Yesterday, Drew and I walked down the road to the Ayoreo community to go to Church. As we walked along, dripping sweat at 7:30 am, I remembered an email I had received the day before from our Pastor in Chattanooga about beginning the advent season. Yesterday the first advent candle was lit at our Church, as I am sure it was accompanied with Christmas hymns and the sanctuary full of poinsettias. It really seemed a million miles away. I miss Sundays of advent, watching different families from our Church read from Scripture and light a candle. It is hard to believe that somewhere else right now in the world people are putting on extra layers to go outside, going to holiday parties, and worrying about fninishing the year well. Here we are trying to put on as few clothing items as possible, enjoying an abundance of mangos that are falling off the trees in our yard, praying that each mosquito bite we get won´t give us dengue, and trying to figure out how to write our end of the year reports for work.
As much as I miss things from home during the holiday season, I am thankful for a change of pace. Getting outside of what we are used to really makes one think about why we do the things we do. In the States, those things so often become a routine that we forget their real importance.
This holiday season, I want to make a goal of celebrating the advent season and focusing on how relevant it is, no matter where I may find myself.
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