Fun happenings with the girls

Abigail makes friends very easy, and for this reason, has gotten invited to many peruvian birthday parties by classmates and church friends. This past Saturday, her friend Patricio (also our neighbor) turned four. Peruvian birthday parties are a lot of fun, they put a lot time and effort into their parties. As you can see from the pictures Patricio had a "Thomas the Train Engine" birthday party, with clowns, face painting, puppets and of course a pinata. Every child got their own monogrammed train conductor hat too!

Let me tell you a few interesting differences about peruvian parties:
1) The first BIG difference is, if the invitation says "3:00pm", they really don't expect you to show up until around 4:15pm and the party would not start until 4:30pm, at the earliest. We learned this custom when we attended our first peruvian wedding last year. The wedding invitation said "1:00pm", but most guest didn't show up until 2:00pm and the bride didn't even show up until 3:00pm!
2) When you bring your birthday gift, they take it from you at the door and you never see it again. I guess they open it after the party when the guest have all gone.
3) They have a birthday cake, but you don't eat it at the party. After singing "Feliz Cumpleanos" toward the end of the party, they cut the cake up and put it in little "to go" boxes and give it to each guest as they leave the party.







Other happenings, last week our friend, Patti, had her 24th birthday. She has worked for us since we arrived in Trujillo and has been a great blessing to our family. We took her to eat at "Mar Picante" (Spicy Sea) for lunch. This resturant is known for one of north peru's most popular dishes, Ceviche, which is raw fish pickled or "cooked without heat" in lemon juice.





Also last week, we had Vacation Bible School at our Arevalo church plant. It was a big success in the neighborhood and attracted many visitors. Our girls enjoyed it as well. We had a lot of help from the short-term team here last week, college students from Texas A&M, Baylor University, and University of Tulsa. Many thanks go out to them for their hard week of work and for all the goodies brought down for the missionary families! WOW, I think we have enough Velveeta cheese, coffee, and chocalate chips for a year!