Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Christmas


In Peru, Christmas is mostly celebrated on Christmas Eve night.  All of the pictures below occurred between 6pm and 1am the night before Christmas. It's kind of like New Year's Eve.  At midnight, everyone wishes each other a Merry Christmas and then fireworks go off all over the city.  It was better than any fireworks show I've ever seen.  I posted a short video at the bottom of this post but, of course, it doesn't do it justice.  It was pretty amazing.  I also posted a video of the kids with their presents.

First we went to church where the children received a gift at the end of the service.  Isela got a Barbie doll.

Wilber and Juan Diego got toy trucks.




After that we went to a chicken place for dinner.  This is Lizbeth and Arelis
Susana enjoying her papas fritas.
Group picture
Me
I think Jimena finished hers faster than anybody!
Pamela is enjoying her chicken.
Sister talk.
After dinner we went back to the orphanage where we waited (and waited) until midnight.  Finally, about 11:45 Padre Daniel leads the kids in a song of praise before the fireworks begin.
  All the kids got to play with sparklers.  Pamela is unsure about this.

Juan Diego likes his though.
Margot and Susana
Rosa Maria
Susana
More sparkler fun
After the fireworks, it's time for presents!

Pamela with her cool shades.

Hermelinda

Tamara and Katiuska

Margot and Diego Armando

Martha

Pamela and Jimena

Rosa Maria

Victoria and Juan Diego

Waldir

Yasmin with Estrella in the background.

Wilber



 After the presents, everyone was exhausted but we had a lot of fun!




Monday, November 26, 2012

Just a few random pictures

Estrella reading her library book.

Isela being...well, Isela!

Yasmin and Victoria NOT reading a book!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

The Battjes Family

In October, Paul, Joanna and their son Ben, came to Arequipa for a visit.  They are a lovely missionary family from Canada.  Paul is in the process of creating a cookbook about the food and faith of the people of Peru.  Joanna is a talented art teacher and did some great projects with the kids.  They also visited the mission churches of Yarabamba and San Lucas as well as touring Colegio San Lucas.  Their travels took them from Lima to Arequipa and then on to Puno and Cuzco.  Below are some pictures of the time they spent with the kids in Sagrada Familia.   
The first project was a prayer bracelet.  Each bead on the bracelet stands for something different like God, love or rest.
Here, Joanna is explaining the bracelet while I translate and her son Ben (on the left) helps out.
Kati and Tamara with their finished bracelets.
Marta is working on her bracelet.  




On another day, they made butterfly cards that were turned into booklets. 
Hermelinda shows her beautiful butterfly card.
Juan Diego working diligently on his.
All the kids were working hard.
Tamara's butterfly.
Margot and Tamara working together.
The kids show off their work.
Waldir is working while Wilber poses for the camera.
I finally catch him working!

When they are finished with their butterflies, Ben shows them some cool origami.
For another project, they make colorful bookmarks.
Kati works happily on hers.

Lizbeth is happy with her bookmark.

Since Paul is making a cookbook, Marta and Vicky made some special dishes for him to use in the book.  Both girls are currently in cooking school and seem to be doing very well.

They had a good time working together on this.

Vicky stirring her soup.

And finally, the kids pose with the family and their new creations.  A big thanks to the Battjes family for sharing their passions with the kids of Sagrada Familia in such a loving way!