Missionaries Panama Paul and Chrissy Collins Happy Birthday Jesus
On December 17,2011, our little work, through the help of many of you, had a “Happy Birthday Jesus” party. This party was primarily to celebrate the birth of Christ with our Bible Club students. In Panama, Mother’s Day is bigger than Christmas. Easter is pretty much non-existent. So, to us it was very important that we use this opportunity to share with them that Jesus was born and that it was a very big deal. We had the opportunity to share this message with 64 people from our neighborhood. Those that attended were not a product of Chrissy, Julio, and me covering the area with fliers. Those that came were invited by the Bible Club students! That made 39 extra people as a result of invitations from excited children.
The theme of the party was the Gift that God gave to man. We presented this theme with decorated gift boxes that had a scene or representation of that particular section of the lesson. The guests were separated into two groups. While one group was in the lesson the other was in the game tent where we had Pin the tail on the Donkey (Mary’s ride), Musical chairs (no room for them in the inn), and the Mummy wrap (Christ buried and resurrection). When one group finished with the lesson, the groups would switch places. Julio taught each lesson twice. There were several that accepted the Free Gift of God!
Afterward, the children enjoyed snow cones. If you do not think that was a circus think again, ha, ha. The snow cone man, Jurado, had that pre-mob look in his eye. Right after that we had piñatas. At the end of it all we had cake and dinner. Due to the generosity of so many we had enough food for anyone who wanted it to have seconds and in some cases fourths. Each received a bag that contained an apple, pear, enough candy to make a dentist cringe. It was a huge success! Thank you all for making this outreach possible. Without your help it would have been impossible. ¡Gloria a Dios!