CHRISTMAS!!!

I actually worked a half day at the hospital on Christmas Eve; one of the docs there wanted help with a lecture on TB. We discovered a Farsi version of Wikipedia at fa.wikipedia.org! We held our own medical team party back of our main berthing hut (b-hut) in the afternoon. Everyone brought out the abundant goodies from family and friends like homemade breads and panatones.

The Catholic mass was held at 8 PM, presided over by the Italian priest shown above. Imagine 75 people in a 15x30 foot space, standing room only. Most attending were Italian but there was a fair representation of Spanish and Americans. The Old Testament lesson was read in English by one of our Navy commanders; the Epistle by a Spanish officer in Espanol; and the Gospel naturally by the priest in Italian. The service was printed in a flyer so we could muddle along and enjoy passing the "pace", pronounced pa-chay.

The dining facility was quite festive with the life size sleigh shown. An army major general arrived late Christmas afternoon and gave an inspiring speech. He also gave end-of-tour medals to about 30 soldiers and airmen getting ready to "rip out" and go home. The general's plane also brought a 5-ton-truck full of mail, so we had the proverbial mail call as shown. 3 workers yelling out names and tossing packages. One surprise was a package mailed from Virginia only 5 days ago by a good friend of the family, Teddi. She has a special bond with us since our sons played football together in high school. Nice treats and some needed toiletry items and a multi-game electronic kakuro. Thanks Teddi!

The dinner today was amazing: carved whole turkey and prime roast beef; boiled shrimp; ham; 3 different kinds of cakes; lots of cookies. Shown is most of our team sharing the evening meal. We invited some of our interpreters as well.

I was able to speak with the family a couple of times. I am so blessed that they are together; that the young adults are near my wife during my deployment; that our mission is bearing fruit; that we are safe; and that my family is healthy and doing exciting things. God bless us every one. Almost 1/3 through the deployment.