"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,"
1 Peter 1:3-4
Coming from the States, I expect a chilly if not a cold Christmas. That is not the case in Santa Cruz. We are now in the summer in South America, so it was a sweltering 82 degrees. However, God really blessed us with a nice cool breeze and lots of shade. Last Christmas was special sharing it with Carmen and her family, whom I love. This year was a miracle.
Withstanding some obvious differences, I felt like I was at home. Tasha may be my best friend in Bolivia. God has blessed me so much with her friendship. Now, here Bolivian Family opened their home to me and made me part of their family. She watched me over my time there and told me how well I fit in and how relaxed I had become. It is true, I felt like I came back to life. I was totally revived there. Imagine, Georgia heat and humidity in June, early July, without an air conditioner. I did okay because I haven't had that in ages. However, at night it was a little more difficult, so they gave me a fan for my room. It made such a difference.
The first night there, we went to church to celebrate Jesus' birthday. The next day, I rested and they went to Una's (the father's) family Christmas on Christmas Eve. Christmas day was a whole new experience for me. We went to the campo (about an hour outside the city) to celebrate with Lucy's (the mother) family. It lasted about 10 hours. My family gatherings usually are no more than four hours, if that.
The day after Christmas we cleaned the house, did laundry, made pizza and brownies, then had a post-Christmas party for the kids that Lucy works with at the house. Most of them are all grown up now, but they are part of the Sala family. The next day Tasha and I took it easy. We went to the mall for Starbucks and some airconditioning and fun. We got to be silly without the kids. Then we met up with her friend Maria. After that a movie and an early night of it all. My last day (yesterday) was so awesome. We took the smaller kids to the zoo and then had lunch with Sarah, whom I have not seen in six months. After that it was time to get ready to go to the airport.
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