Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Just like on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve the sky was bright with fireworks at midnight.
Some people with sparklers.

A few days before the New Year, Kristen fell off the trampoline and broke her arm. Wilf took her to the hospital in Salama (a town an hour away from here). The hospital in Salama is a bit sketchy-to say the least. While they were waiting in the waiting room, the man beside them was trying desperately to stop the bleeding on his finger, which was missing it's top! The hospital staff gave him nothing for pain and nothing to help stop the bleeding. Another man was brought in with very serious injuries and the care he recieved was really appalling. Wilf wasn't sure that he was alive when they left, the poor man was still lying on a stretcher in the hallway.

Kristen came home that night with a HUGE cast on her arm and a very sad, shocked look on her face. The doctor wanted to keep her overnight and possibly operate in the morning! Wilf took her home and the next morning they headed to the private hospital in the city. They had excellent care there and Kris returned home this time with a small, sporty cast and a big smile on her face-and lots of stories to share. Through this experience we really had an opportunity to see how the health care is for a lot of the world. A reminder once again of how blessed we are!

We made ollie bollen with Jen and it was really delicious!
The kids enjoyed it too :)

This picture really belongs with the Christmas pictures. I wanted to thank my wonderful Oma for remembering not only our children, but also the other MK's here. My Oma has over 80 great-grandchildren, and every year she makes these boxes out of old cards and fills them with candy for every child. This year, she sent them along with my parents and for the other kids as well. Isn't she wonderful!? Thanks Oma!

And now we are in 2009 and the days are already marching by! Yesterday Wilf spent most of the day in a town near the huge land slide that some of you have seen on the news. Many people from the village churches have lost loved ones, mostly fathers and brothers who were on their way to the coast to work in the coffee plantations. As around 140 of them were walking to the busses that would take them to the coast, a huge section of the mountain gave way, killing many of them. Wilf helped take some people from the villages to the site, where they visited morgues, hospitals, and cemeteries, trying to locate and identify family members. They were able to find 2 members of one family, and brought the bodies back to town in the back of the pickup. Unfortunately that family has been so far unable to find one other family member. It has been a tremendous reminder of how short life is, and how much we need to use our time for the Lord!

On Monday we are leaving to go to Mexico for two weeks to renew our tourist papers as well as visit with Wilf's parents and Rich and Ange (Wilf's brother and his wife who are missionaries in Mexico).

We also plan to take a road trip and visit with 5 or 6 of the Mexican migrant workers that invited us to come and meet their families.

Please pray for us in the many miles that will be traveled.