Matthew, Sarah and Pedro in the pool on boxing day

The whole gang
Rebecca in the kitchen
Senor Porko
Rebecca and Elizabeth

Carin Guthrie

Watching -The Grinch

Kids recieved alpaca rugs

Brian and Duane under the table making sure the power supply to the 2 fondue pots would work.

Our 1st Christmas away from Canada

It's hard to believe that as I'm typing boxing day is already over and Christmas has come and gone. We've spent this last week celebrating it up. Matthew and Sarah were both in the school Christmas program. Matthew sang with the high school choir and Sarah sang a solo in the production that the elementary grades put on. It was a great production and a lovely evening on the 17th of December. On the 22nd we had our CBM team Bolivia Christmas party. It was a night of appetizers and desserts and good conversation. We also got to meet Suzanna Nacho and her daughter who along with her husband are CBM field staff in Argentina. Wednesday the 23rd Brian and several other men went golfing and in the afternoon Carin and myself went and got our nails done ( for 2.50) and the kids hit the swimming pool and a local hotel.In the evening we lite candles closed all the curtains, made hot chocolate and watched the Sound of Music as a family. The 24th we went to the Guthrie's home for a candlelight carol sing, followed by a fondue dinner. Can you say a meat feast!! This definitely made us feel like home. Usually in Canada this is a New Year's Eve tradition with our good friends the Richardson's but Christmas Eve worked too. Most of Bolivia is Catholic so church here in many churches is at mid-night followed by a big meal with their families. There were several make shift tents set up outside our house in front of the market that sold special items for Christmas. Every table contained the same products; rapping paper, candles, cards, Christmas breads, cookies, chocolates and champagne. Calama baptist, the church we've been attending was having a service at 8 ( this means 8:30-9) and would most likely be around 2 hours long, solely in Spanish. We chose to spend the evening with our Canadian friends and thoroughly enjoyed this time. Christmas day was very typical to Canada. Get up around 7:30 open stockings, eat breakfast, open presents with more coffee. We then sat together in front of the computer and watched the Grinch ( original version of course). There was definitely time for a nap before we went back to the Guthrie's for our Christmas feast. I had cooked a leg of pork roast instead of turkey. Here in Bolivia people will cook either pork or turkey for Christmas, so we thought we'd try something new. I made a winter fruit and port stuffing and sauce which turned out fabulous!!. Of course we had all the trimmings to go with, potatoes, carrots, corn, salad, homemade apple sauce and buns. At the table was the Whittle family, the Guthrie family, Rebecca and Elizabeth a lovely Bolivian lady who works for the Guthrie's and Rebecca. She has become an important part of their lives and it was great spending the evening with her. Carin even found Christmas crackers here in Bolivia which made me feel right at home. We didn't have to wear our paper hats as long as we do with my family though. When we got home we were able to skype home to Calgary and chat with the whole Burrows family which was great. Today we were invited to the home of the other CBM field staff the McBeths for dinner. Matthew, Sarah and their son Pedro were able to spend some time in their pool in the back yard before it started to rain. We enjoyed a wonderful turkey dinner tonight. We have definitely eaten well in this last week and now it must stop. Tomorrow we will head off on a 16 hour bus ride to Iquique Chile. It is time for us to leave the country again for our visas so we are making a trip out of it and finding some water to play in and a chance to relax for the kids. As most of you know we left for Bolivia 3 days after school ended last year so our kids are needing a holiday. We hope and pray that our travels will be safe and that all goes well at the borders when we return.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas.

Well the weather continues to dissuade us that it is Christmas we have brought some of our traditions into the house. We found a cute little tree in the market and with the help of a coffee table gave it a little more height. The kids made some decorations and we bought some from a local ministry of crafts made by women in/or just out of prison called Free Hands. During the election day we had to stay home so we strung popcorn. Made some home-made bows and a few extra decorations from the market and we have her made! We have also put out advent candles and some new Bolivian stockings and Nativity Scene. We went to our first Christmas party this last Tuesday with the staff of the Bolivian Baptist Union and all the CBM staff/missionaries. It was outside and there of course was a lot of meat being BBQ'd by Ivan. We took turns singing Christmas carols in either Spanish or English. At the end we played a gift exchange much like musical chairs. It was a little crazy but fun none the less.

Peace on Earth

Yesterday was not only the second week of advent (peace) but also the Bolivian presidential election. It's funny that the law during an election enforces no cars out and no public gatherings on the day of the vote, which meant we had to stay home, which meant we had a quiet peaceful day. The street which is normally screaming with noise all day and night was silent. No traffic, no car alarms, no people yelling that they had fruit or newspapers, just silence. It was a perfect day to experience peace. The election went off without any caos and the day after, life carries on without disruption. That you Lord!! We strung popcorn for our little tree and the kids have enjoyed decorating the apartment for Christmas. Thank you for all of you who were praying during this important time here in Bolivia.

Norma