HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hi all
It's 9am on January 1st 2012 here - and the fireworks are still being let off. They started at 6pm last night and were still going at 1.30am mingled with lots of gun shots. According to the press more people are killed on New Years Eve by fireworks or gun shot than on any other day of the year which is a sad fact. We stayed in. Bit of a non-event for us - not even a glass of anything!
Daily getting reports of more bodies found following the typhoon in the south. The only sign here was high wind, a lot of rain and a few floods. Thank you for your prayers.
We managed a staff and volunteers Christmas party at PCF thanks to a donation from a visitor from the UK who wanted to bless everyone. It's amazing what can be done for so many people on so little.
We had karaoke (very popular here - had to hold Stan back), each department did a 'turn' (they are very talented), and all the volunteers had a certificate of thanks which we were made to present in a very grand ceremony.
After a sort out of the stock rooms we managed to give 160 people a goodie bag to take home with toiletries, tins of tuna and a bag of rice.
Very little time off over Christmas as many of the operations still continue as they are a life-line to many, school closed for lessons until Jan 3rd but everything else carried on.
We took some donors around the dump site on the 24th to visit their sponsored children and the 'Merry Christmas' we got from so many people was humbling. You cannot imagine what any of the people living there have to be merry about, and yet they continue to be cheerful and genuinely pleased to see us. I don't think I will ever get used to how proud they are to welcome you into their 'home', which in many cases is one room made of packing cases (and that's one of the solid ones), often housing 8 + people, no utilities of any kind close by.
We manged to get a Christmas lunch without rice, and a beer, at the ex-pat sports bar Howzat (google it!), even sprouts! And a teacher at the British School Manila gave us a Christmas cake - happiness!
We had our first full day off a couple of days ago, all we've managed up to now has been a morning at church. Our driver insisted we get away for some fresh air as Stan has been coughing for ages (the air is so bad here). We went up into the mountains to Tagantay where there is a volcano inside a lake. So beautiful and the air so clear, you wouldn't believe it's only a couple of hours from Manila.
On the evening of the 3rd Will arrives, so looking forward to seeing him, and we are taking a few days off although have promised we will check in regularly otherwise panic sets in!

Blessings to everyone for 2012, we continue to pray for wisdom and guidance - next challenge is to pay January salaries and start a repayment schedule that Stan has arranged for our creditors - up to now it's been one or the other, now we are aiming for both!
More photos soon.

Sue and Stan