Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone! Thank you for all of your Birthday wishes! It was a good day. Some friends here helped me make my favorite pie, coconut cream pie, made from fresh coconuts! It was very good!
Christmas eve service here went very well it was so cute all of the kids got candles and we sang and danced. Then to finish the night off we all scooped ice cream for the kids! That was big stuff for them! Some of the staff here went and cut a branch from a pine like tree and we arranged it to make it look like a Christmas tree. All of the kids also got small trees to put into their rooms they each decorated the trees and their rooms. You could tell their excitement the entire evening. Each of us missionaries also split up and helped the kids decorate their rooms.
Christmas morning started out with a few of us going out on the boat at 5 am to go snorkeling across the bay where there is a beautiful coral reef with all sorts of fish! That was a great way to start the day for sure! About mid morning we each took a room and got the presents for the kids in that room. The look on the kids face when we came with the sacks of presents was priceless. At noon all of the staff ate with the kids it was a great special meal. It was fried chicken, French fries, salad, tomato rice, and a coke! It was delicious. At 2 o’clock then we opened the gates to anyone who wanted to come from the village! We ended up feeding almost 2000 people a chicken dinner and when the children from the village left they each received a small gift, there ended up being almost 1000 children go through! It was truly amazing to be apart of the Christmas activities here.
Now I am just helping out around the base with whatever is needed. To give an update on the boat project here, we found out that one of the engines has ingested salt water so the engine now has to be pulled out and re-built. So this next week we are taking the boat out of the water and then I have to get the engine pulled out of the boat. The engine will probably end up being shipped to south Africa to be re-built, so that will keep me busy for awhile!
I got to learn something new a few days ago. I went and put a new roof on a mud hut in the village near by. We went the first morning and bought the grass to go on the roof ($85) and then the next morning we came back and took off the old rotting grass and put on the new grass. It took about 5 hours to complete, it really blessed the family. It is getting into the rainy season here so it was just in time, so they can stay dry now!
Tonight for New Year’s Eve we are cooking some chicken here at the base. Then I guess down from the base there is a place that shoots fireworks off at midnight! That will be a nice treat!
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I pray many blessings for the New Year! I look forward to seeing you all in a couple of weeks! In Christ - Jarod