December 20, 2008

12DoCC Update

We got the opportunity to visit the family I mentioned earlier in my post on The Twelve Days of Christmas Challenge. Seven of us from our small group made the trip, dropping off presents for the family, some food and some donations of clothes and toys.

They were a very nice couple, with a darling 18 month old daughter. We got to talk a bit about how they met, and came to be in the United States, how they are adjusting to life in a new country (they have been here since early July), what they do for work, a little bit about where they came from. The husband has been learning English by studying a Chin/English dictionary, and his English is way better than my Chin, since I do not know even a single word.

It was a nice visit and hopefully went some distance to deepening the relationship between the family and our small group. Time will tell, but our group leader is committed to staying in touch and seeing how we can help them adjust to their new life. They live in an apartment complex that has many from their country living there, so there is a sense of community and support in place.

I think we all left feeling blessed by what the Lord has provided us in the way of a lifestyle and resources, but also blessed that we can reach out and share some love with people from around the other side of the world from where we are (Myanmar, not New York City. I am from NYC, and that is around the world in the other direction from Texas). I am hoping the next visits can allow us to exchange more about our cultures as language will vbecome less of a barrier over time given their desire to learn the language of their new home.

I am enjoying this Christmas season so.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Cool Andy.

Keep going with the visits to this family. Lives get changed by this kind of stuff!

We went caroling tonight. We baked cookies and things and put them in stockings and each house we visited we gave a stocking to. It was fun and it was also a great way to bring a little joy to our neighborhood.