgium
Jochen and Julia from Germany
Carlos and Amelia from Peru
Yen and Paula from Vietnam
me with Alex, Huiyuan, Tingting and Johnny from China
me with Yoshio from Japan
Mindy from Vietnam and Yi from Taiwan
Quang and Phung from Vietnam
Zhou Heng from China
Shawn American and his wife Lien from Vietnam
Sihan and Derrick from China
Cong from Vietnam
Tram from Vietnam
When I think about my international friends that come to my classes at my church, I also think about my international friends who do not come to my classes at church. I often think about my refugee friends from Burma, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Bosnia, Afghanistan and French Speaking Africa. I have heard their stories about the horrible things some of them have had to endure in the midst of war or genocide. That is why at Christmas as I think about it being the birthday of the Prince of Peace I also think about how I need to pray for peace every where and continue to show the love of God to those who I meet from many countries. Merry Christmas!!
Sharing Holidays with my international friends- Sweet Treats :)
Desserts at our Thanksgiving Dinner
Christmas is a time for many delicious sweet treats such as cookies, cakes, pies and ice cream. I remember when I was a kid how I would “get sick” when it was time to bake Christmas sugar cookies. I would stay home from school and “feel better” in time to try the cookies fresh out of the oven. Sharing this part of the holidays is a little tricky with my international friends. Many of them think American food is too sweet. We still found holiday treats enjoyable whether it was making them or eating them.
Zhou Heng enjoying Candy Cane ice cream
Huiyuan enjoying Candy Cane ice cream
Zhou Heng, Huiyuan and Kirste sharing Candy Cane ice cream
At our lunch on Sunday two of my friends had the opportunity to try a holiday treat new for them. They had some Peppermint Candy Cane ice cream. They liked it and I caught a few pictures of them enjoying the holiday treat.
me sneaking chocolate chips while my friends made Christmas cookies
me caught eating the evidence lol
Some things never change such as me finding a way to sample the goodies before every one else. I do not know how to bake Christmas treats but Russ’s Market if only a few blocks away and I will make a trip there this week. If the weather is not too bad on Thursday I will take some of my friends to Christmas Eve service and share some more Christmas treats with them.
Sharing Christmas with my international friends- Dinner at John and Julie’s
one group downstairs
one group upstairs
Yesterday I wrote about how my Sunday class was invited to have lunch with some friends form church in their home. We had a lot of fun and some good food. My international friends had the opportunity to meet some American friends from church. They also had a chance to get to know each other better. Sharing a meal is a great way to build friendships with international friends.
Phung and Lien in the kitchen
Sihan and Derrick in the kitchen
hungry girls getting lunch
buffet time
My friends also enjoyed seeing what an American home decorated for Christmas looks like. Most of them had not been inside an American home at Christmas time.
Tram liked the Christmas tree
Quang liked the toy soldier
brother and sister
the three musketeers 
If you want to get to know someone from another country, opening your home is a great way to do it. They are more like us than we realize. They appreciate friendship and family. They are curious about American culture and families. Their smiles make my day every time I see them.
Zhou Heng has a great smile
Sharing Christmas with my international friends- lunch at John and Julie’s house today
Don and Lois Edigar, our hostess Julie Craw and Paula from Vietnam
This morning and afternoon we had fun at church and after ward at John and Julie’s house for lunch. Church was fun because we had the children’s program. My friends enjoyed the program. There was one moment when a little boy of about 2 or 3 years ran off and his mother had to run after him. My friends enjoyed the whole program.
Greg Megrue, Cong from Vietnam and John Craw our host
My friends John and Julie Craw from church opened their house to us again. This was the third time they have opened their house to us. My international friends enjoyed meeting some American friends and spending time together. The pictures today will be of Americans meeting my international friends. Tomorrow I will post some of us eating lunch and spending time together.
Kirste and Huiyuan from China
Julie, Kathy Megrue with Wen Zhu from China
Greg, Cong and John
Zhou Heng, Huiyuan and Kirste
Greg and Kathy Megrue with Alex from China
Alex and Huiyuan talk with Kirste with Mike in the background
me with Yen and Paula from Vietnam
me with Tram and Phung from Vietnam
Sharing Christmas with my international friends- Baking Christmas cookies
A Christmas cookie after it finished baking
Christmas cookies
This morning my conversation did something a little different. Two of my friends from church Carol and Kathy came to the church to show our international friends how to make Christmas cookies. Carol’s daughter Kriste came also. They have been busy and having fun. It smells good and I am getting hungry.
There is something about sharing food whether it is eating together or cooking/baking together that helps for building friendships. Our classes have had a Thanksgiving pie baking morning, a Thanksgiving dinner together, a Christmas party and now a Christmas cookie baking morning.
Phung and Kirste making cookie dough
Yen and Tram making cookie dough
Kirste, Mindy and Cong making cookie dough
Paula and Cong making cookie dough
New friends Cong from Vietnam and Yi from Taiwan
Mindy and Yi hard at work
Paula and Cong
Yen using the mixer
Carol and Kathy are great at working with our international friends. They are kind and patient. In a way both of them have more kids now. It is fun to watch as they teach our international friends how to bake.
Kathy with Yen and Tram
Carol with Paula and Yen
You may wonder what I was doing the whole time. Well I of course played “supervisor” and got caught sneaking a few things lol.
Me supervising Yen, Tram and Paula
me supervising Phung and Kirste
me supervising Cong and Paula
I got caught sneaking chocolate chips
Sharing Christmas with my international friends- Christmas Party at Jochen and Julia’s
Jochen and Julia our hosts
Last Sunday after we went through Once Upon a Village at my home church First Evangelical Free Church Lincoln and went to the Handel’s Messiah performance at New Covenant Church, we went to Jochen and Julia’s house for a Christmas party. Jochen and Julia are friends of mine from Germany. They have been gracious hosts for our Christmas party the past few years and have also hosted some summertime barbecues. Our friends from China had to go back home to study so they missed the party.
Mike, Pat, Carlos, Amelia and Carol
We had some delicious chili that Julia made, some macaroni salad that Lien made, and some pizza from DaVinci’s. It was a nice time to relax with friends and have some fun.
It was truly an international Christmas party. Celebrating Christmas with my international friends from Germany, Japan, Peru and Vietnam makes me think about something Jesus said about Himself coming into the world. Jesus said- “For God so loved the World that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life”. Christmas is a time to celebrate the gift of Jesus which is a gift for ALL people.
At the end of the evening we played a game of where is Yoshio.
my young friends from Vietnam with Uncle Yoshio from Japan
Yoshio and Jochen
Yoshio sitting with Carlos, Amelia and Pat
Yoshio behind Mike
Yoshio with Amelia, Karisa, and Julia
Yoshio behind Rex
Sharing Christmas with my international friends- Handel’s Messiah at New Covenant
My last two blogs I wrote about how some of my international friends went with me to Once Upon a Village at my home church First Evangelical Free church in Lincoln. After we went through the Village and saw the Living Nativity we went to another church on 84th street called New Covenant. They had a choral/orchestral presentation of Handel’s Messiah. I always to listen to the Hallelujah Chorus as well as the rest of Handel’s Messiah. The presentation was wonderful and I enjoyed it a lot. My friends seemed to like the Hallelujah Chorus the most. I realized that I had a somewhat young group with me and perhaps I should have taken them to Saturday with me so they could hear the big band sounds of Christmas. Nevertheless we had fun.
The group sitting and waiting for the performance to begin
Yen and Paula in front of the Christmas tree at New Covenant
Yen and Paula with Cong
Johnny, Tingting and Alex at New Covenant
TIngting and Huiyuan at New Covenant
After that we sat down for some cookies before we went to Jochen and Julia’s for our party. I will write about the party tomorrow. Paula a young lady of 13 from Vietnam told me she ate 4 cookies. It was nice to sit down and relax before leaving for our party.
Cookie time for Calros and Amelia
Cookie time for Shawn and Lien
Mike and Carol Sunday class helpers
Paula and Yen behind Carlos and Amelia
Sharing Christmas with my international friends- Once Upon a Village Part 2
Yesterday I wrote about how on Sunday I went to my church’s Christmas program with some of my international friends from my classes at church which is First Evangelical Free Church in Lincoln. We began by looking at some animals outside and then went inside to walk through the Village which represented Bethlehem where Jesus was born.
Alex with Roman Soldiers
Tingting and Huiyuan met a shopkeeper
Carlos and Amelia with a shopkeeper
We also saw some characters such as shopkeepers and Roman Soldiers.
Paula, Yen and Lien listen to the shepherd
Yoshio listening to the shepherd
Brigitte and Yoshio listening to the shepherd
We went to listen to a shepherd tell the story of how the Angels came to announce the birth of Jesus.
The Living Nativity
Huiyuan, Tingting and Johnny iin front of the Living Nativity
Paula and Yen in front of the Living Nativity
Amelia and Carlos in front of the Living Nativity
We finished our tour by going to the Living Nativity Scene. Nativity is for birth as in the birthplace of Jesus. For my international friends if you see the word natal it has to do with birth such a prenatal care which is care before the woman becomes pregnant and while she is pregnant. Neonatal is the area in the hospital for newborn babies. When we refer to the Nativity we are talking about the birth of Jesus. In Spanish they say Feliz Navidad instead of Merry Christmas. In Portuguese they say Feliz Natal.
We had a great time. Tomorrow I will write about when we went to New Covenant Church to listen to Handel’s Messiah which is a Choral presentation about Jesus and His birth.
About
I teach English Second Language and have a ministry for internationals at my home church First Evangelical Free church in Lincoln Nebraska. I have had the pleasure of traveling in Austria, Canada, England, France, Germany, Mexico, Romania and Switzerland. My hobby is to learn words and phrases from other languages. I have learned how to greet people in 30 languages.
My blog is about my experiences with international friends, my travels, and people I meet along the way. My international friends’ stories are fascinating to me. Experiencing other cultures makes life rich for me.
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