Happy New Year 2011!

Hello and Happy New Year. It is around 2 o'clock in the morning as I write this. I have insomnia!

It has been a lovely New Year's Eve for me, if a little unusual.

It started with a trip to the supermarket for food shopping early this morning. A friend took me by car. After that I spent a quiet afternoon in my flat as the rain pounded down on the roof. It has rained all day.

Later this afternoon I was visited by Tim Curtis, a fellow missionary. He is preparing presentations for deputation in UK and he needed a bit of technical help. It was good to see him and hear news of the Chaco. He had spent Christmas with Fermina and her family in Maxawaya.

The news on water in the Chaco is not generally good. There is some water in the water tanks but the reservoirs are dry. There has been rain but it has sunk into the parched earth. There needs to be considerably more rainfall before the water holes start to fill or crops can grow. Many crops have already been burnt and killed by the sun.

This evening I joined Sharon, across the road, for a "different" New year celebration. Sharon was supposed to be entertaining her recovering drug addict lads. However, they never showed up due to the rain. Instead Sharon invited the girls from La Puerta (her refuge). Three turned up with their house mother. Also a young lad, Antonio ,came.

We had some Bible teaching from Sharon. Then we were all asked to write down things from this year, ranging from hurts to bad habits, to leave at the foot of the cross for Jesus to deal with. The pain was tossed backwards with the intention of getting it into a basket. (a very small basket).

We were then asked to ask for a vision for the coming year and to write that down. That was tossed across the cross towards the basket, symbolizing the cross as a bridge to the future. Everybody responded except me as I could not write with my left hand!

Afterwards the girls played darts while Sharon and I played Rummikub.

My broken arm is improving slowly and I have a bit more movement in it. I saw the surgeon yesterday and he was pleased with my progress. An x-ray showed that I have a metal plate holding my wrist together, with three pins through the bones in my forearm. I was fascinated as the doc explained it all to me. He said that it will take around six weeks to mend properly. I have a range of exercises to do now and I have to go back to see him on 25th January.

My main problem is a very painful hip. I cannot walk very far at the moment, so please pray for that to improve.

Aside from that I am in good spirits at the start of 2011. I hope that you are too.