A. Pederson December 2020

Merry Christmas everyone! I just got back from making crispy donuts with the kids who are staying at the Village during Christmas break. The rest of our children have gone on what we call “home stays.” When the children go on home stay, they either stay with extended family, if they have any, to reinforce those cultural and familial ties, or they stay with church members from all over the country. For example, Amos, from my first newsletter, is staying with one of the Rafiki School primary teachers—a single young man.

We talk a lot about peace at Christmas, and looking around the Village, I am reminded of what peace looks and does not look like. It is hard to feel peaceful when our 100 plus chickens escape their pen and the dog starts chasing them just as we are trying to round them up! It is difficult to find peace when I look at the hordes of books not labeled in the three libraries—one for the primary, one for secondary students, and one for the RICE Program. By the way, RICE stands for Rafiki Institute of Classical Education. RICE is a teacher training college offering a two-year diploma in preschool and primary education. In the past year, twenty-three students have graduated from RICE. RICE is affiliated with the Presbyterian University of East Africa.

But then there are moments...Walking around the Village just in time for sunrise, listening to all of the animals greet each other and the day, or putting that final book on the shelf in each of my libraries! It is even there in the chaos of evening games that we play with kids and fighting over spoons—I lost. Peace reigns because as it says so beautifully in 1 John 3:9 (which is the Book that we as a Village have been studying for Bible study), “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.” Jesus came down in perfect love and holiness so that we could be born into His righteousness.

Me and my pile of books

(Almost) complete picture of the full Village after staff lunch

A final nugget I leave with you all: through the chaos or calm of my days, I rest assured because I have the peace of Christ living inside of me, the free gift I do not deserve but have received anyway through the salvation of Jesus. This peace cannot be taken away for it is God’s peace. Friends, my prayer for all of us this season is that the seeds of love and peace that God has planted in us would flourish.

Prayer requests:

• Complete funding for my term in Africa.

• Godly direction for my days.

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