Merry Christmas!

I want to wish all of you a very merry Christmas, even if it is a day early. This season I've been thinking a lot about Christmas and home, and all of the people who are a part of both of them for me. So I want to tell you how much I appreciate and miss all of you, my family and friends.

Amid the preparations, the pre-Christmas celebrations, the Christmas carols with the team, the buying of my Christmas shirt, and the general anticipation that fills the air in Bundibugyo (Christmas is a big deal here, if you hadn't figured that out), the tragic and difficult realities remain. Just yesterday, a soda truck collided with a pickup truck laden with far too many passengers. Both of them rolled, and this morning I learned that 12 people have died, including a mother and her two young children, all of them leaving friends and family mourning and weeping at a time when almost everyone is celebrating and making merry. This has been a poignant reminder that, while we celebrate the birth of Jesus, come into the world for our salvation, the consummation of his work is yet to come - we still live in a world of suffering and tragedy. So, I plan to celebrate and feast and to enjoy new family, new friends, good food, and good wine, but to also remember that I live in a world of needs and pain, as well as joy and celebration. 

So, I don't want to make your Christmas sad with these stories (I could keep going), but the complexity and nuance of this season have struck me, and I think it's good to dwell on it for a time. I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas (or Chanukah, or just a good December), and that you are able to enjoy it with friends and family. Merry Christmas from the heat and dust of Bundibugyo!