2 minute read
Feature 12 and
explains. ‘Families dress in Christmas colours and enjoy performing family songs, dramas, stand-up comedy and poetry. We love the togetherness, beauty and joy of Christmas. It fills our hearts with peace.
‘Each corps has a Christmas committee, which distributes food parcels to people who are in need – garbage collectors, taxi-bike riders, public transport drivers and street families. We also help members of the congregation who need special support. This activity blesses and inspires believers because Christmas is about joyful togetherness and God’s blessings, shared without discrimination. During the pandemic, keeping health protocols has meant celebrating Christmas in other ways, but still doing something for others with love.’
Children’s residential care is an important Army ministry, with 15 homes around the country accommodating 300 children. We like to make Christmas special for them.
One of our home officers is Major Lilis Kasmun, who served at Pearl of Love girls home for four years until July. The home is on Nias Island, a small island in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Sumatra.
For Major Lilis, Christmas in Nias was a time of mixed emotions.
‘When our first Christmas in Nias arrived, we were very sad,’ she reflects. ‘We had no resources and no donors at that time. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted the girls to enjoy Christmas with new clothes, eating delicious cookies, enjoying wonderful decorations around the home. But it was just a fantasy. To make our dream come true, we needed funds.
‘We gathered the children and discussed what we could do to raise money. Someone suggested making and selling Christmas decorations. My husband and I went to the store and bought materials and tools. I designed a pattern and taught the children how to follow it. The children put up the decorations they had made in the home.
‘When we realised how good the decorations were, we tried to interest other churches and people who visited the children. Orders came! We then learnt how to make Christmas cookies. Praise the Lord, many people bought them – not only neighbours, but people who came from outside the city too. With the income from those, we bought Christmas presents for the children. But we didn’t keep the income for our own centre – we set money aside to share love gifts with our neighbours and people in need.
‘The happiness we witnessed was wonderful! We showed the girls that Christmas could be celebrated simply and the decorations we made blessed many people. But the biggest surprise came when the children entered a competition in our city’s handicraft exhibition in 2019. Our children’s home won the Best Christmas Handicraft in Gunungsitoli award. The glory and honour go to God. It’s only because of his grace.’
