I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year and are excited about what 2013 holds - I am!! :)
Here are a few photos from the MANY celebrations that took place here. Thanks for your prayers - every one of the activities was fantastic, blessed a lot of lives and showed the true meaning of Christmas!
Escuela Bíblica
On the 15th December the various children's groups joined together for an end of year Spectacular as each group showed what they've learnt during the year.
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| Plenty of singing and dancing |
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| My English class singing 'We Wish you a Merry Christmas' - wrapped up despite the heat! |
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| The youngest Bible Club class - thanking God for creation. |
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| The Nursery kids in the Nativity |
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| Singing 'Twinkle, twinkle' to guide the kings |
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| Literally the stars of the show!! |
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| The 5-6 year olds take Jesus' light to the world |
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| Homework club and English class made table decorations and Christmas cards |
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| Ready and waiting! |
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| 3-4 year olds receive their folders |
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| The 5-6 year olds |
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| The 7-8 year olds |
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| The pre-teens |
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| Fernando and Jasmin from the Nursery get their folders of work |
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| Cake, milk and pastries |
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| Agustin and Aron, 2 of 13 siblings, living difficult lives but with the best smiles!! |
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| Lourdes, middle of the 13 siblings has just finished Primary school with the best grades in the school! Church here is looking for funding to enable her to go to a good Secondary School and escape the cycle of poverty which surrounds her. |
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| 4 of the 7 Abalos siblings, always looking out for each other |
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| Soledad with 3 of her 8 children. Her husband abandoned her just before Christmas. She came to church for help and we've been able to provide food parcels and presents for the kids. P.S. That's not her car!! |
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| Always plenty of smiles when the kids are around!! |
The big church was asked to present a grand show in the city's main square on the 21st December with the title 'Cristo es la Navidad' (Christ is Christmas). It was the first ever event of it's kind and the council set up a big stage and lots of seating and lighting. My church (one of the big church's annexes) was asked to present dances and short dramas in the square in the hours leading up to the event to invite the people of the city and get people interested. It turned out to be a great success with many people stopping in the street to watch us and then hundreds coming along in the evening to watch the big event and hear the truth about Christmas-God sending his son to earth to live with among us and provide the way for us to know Him.
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| Painted up ready to act! |
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| The acting and dancing troupe |
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| The first drama |
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| Me playing a blind person (thankfully Jesus heals me!!) even the dogs wanted to join in |
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| The pre-teens dance troupe and their 13 year old teacher! |
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| The crowds gather for the evening event |
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| The Children's Choir |
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| The Adult Choir |
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| Pastor Daniel preaches |
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| One of the church's bands-Plan V!! |
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| The Youth Band |
Just before New Year I traveled north to stay with the family of one of my housemates for a week. It was a great time to relax, catch up on sleep, visit the pool as it was really hot (36 degrees!), eat lots of meat! and meet some new people. I also needed to cross the border to renew my visa which thankfully was quick and easy. You may have heard I was planning to be going to the mountains again this month with a team like last year but unfortunately the trip has been cancelled. However, I will not be left with nothing to do as I have been asked to assist in two youth camps starting Monday and finishing on the 25th so never a dull moment and I'm definitely making the most of a peaceful week this week!
I do hope you have had a great start to 2013 and that it will be a year filled of good things for every one of you. Thank you for your continuing support!
Love Jo. xxx
For the pray-ers;
- Sadly my cousin Kate passed away just before Christmas. Please pray for strength, peace and comfort for all the family.
- Please pray that the youth camps will go really well and impact a lot of young lives.
- Please pray for wisdom to know what activities to get involved in this year.
Thank you!
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