David & Doris Nichols

Missionary Christmases Past and Present

Christmas in the Philippines was never easy with “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” playing in the stores by September. We arrived two weeks before our first Christmas in 1986, unaware that I was pregnant with Katy. I struggled with the heat, extreme noise levels, unidentifiable (and nauseating) smells. I felt like a failure as I attempted to create a new home for us.

Just one week before our second Christmas, our friend and co-worker Annie, was murdered in her home by an intruder. We took her husband and children into our house. Our meager decorations seemed to mock me with their promises of peace and joy.

 

By our third Christmas, I was determined to re-create the traditional American Christmas remembered from my happy childhood. We had recently moved to a small town to join a multi-cultural church planting team. I couldn’t find baking powder to make our favorite Christmas cookies, much less a turkey. Imagine my joy when one of our Filipino friends approached me in November and said, “Doris, would you like to have a turkey for Christmas? I know where to find one.” With visions of a large Butterball Turkey dancing in my head, I said YES!

In a mixture of Tagalog and English, the conversation continued something like this:

Mr. Ramos: When do you want the turkey?

Me: (remembering our tiny (8 cu ft) refrigerator with an even smaller freezer compartment): Could you keep it for me until just before Christmas?

Mr. Ramos: (with some hesitation) Yes, I can do that.

Me: (proud of myself for being sensitive to his economic needs) Would you like me to pay you now, or wait until you bring me the turkey?

Mr. Ramos: Oh, Doris, it would be good if you can pay me now, because I need to buy food to feed the turkey until Christmas!

We delight in caring, coaching and mentoring missionaries as they arrive back “home.” For many, the idea of “coming home for the holidays” is a struggle. Where is home? When they are on home assignment in the USA, how should they divide their time between family members, partners and consider the needs of their own family? Many miss the simplicity of Christmas in countries where Christ is not yet known, and worship of the King of Kings with fellow believers seems more pure and less commercialized.

 

Recently, I remembered John 15 in relation to Christmas homecomings: Abide with me. “Make your home with me!” Jesus says. In our yearning for home, Jesus points us to where our hearts can truly find peace and joy.

We are thankful for each of you who encourage us through your gifts, prayers and words of support.

With Love

Doris for both of us

Gratefully this year, God enabled the following

• Led new trainings in missionary member care with churches in Houston and Iowa.
• Doris participated in the first OMF Intl consultation on member care in Singapore.
• David attended CODAR (Consultation on Debriefing and Renewal training) at MTI.   
• We received a week-long personal debriefing with Emmaus Encounter.
• Cared for over 100 members on home assignment or on leave of absence through countless phone calls, emails, texts, and personal visits.
• David completed his two year internship in spiritual direction with Selah.
• Doris completed a course on virtual dialogue education with Global Learning Partners and continues to develop remote training courses in dialogue education and leadership for our OMF members.

As we finish up 2017 and move into 2018, we value your prayers

• Our son Andrew has just accepted a job in the IT industry in the NYC area that begins in January.  Pray for Bekah and Reuel who will continue to live in Indonesia until June.
• After over four years in our current roles, we feel the need for a few months for partnership development and a mini-home assignment for focused prayer, reflection and renewal (sort of like a sabbatical). April and May??
• Financially, we are trusting the Lord to bring in what is needed in 2017 (currently at 86%) as well as an increased support level (mainly due to retirement back-fill) for 2018.
• We need to communicate with all of you more often and value your prayers to do better in 2018.

Book Nook and Link Look

You may enjoy this article on furlough for the initiated (https://tinyurl.com/yb7xlu7r) another missionary Christmas story (https://tinyurl.com/y96g7guj) or this helpful article explaining why many leaders find spiritual direction useful (https://tinyurl.com/ya84ufr9) Finally, if you need something for advent reflections, Biola has a beautiful daily advent reading that combines art, poetry and theological reflections here (http://ccca.biola.edu/advent/2017/).

We have done lots of reading this year. We would be glad to send highlights from a couple of recent reads: Becoming Leonardo by Mike Lankford and Becoming Curious by Casey Tygrett and James Bryan Smith.

The rest of the story:

Gratefully, I had the wit to ask Mr. Ramos to kill, pluck and dress the turkey, before delivering it to us on Christmas Eve. In anticipation of having a large turkey to serve, I had invited 4 Filipino friends to join us for Christmas dinner. Since the turkey had been eating leftover fish and rice for two months, when it arrived, it was no bigger than a small bony chicken! On Christmas morning, with all stores and markets closed, I panicked. What would I feed ten people who would soon gather round our table? Suddenly, high pitched snorting and squealing (listen if you dare at https://tinyurl.com/yaal5yl3) split the air as our neighbor, Mang Godo, butchered a hog! Since Filipinos like the fattier portions of the pig, I sent David over to beg for, and buy the tenderloins. God provided, and we had a lovely (if not quite peaceful) celebration together.