Johnny writes about something special that he will be participating in; he is looking forward to it.

Hi! This is Johnny!

I wanted to tell you about the upcoming Christmas cantata, which will be performed next weekend (and the weekend following) at my church. I attend church at Christ Community Assembly of God, and every year, they have a Christmas Cantata, as a way to bring the Message of Christmas (and Christ's Birth) to people.

I am in the cantata this year. I am not exactly performing IN the cantata, but I will be in it just the same. I will be doing the sign language, so those who have trouble hearing (or are deaf, like me) can understand what is being said. I am really good at sign language; I have known it since I was small, and having a brother who is deaf and uses ASL, well, you get to know all about these sort of things....

Anyway, my sister, Ronee', is also in the cantata, but she plays one of the characters. She plays a kid who tries to tell other people about Christ and His Birth, and the REAL Reason for Christmas; but the people don't want to listen to her. She will be singing "O Holy Night" and "Silent Night" during the cantata, and somehow, near the end, she makes people understand what Christmas is all about; and some of these people become saved and accept Christ into their hearts. It's a little different than the cantata we did last year, but we have been working hard at learning our parts, and everything seems to be coming together now. I know my sign language, and I know the play by heart, and I practice my signing every day. My sister has been working on her lines and on her two songs, and she sounds really good! There are still a few little bugs to be worked out, but hopefully they will be gone by the time the cantata starts up this weekend and next!

The choir will be having a big role in the cantata (both the children's choir and the adult praise and worship team), they will be on stage a good part of the cantata, and they will be doing all those pretty Christmas carols that are so meaningful and beautiful to hear. The pastor will also be in the play, and he will be delivering the Christmas Message, and there are other scenes in the cantata that have to do with Christ's birth and how Christmas used to be and how it is today and how people have seemed to forget about Christ, and hopefully, people will realize that Christ is the Reason for Christmas. There will also be soloists singing different songs, plus bell ringers (I still don't know how they play those things without messing up; if I were playing a bell, I'd pick up the wrong one and throw the whole group off, and then they'd get mad at me!) and dancers. There will also be people playing Jesus (of course, we'll use a baby for that role!), Joseph, Mary, the Three Wise Men, and the Angels, and we will have a manger scene with real animals. We will try to make it as real as possible, and I get to be on stage the whole time; I am the only one who will. I have to tell the story through sign language, so I have a very big responsibility ahead of me. But I know I will do well, I am not worried. I have done this before (last year), and it was fun!