celebrations.

A little extra on how our team celebrated Christmas and New Year's!

 A birthday cake for Jesus, each colored sprinkle symbolic of a characteristic of Jesus.  I added brown sprinkles, my favorite!  They symbolize Jesus as the Servant, the One True God who humbled Himself and came as a man in order to be Savior, shedding His blood, that those who trust and believe in Him might be made one with God again!

The after-shot of our "White Elephant" gift exchange - Mindy's dad who came to visit for Christmas joined in too!  I ended up with a razor, some Kenyan soap, and some very old dental floss still in the package!  Other gifts were things like charcoal, salt, and a crazy hat!

 Friends from Cuidad Nueva in El Paso wrote down things for which they are thankful on little slips of paper.  My mom sent them with Mindy's dad, and I made rings from them and strung them up in our kitchen!  Thank you to each person who said thank you!  I've told my Toposa friends that each one says "Alakara Nyakuj kotere..."  "Thank you God, because..."  One Toposa friend even shared something for which she is thankful, and we added her strip to the chain!

 Welcoming in 2013 with Davis...

 and Walker...

and...I think that's Mindy...

Our friends at Mango Camp in Kapoeta invited us over for a New Year's barbecue in town.  We ate the best shish-kabobs I've ever had, potatoes, garlic bread, chicken, popcorn, custard, and ice cream!!  Yes, we had ice cream in South Sudan.  Bruce at Mango Camp brought some from Nairobi and had it in his freezer to surprise the Lewis boys.  Yum.

Happy New Year!!!