Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone from Kandahar, Afghanistan!  Since I am 12.5 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time, while you all are sleeping, or up really late (or really early, however you see it), I get to celebrate Christmas before everyone back home!  Christmas eve and Christmas day was just another day for us around here honestly.  The only resemblance of it being Christmas around here are the decorations around.  It's hard to feel connected into the season without being around my family.
Even though I am in Afghanistan, what a wonderful day today is though!  We celebrate today the remembrance of Jesus Christ's birth!

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." -Isaiah 9:6


God coming down humbling Himself taking on the body of a man.  Fulfilling Scripture, the prophecies of His coming.  Ultimately dying on the cross in my place saving me from my sin and death - the only way for forgiveness of sin.  What an amazingly beautiful gift!
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas day.  I wish I could be home with Barby and Violet, my family celebrating today.  Soon I will get my R&R leave to come home.  A week from today it will be the New Year too!

Merry Christmas!
~Aaron

Here are some photos from today (some from during this week too):

Opening some gifts Christmas day.

In the morning on Christmas. A Christmas tree, thanks to the Romanians, outside & near our office. I don't know where they got an evergreen tree.

Christmas dinner

Me during the day on Christmas

The day on Christmas. If you look above that tent in the distance, near that power pole, and at the edge of the ridge in the distance, you can see a chinook helicopter coming in.  This road gets really muddy after it rains BTW.

Sunset on Christmas.

Opening a gift on Christmas eve. This was really wrapped with many many layers.

We put together a simple party/hang out for us that help in the chapel worship band Wednesday night. This is the spread of treats and food. A lot of this came from care packages that were sent to us. We like to share to help eat a lot of the goodies we got. Just mine alone took up the left corner of this table and that small little table to the left!

Some of us in the chapel worship band frosting the Christmas sugar cookies thanks to the 'Allen Girls'.