OUR INDONESIAN CHRISTMAS MIRACLE
By Lavona Richardson
It was coming to the end of our mission in Bogor, Indonesia in December 2004. We could have come home in time for Christmas but Jay and I decided that we wanted to spend Christmas with our friends in Indonesia to help them have a good Christmas. Many of them were from Muslim families so what we could help provide would be the only Christmas they would have.
We were very busy finishing up all of our Humanitarian projects but scheduled a Christmas party with all the new members in Jasinga. Jasinga was quite a distance from where we lived in a very remote area. The day before the party we received a Christmas package from Miriam. We opened it just enough to see that it contained things for a Christmas party and took it with us to our party.
When we arrived at Jasinga and looked into the package the first thing we saw was a string of Christmas lights. We told our new friends that we needed a Christmas tree. They took an axe and went out and cut a tree down and brought it into the member’s home where Church services were held. Someone brought in a bucket of sand to set up the tree and we strung the lights around the tree. They didn’t have electricity but had a generator that they set up to plug the lights in. The lights were American lights and different than the electricity in Indonesia. It was a miracle that they lit up.
I will never forget the smiles on the children and the adults alike as they saw a Christmas tree for the first time all lit up.
We pulled out of Miriam’s package some other decorations for the tree and gifts for everyone. We sang Christmas carols around the tree. I felt the Christmas spirit as we celebrated Christmas with these good people who had so recently found the Gospel of Jesus Christ and fully embraced it. I know that Heavenly Father provided this miracle to let us know that he was pleased with what we were doing in this far off country and how we were celebrating his birth. I enjoy lights on the Christmas tree and each year when we string the lights around the tree and turn them on I remember this miracle of how the lights lit up in Indonesia when they were not suppose to because it was t he wrong current. I remember that all things are possible with our Heavenly Father when we do our part. This was also a confirmation to me that he would continue to bless his children in Jasinga as they strive to live the teachings of their new Church even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
No comments:
Post a Comment