This is our second Christmas Season in PNG. Our second year without you to celebrate with. There are many things that are different about doing Christmas overseas, but we have found that we can still hold on—even if ever so slightly—to some of our old family traditions. We used to go to Christmas Town, USA (McAdenville, NC) every year to see the whole town lit up with twinkly lights. Now we have a puzzle that's a painting of McAdenville by Thomas Kincade that we are putting together. We used to have our community group over for a Christmas potluck complete with caroling and the reading of the Christmas Story from Luke (but in a pop-up book!). This year I took my 7th grade girls group caroling in the community here. We used to be with family and attend Church at Charlotte’s Christmas Eve service. This year we will be joining our friends tradition of clam chowder and attending the community church’s Christmas Eve service. We used to attend the live Nativity down the road from our home. This year we hosted a live Nativity for anyone in the community to come and hear about the true reason for this time of celebration (it was dark, but we had over 300 people attend!). John used to have 2 weeks off for Christmas to relax before a new year started. This year he will be building us a sofa so that we have somewhere to sit, and will be volunteering with the Vacation Bible School that some from our community put on for the local villages here (over 600 PNG kids came last year)!
Things might look different, but God is still breathing life into each moment and reminding us of Christ's miraculous birth and sacrifice. We miss you all so much and our hearts are with you this holiday season… but we are so thankful to now call this our home. So thankful that God has a place for us in His plans and in His glory shining here in PNG.
Thank you for being willing to miss us! Thank you for your prayers and support that make you a part of His light here too! Merry Christmas and we love you!
Blessings from PNG,
John, Kristi, Nori, Banner, and Millie Craig
PS: There's lots of work here and we pray that God will allow us to stay and do it. If you are looking for something to bless with your end of year giving, would you prayerfully consider our Wycliffe ministry?
https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/thefamilycraig