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December 2008
 
LCMS World Mission
 
Betsy KarkanServing the Lord and theLCMS in
Thailand
 
Email:thailandtrekker@gmail.com Blog:http://thailandtrekking.blogspot.com 
 
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11 
Dear friends in Christ,It’s so incredible to think that allaround the world people have or are stillcelebrating this wonderful good news.This month I have been so thankful formany, many opportunities to share thisgood news of great joy with people herein Thailand. What a blessing it is, as Lukereminds us, that this is indeed for allpeople. Even though many people here livein darkness the light of Christmas stillcontinues to shine brightly!
 A blessed Merry Christmas andHa New Year to all!
 
Trekking Log:
December 5:Celebration of theKing’s birthday, AAAND the birthof my niece Ariana Grace!!!December 13:ChristmasCelebration at the Bang NaDaycareDecember 19:Language schoolChristmas PartyDecember 21:Concordia LutheranChurch Christmas CelebrationDecember 22-24:LCMS-WM/CWEFT trip to visit schools inUttaraditDecember 25:Christmas withfriends and family (via Skype!)
 
Some of my new friends from Bang Na
 
 
 
Christmas at Bang Na!
There is something about children and Christmas that is so energizing and contagious.Visiting Bang Na for the first time, I got to experience this first hand. From themoment I got out of the car I could tell that the kids there were on the brink of bubbling over with excitement for what the day would bring. The guests includedparents, grandparents, our staff, members of Concordia Lutheran Church Phongphet,former daycare students and even Santa Claus himself!! Our staff led singing andplaying games before the children gave many musical, dance, and dramaperformances for their guests including a full performance of the Christmas story. Myfavorite part of the morning was watching the joy on their faces as they received theirChristmas gift from Santa or one of the distinguished guests. The gifts ranged from astuffed animal to pencil cases, yet the expression on all their faces was the same-complete joy! It was almost as if they couldn’t have asked for anything more. I doubtthat is was possible for anyone to be immune from their joy: I know I wasn’t!For those who don’t know, Concordia Daycare-Bang Na is a daycare founded andsupported by LCMS-WM and CWEFT. Our staff goes their weekly to share biblelessons with them, so you will probably learn a lot about what goes on there in thefuture when I finish language school.
Bang Na kids getting presents
Celebrating Christmas at Thai school
 with my teachers and classmates was both afun and cultural experience. For weeks wehad different teams practicing variousperformances trying unsuccessfully to keepit a secret from the other teams. Even so itproved to be more surprising than I hadimagined. To start the celebration we had ashort devotion that included a reading fromIsaiah in 7 different languages, as well asChristmas hymns in Thai and English. Afterthat, we moved on to the food andperformances. Team USA sang the “TwelveDays of Thai Class”, Team Asia sangAmazing Grace in Japanese, Chinese, andThai and then we had multiple groups of teachers do traditional and not so traditionalThai dances. Then, after weeks of practicethe American girls did a traditional Thaidance complete with costumes, make-up,and orchids in our hair. After 4 months of language school it was nice to have a chanceto relax with friends and celebrate Christmastoether!
 
 
Praying to the Lord of the Harvest, LCMS World Mission with its North America and worldwide partners, will share the Good Newsof Jesus with 100 million unreached oruncommitted people by the 500
th
anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.
Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!By the time we made it to theSunday before Christmas thesnowball effect of Christmas eventswas well underway and not lookingto stopping anytime soon. ThisSunday started with worship atConcordia Lutheran Church inPhongphet, which including around25 extra faces that belonged to theformer students of the Bang Nadaycare and their staff. It waswonderful to start off the celebrationin worship together. That afternoonwas filled with lots of games andperformances by church members,our staff and even the children fromBang Na. I really enjoyed spendingtime with all the kids and look forward to seeing them more in thefuture. In the end I think everyone,young and old, had a great time!
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