Written by Gretchen Schwartz<\/p>\n
Thanksgiving, family gatherings, decorations, holiday smells, a chill in the air, shopping for family and loved ones, Christmas parties, drives to look at Christmas lights, baking, and New Year\u2019s lunches. The joy that fills the months of November and December is exhilarating. It has always been my favorite time of year.<\/p>\n
When becoming a missionary, I never considered how difficult the holidays might be. I was so thrilled to finally be able to get on the mission field after all the itinerating, fund raising, packing, sorting all our belongings, selling our house, and other preparations, \u00a0I didn\u2019t consider that leaving just days before Thanksgiving was a bit hasty. I was just ready to enter our next season of life. I hadn\u2019t even considered that the holidays we celebrated in America weren\u2019t necessarily celebrated all over the world, and those that were, were celebrated differently.<\/p>\n
The first three holiday seasons were a bit rough, but we made the best of them. I will never forget moving into a newer and much bigger house at the end of October 2003. We immediately invited our small American circle, mainly missionaries, to share Thanksgiving dinner at our house that year, since everyone could now fit. However, I was completely shocked when I realized the house didn\u2019t come with an oven, not even a place to put one. I remember being completely crushed, trying to figure out how I would cook a Thanksgiving dinner for friends. Keep in mind this was the first time ever I would be hosting a Thanksgiving dinner. Thankfully my sweet dad had compassion on me and those other missionaries. He gave us the money we needed to buy a convection oven. Really that was the easy part, preparing Thanksgiving dinner without my mom, that was the hard part.<\/p>\n
Christmas season revolved around our church members and celebrating the birth of our Savior with them. Our kids were small then, only 5 and a half years old and 6 months old when we arrived. We quickly learned that when family and churches sent a gift, we had to pay a tax on the amount declared, diminishing the little we had to buy gifts for each other. We focused our attention Christmas morning on making it special for them and enjoying the few gifts we were able to buy them. I did my best to keep the smile on my face, but inside I just wanted my parents and siblings to share these moments with us.<\/p>\n
As the years have passed, it\u2019s gotten easier in a way, however, you still know you are missing out. Every year I seem to suppress the loneliness more. I try to focus on the positive and on the people that are in our daily lives. I am thankful for the new family God has given us. No one will ever replace our parents, siblings, or family at home, but I also know God has brought people into our lives, people that we minister to and minister with, and they have become like family to us. Brussels, being the capital of the European Union, is a very international diverse community. Therefore, many of the people we work with and minister to are in the same position we are in, away from family during the holidays. We have a tradition now of having Christmas Eve dinner at our house. We usually have between 18 and 25 people from several nations. Everyone brings a dish to share, and we enjoy each other\u2019s company. The more I am celebrating with people I truly care about, the less it hurts when missing those I love back home.<\/p>\n
On more than one occasion, I have found myself pursuing what God has put in front of me to do and in the middle of it, I was completely caught off guard by sadness, loneliness, and longings of being with family. It comes out of nowhere and figuring out how to handle those emotions can be hard. Over the years, I have tried to follow these three steps.<\/p>\n
As a missionary with World Missions Ministries, I thank those who contribute to the Christmas 4 Missionaries offering. It\u2019s truly a blessing to receive that gift, and it helps make our Christmas special.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,37],"tags":[749,916,16,1009,924],"class_list":{"0":"post-4152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general","8":"category-womens-ministries","9":"tag-749","10":"tag-christmas-4-missionaries","11":"tag-discipleship","12":"tag-gretchen-schwartz","13":"tag-holidays","14":"entry"},"title_es":"\u00a1Oh, las vacaciones!","content_es":"Escrito por Gretchen Schwartz, D\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias, reuniones familiares, decoraciones, olores de las fiestas, una sensaci\u00f3n de frialdad, compras para la familia y seres queridos, fiestas de Navidad, paseos para ver las luces de Navidad, hornear y almuerzos de A\u00f1o Nuevo. La alegr\u00eda que llena los meses de noviembre y diciembre es estimulante. Siempre ha sido mi \u00e9poca favorita del a\u00f1o. Cuando me convert\u00ed en misionero, nunca consider\u00e9 lo dif\u00edciles que podr\u00edan ser las vacaciones. Estaba tan emocionado de poder finalmente llegar al campo de la misi\u00f3n despu\u00e9s de todo el recorrido, la recaudaci\u00f3n de fondos, el empaque, la clasificaci\u00f3n de todas nuestras pertenencias, la venta de nuestra casa y otros preparativos. No consider\u00e9 que salir solo unos d\u00edas antes del D\u00eda de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias fuera un poco apresurado Estaba listo para entrar en nuestra pr\u00f3xima temporada de vida. Ni siquiera hab\u00eda considerado que los d\u00edas festivos que celebramos en Estados Unidos no se celebraban necesariamente en todo el mundo, y los que se celebraron, se celebraron de manera diferente. Las primeras tres temporadas de vacaciones fueron un poco rudas, pero las aprovechamos al m\u00e1ximo. Nunca olvidar\u00e9 mudarme a una casa m\u00e1s nueva y mucho m\u00e1s grande a fines de octubre de 2003. Inmediatamente invitamos a nuestro peque\u00f1o c\u00edrculo estadounidense, principalmente misioneros, a compartir la cena de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias en nuestra casa ese a\u00f1o, ya que todos pueden encajar. Sin embargo, me sorprendi\u00f3 completamente cuando me di cuenta de que la casa no ten\u00eda horno, ni siquiera un lugar para poner uno. Recuerdo que estaba completamente aplastado, tratando de averiguar c\u00f3mo iba a preparar una cena de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias para amigos. Tenga en cuenta que esta fue la primera vez que organizar\u00eda una cena de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias. Afortunadamente mi dulce padre tuvo compasi\u00f3n de m\u00ed y de los otros misioneros. Nos dio el dinero que necesit\u00e1bamos para comprar un horno de convecci\u00f3n. Realmente esa fue la parte f\u00e1cil, preparar la cena de Acci\u00f3n de Gracias sin mi madre, esa fue la parte dif\u00edcil. La temporada navide\u00f1a giraba alrededor de los miembros de nuestra iglesia y celebrando con ellos el nacimiento de nuestro Salvador. Nuestros hijos eran peque\u00f1os entonces, solo 5 a\u00f1os y medio y 6 meses cuando llegamos. Aprendimos r\u00e1pidamente que cuando la familia y las iglesias enviaban un regalo, ten\u00edamos que pagar un impuesto sobre la cantidad declarada, disminuyendo lo poco que ten\u00edamos para comprar regalos el uno para el otro. Enfocamos nuestra atenci\u00f3n en la ma\u00f1ana de Navidad en hacerla especial para ellos y disfrutar de los pocos regalos que pudimos comprar. Hice todo lo posible por mantener la sonrisa en mi cara, pero por dentro solo quer\u00eda que mis padres y hermanos compartieran estos momentos con nosotros. A medida que pasan los a\u00f1os, se ha vuelto m\u00e1s f\u00e1cil, sin embargo, todav\u00eda sabes que te est\u00e1s perdiendo. Cada a\u00f1o parezco reprimir m\u00e1s la soledad. Intento enfocarme en lo positivo y en las personas que est\u00e1n en nuestra vida diaria. Estoy agradecido por la nueva familia que Dios nos ha dado. Nadie reemplazar\u00e1 a nuestros padres, hermanos o familiares en el hogar, pero tambi\u00e9n s\u00e9 que Dios ha tra\u00eddo personas a nuestras vidas, personas a quienes ministramos y con quienes ministramos, y se han convertido en una familia para nosotros. Bruselas, siendo la capital de la Uni\u00f3n Europea, es una comunidad diversa muy internacional. Por lo tanto, muchas de las personas con las que trabajamos y ministramos est\u00e1n en la misma posici\u00f3n en la que estamos, lejos de la familia durante las vacaciones. Ahora tenemos la tradici\u00f3n de tener la cena de Nochebuena en nuestra casa. Por lo general tenemos entre 18 y 25 personas de varias naciones. Todos traen un plato para compartir, y disfrutamos de la compa\u00f1\u00eda del otro. Cuanto m\u00e1s celebro con las personas que realmente me importan, menos me duele cuando extra\u00f1o a las personas que amo en casa. En m\u00e1s de una ocasi\u00f3n, me encontr\u00e9 persiguiendo lo que Dios ha puesto delante de m\u00ed para hacer y en medio de esto, me sorprendi\u00f3 la tristeza, la soledad y los anhelos de estar con mi familia. Sale de la nada y descubrir c\u00f3mo manejar esas emociones puede ser dif\u00edcil. A lo largo de los a\u00f1os, he tratado de seguir estos tres pasos.\r\n