Steve and Barnabas in Tanzania

Christmas is coming!  What a wonderful time of year where we all act our best and try to be a bit nicer.  It is also a great time of year to think about your favorite charities as part of your gift giving.  The idea of alternative gift giving is not new.  Families have been practicing for as long as I have been around and most likely before.  I think Heifer International was one of the first to formalize the idea into a cataloge.   Some churches even do special alternative Christmas gift events so you can find the charity you want to support.   It is a wonderful idea to give money to help others as a way to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  Like we actually get the overall idea of what his time on earth was about.  I want to encourage everyone to consider doing at least one alternative Christmas gift this year.  Even if that donation is not to the ministry I work with.  There are a lot of them. Here are some good ...

Last week was a trip to the big city for a quick weekend to pay deposits for the 2017 mission team and to visit the Christmas Fair.  It is a fun event that makes one think of similar events back home.  It was much needed as I have been preparing end of year reports and that is a strange mix of getting a lot of useless data and fighting to get useful data. I put up an offer for those wanting to go to the fair.  Several PCVs wanted to go along, which is why I will be working hard not to mention the name of the big city since they don't have permission to go there and also the reason for it being such a short trip as some needed to get back to schools since they are teachers.  I ended up with a truck full.  The trip there was uneventful but the trip back was full of people puking and a lot of stops by police to only be waived on.   The fair features various crafts, professionals and other groups on display often selling something.  There are food ve...