New Year 2012!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone from Peru! We are already well into 2012, and I am excited for things to come this year. We already have a number of different short term work teams and medical teams signed up to partner with our ministry in 2012, and I know that God has great things in store for us.

We had a great holiday season here in Peru, but it is still funny to celebrate Christmas in the middle of the summer! Kate and I spent part of Christmas Eve at the beach! If you want to read more about our Christmas experience, then I encourage you to read Kate's recent post.

To bring in the New Year Kate and I headed down to our boys' home in the city of Ica. Augusto, the house father in Ica, really wanted to have a pig roast for the boys to celebrate. They had a turkey dinner on Christmas, and for New Year they wanted to do something different. Augusto set off in search of a decent size pig, and he did not disappoint; he came back with a 300 pound monster! They prepared the meat, and then they sent it off to a place that had an oven where they could roast it.

Augusto working on the pig--I'll spare you from seeing the other photos :-)

In the mean time we all headed up to the beach. Ica is a hot, dry desert city, and the refreshing water was quite a treat for everyone. Some of the boys jumped right in, others played making sand castles on the shore, and still others passed the day by searching for snails and muscles in the tide pools that they then used as fishing bait! They even caught a few fish.

Swimming at the beach

Sand castles

Agustito half buried in the sand

Kate and I

We came back to the house that evening ready to say goodbye to 2011 and to bring in 2012! Around 10:00pm we all gathered together in the dining room, and we had a great time of reflection over 2011. We discussed some of the hardships that the boys and the home had been through, and we spent some time praying for God's blessing and provision in the year to come. Around 11:00pm the roast pork came out of the kitchen, and we ate like kings! I wouldn't be surprised if they are still finishing off all of the meat from that huge pig! At midnight we celebrated along with the rest of the country by lighting off all types of fireworks, bottle rockets, and sparklers. It was such a joy to spend time with such a special group of friends. Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Girasoles Ica!