the perfect weekend

I have had an amazing weekend! On Friday night I and the others from our school met up with staff from another special school for a festive dinner.In true Ecuadorian style this was BBQ..yes, that's right people...BBQ in December!

Byron cooking parillada (bbq)

My HUGE plate of meat came with boiled yams, salad and Cola rice. I honestly thought my friends were teasing me but no, we did really eat rice cooked in Coca Cola!

Staff "do"
We finished off the night with our Secret Santa gifts. Over here you describe qualities of your person and everyone guesses who you bought for. Very public! Then we had toasts but each one of us had to say a toast-oh the pressure to be genuine, clever, funny, warm and affectionate all in Spanish!!!!

Yesterday was the missionaries Christmas day. Went up to Quito and joined with the others. Had a gorgeous dinner including turkey, roast potatoes and even a Christmas pudding (God bless my mum and Tescos!)

After lunch we had a special visitor!

Me and Father Christmas YAY!!!

In the afternoon it truly felt like Christmas Day. Had that "I've eaten far too much and can't move" feeling. We all squashed up together on a couple of sofas and played games. Then as it started to get dark we switched on the Christmas tree lights and all sang carols.It should have felt weird or somehow not quite complete as a day but it was truly perfect!

The goodies from England reminded me of my family back home. My Secret Santa gift was just what I needed and showed me I have true friends here who care for me. Being squashed under a small pile of kids made me realise I am surrounded by "family" wherever I am and the perfect day showed me I have a God who loves me and provides silly things like this just because He knows it's what I need.