Christmas greetings!! At least the calendar says it's almost here. We've had our hottest days yet for Tana just recently so it's not feeling much like Christmas here. We haven't even decorated much and cookie making was pretty much a mad dash for me to get a bunch done in one day instead of spreading it out and having the boys participate. And now it turns out we won't be in our home for Christmas so I'm guessing we'll look back on December and wonder if Christmas really happened. But then it might just be the most memorable one we've ever had. I should explain.

A week ago we attended the English Chapel because we had invited a fellow missionary over for lunch who was planning to go there. We normally wouldn't have been there but because we were, Doug heard the announcement asking for volunteers to help out in a remote village over Christmas. (I was distracted with Jeremiah at the moment of the announcement but Doug filled me in.) Someone from MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship, a mission of running airplanes to support mission) was announcing that a village Southeast of Tana had burned to the ground and that MAF and Helimission, along with a couple other mission groups were rebuilding the village. They had a crew of people living out there to oversee the rebuilding but that crew would be leaving over Christmas so they needed someone to be out there for 10 days to 2 weeks. Doug was curious. After worship he talked to the MAF pilot who had made the announcement. He said they would definitely love to have a whole family out there, no problem. He said there were air mattresses, tents, latrines, a cook to help, etc. etc. He said all we had to do was make sure things were going smoothly, that equipment didn't disappear, and distribute payment for supplies. No one else had indicated a willingness to go at all so he really hoped we would agree to do this. But he really needed an answer by Monday.

After much discussion and phone calls to the MAF pilot with more questions, we agreed to do this. It would mean leaving Monday, the 18th and returning the 26th or 27th. Then I started to wonder about all the unfinished business I would be leaving behind. To increase my uncertainty, Doug went out to the village (called Manankana) by helicopter last Thursday for a quick visit since there was a trip planned there anyway. He came back and reported that things were not exactly as we had heard. There were no air mattreses, the tents were pup tents and would only fit one person (not ideal for our kids to sleep all alone), and there are sand fleas which burrow into your skin and have to be removed by cutting them out. Furthermore, the latrine is a hole in the ground with walls on two sides. Drinking water is what is collected off the roof from rain and then filtered. When it doesn't rain, river water is filtered. Food is only what we bring out there. There is no cook and thus we will be doing all the cooking and Doug's responsibilities were quite a bit more involved than we had been led to believe. So it could end up being a very busy time, not to mention that one of the purposes of going is to share some Christian teaching since many of the people are still "animists."

We found out on Friday evening that there would be one more flight this week which meant Doug and Ben could go ahead and let Jeremiah and I stay until the following flight when we will go to join them. So this morning we all drove out to the airport, onto the tarmac, and loaded Doug and Ben on to the helicopter. Ben got to ride in front with the pilot so was pretty excited!!

Doug had already had a chance to have the front row seat so was very happy to let Ben have that opportunity. They are out there in that remote village right now, accessible only by helicopter. Jeremiah and I will join them on Saturday and we'll all return on Tuesday. That means we'll all be there over Christmas. We're still planning to have "milk rice" on Christmas Eve, so brought lots of boxes of milk that can last almost forever until they're opened, as well as cinnamon and sugar. Presents will have to wait until we get back since it didn't seem wise to carry them all out there. We did pack things that we can leave behind with people from the village since they lost everything but the clothes on their backs. We'll probably have worship on Christmas in the Lutheran church since that only partially burned.

All of Ben's friends and teachers who have heard about this are extremely envious so I think he'll be talking about it a lot when we get back. I'm excited to experience it too but am relieved it won't be quite as long as we first thought. It would've been hard to get everything ready before today anyway. I'm also praying (and request yours as well) that all of us stay healthy during this time out there. Doug packed a good medical kit of emergency medicines and supplies but I hope we won't need it. There is a satellite phone out there so he should be able to contact the MAF pilot if there is an emergency. Otherwise I won't be in contact with them until we get out there and then we won't be able to be in email contact until we get back to Tana. We'll tell you all about the trip and the situation in the village then.

We'd also appreciate prayers that we might be able to find ways to communicate clearly about the difference Jesus can make in their lives as opposed to worship of ancestors. Apparently even many of those who attend church still practice a good bit of ancestor worship in this village. We know from other people's stories that this includes so much fear and oppression of curses and striving to win favors, etc. We would love for them to be free from all of that.

In other news, both boys had holiday concerts at school. That was the first time in Madagascar. In Diego, the students were more the audience than performing the way it was done. This was very exciting for both of them to be a part of. Jeremiah's little concert was held during school and all of the 2 year olds through kindergarten performed. Jeremiah stood about a head taller than his classmates. The director of the school came and asked us afterwards what we're feeding him. I just said, "You should see my brothers. That's where Jeremiah gets it!"

Ben's concert was on Thursday night, the night before the last day of school. His class sang and played the recorder and then his French class did a song as well. He had been having trouble with the recorder since everyone else had already started learning it a year ago. We got some music and fingerings from the music teacher and Ben practiced at home every night for a week or so and he really caught on. So he was very proud to play for the concert. The concert was a long ways from what the music teachers always did in Rockford, (where I taught) but SO much nicer than anything they did in Diego that I couldn't help but think again how much better this is for our boys than Diego.

But it is true that we're still in Madagascar. I was reminded of that during my mad dash to make lots of cookies. In Diego I would've had to have shopped at several stores to get what I needed and had a hard time finding everything. Here in Tana I could go to one big store and get everything I needed. So easy!! In Diego I ALWAYS sifted the flour to get rid of bugs or whatever other debris ended up in there. Here I usually do too but the cookie making day I was in a hurry and figured, "Ah, I'm in Tana, the flour can't be that bad." So I measured and dumped. No sifting. I had a double batch of Russian Teacakes (AKA Mexican Wedding Cookies) mixed up when I stopped to make supper. We had decided to have pancakes and eggs for supper so I got to work mixing up the batter. Suddenly, I realized there was a little dark spot in there. Sure enough. A bug. Ugh! Unfortunately it wasn't the only one. So I had to get out the strainer and try to get rid of all the bugs from the already-mixed up batter. Yes, we've lived here long enough that we didn't just throw out the batter. But we haven't lived here long enough to just cook it, bugs and all. I guess we need a few more years to get there. Then I had to go back to the cookie dough and check that out too. Sure enough; there they were; lots of little dark spots. If I had only put in chocolate "jimmies" no one would have noticed, including me!! But I decided NOT to bake those for the boys' teachers like I had planned.

My other regular reminder that we're still in Madagascar is The Daily Cockroach! It seems I find about one a day around here, just enough to remind me that in spite of speaking English with the boys' teachers and friends now, and having no regular electricity cuts (still hasn't happened even though the election is over), and finding all one can ever hope to find in a developing country, etc. etc. it is still Madagascar!! There are a few other reminders as well; like the frequent afternoon lightning/thunder/pouring rain storms which circle around and around and don't go away for hours. (Our electricity might not be cut here, but we do have to unplug every electrical thing in the house for those hours. We already lost a VCR since coming to Tana because of these storms so learned the hard way!) At night we can hear the pelting rain on the corrugated metal roof above our heads. Since we have yet to discover any leaks in this house, it's not an unpleasant sound at all. That same metal roof creaks and moans constantly during the day starting at daybreak, as it heats up and then cools off. It has woken me up more than once with thoughts of someone having broken in because it is so loud. We're all getting used to it now though.

I had great intentions of getting Christmas cards out early this year since we have a new address yet again. But it didn't happen. I have been asked more than once now what our address is so it might help others too if I include it here. We're using the mission address. It's:

Doug and Monica Cox
MELCAM
B.P. 3771
101 Antananarivo
MADAGASCAR

I hope to get to many individual emails tomorrow so if you're waiting for an answer from us, hopefully I'll get to yours soon. For now though I better get to bed. I'll probably have an energetic Jermemiah ready to play bright and early.

Wish we could see you for Christmas! But please do keep in touch. We love to hear what you are doing and how you are doing!

Love,
Monica