First Wonder Goes Deepest: Our Didinga Christmas Play

After months of careful preparation, our little school preformed their Christmas play in front of the church last Sunday. They did such a great job!!!

Eager young actors showed up on our porch hours before church (as in, I was still in my pajamas, sipping my first cup of coffee), wound up like eight day clocks, ready to act their hearts out.

I'm not really a morning person and even here, in the middle of South Sudan, running a comb through the rats nest that is my hair, before venturing in front of the church, seemed like a good idea. So, the eager beavers were sent on their way, full of giggles and singing, Joy to the World, to collect their friends.

A task which they partially completed...

Though the students were asked to gather at 9 am, an hour before the 10 am service, our wee Joseph, several of the shepherds, wise men and two narrators either ignored our directions (imagine!) or might have had absolutely no idea what time it was on accounts of not owning a watch or knowing how to tell time....

The fact that several key actors (ie. Joseph, the shepherds, wise men, and 2 of the 5 narrators!!!) were missing up.until.the.very.last.minute!!! was a bit stressful for some people.

Thankfully, in true African fashion, mere moments before we were up for the BIG performance little boys with freshly scrubbed faces and girls in their best (or only) dresses shyly squeezed into our classroom (which is also our church).

Amazingly every single student needed for the play arrived.

They were beyond excited... and very serious.

A few days before our church performance Abbi video-taped one of our dress rehearsals. Her video is pretty cute, but wouldn't you know it - I accidentally left it in Sudan. So, these videos, taken on Sunday, will just have to do...

The play was performed in Didinga, the students' mother tongue, but the songs were sung in English.