Ahadi's Christmas Stars
by Ronda VanDyk

During the first part of December, White Rock UMC hosted a holiday luncheon in The Mix Coworking & Creative Space. The Ahadi Collective received the honor of being commissioned to make a small gift for each of the attendees.

After some collaboration, the Ahadi team settled on small star ornaments, to be created from red, green, and white holiday fabrics that were generously donated. The team folded strips of this fabric into triangles, stacked them to form a star, and then fastened them all together with a button, which was also donated.

After a couple of days of cutting, stacking, folding, pressing, sewing, attaching buttons, and stringing hangers and tags, 130 star ornaments were completed the day before the luncheon. During the luncheon, many of the luncheon guests toured the facility, and even stopped by to see Ahadi's studio and engage with the team.

One guest from the area spent a little more time during his visit, and then requested to purchase 20 ornaments for his staff! The following week, Pastor Jack arrived to pick up his order, just in time to participate in our morning song and prayer. Each morning, Ahadi's Elder chooses a song in Swahili to begin the work day, followed by an interpretation of the song's meaning in English. This particular morning's song was about God's constant love for all. Pastor Jack then offered the prayer. He then spent some additional time engaging with the team, asking each member where they were from, how long they'd been in the United States, about their families, and then thanked each one for sharing their talents and time with him.

As he was leaving, Pastor Jack shared with us that his morning routine is to journal while contemplating his upcoming sermon, and that morning was struggling with ideas. He went on to say "I came here to simply pick up ornaments and I'm leaving with so much more. This experience has inspired me, I now know what this Sunday's sermon is. You, Ahadi, are what I will share." With a star in his hand, he told us that what he saw was a reminder that we are all different, just as each fabric in the star is different. We come together with our differences to form something special, like the star he held in his hand. The star is God's light that guides us, and His love is like the button, holding us together in spite of all of our differences.

And you, members of Missional Wisdom's Dispersed Community, along with countless others, come together with us daily to form something special, not unlike the Ahadi Christmas star ornament. We thank you for your continued support and prayers, and all of the ways that you love and support us daily.

A customer picking up an order certainly turned into a meaningful experience for all that morning. Pay attention today, messages from the Father often lay in unexpected places!