The days are hastening on . . .

Huge, huge praises: one of Alice's friends who she has been sharing God's love with this last semester told her that he prayed to accept Christ last week at a dinner that she arranged for him to have with her head of department. God has been so faithful to change his heart and show him the depth of God's unconditional love!! Please pray for him and for Alice, as he leaves to return to Belgium this week and they have both become very close friends.

Second praise: Pedro arrived home in São Paulo safely. He missed his original flight and thought for a while that they wouldn't be able to get him home that day and that he'd have to pay more money (his visa expired that day and he didn't have more money). God fought his battles for him though, and it was amazing how quickly everything worked out - and we got to spend an extra six hours with him at the airport. Please pray that his time with friends and family is blessed, and that God helps him prepare to teach jr. high kids at church camp next month.

Note about the season: The end of term is on Saturday, which means over 3/4 of the residents are leaving for the holidays or for good. Please pray for the transit guests that will be staying with us over the holidays, that they will experience Christ's love as we celebrate his birth together. And also lift up the new residents who will be joining us next term (Jan 6).

Third and final praise: My family is coming next week! Give them hugs to pass on to me, pray that God sends angels along with them (because they definitely need it!) and enjoy your Christmas holiday!!!

. . . And the sun will always rise.

I went with two other girls to see Les Miserables on Tuesday and I have no way to express in type what an amazing experience it was! Because we went on a Tuesday and the theater wasn't full, they upgraded our very good seats to amazing seats (upper circle to stalls) - we could see the cast's faces! I sat there for three hours with my jaw dropped - and would have paid another £30 to sit it all over again if they had offered to repeat the performance. The cast was phenomenal - incredible voices, great acting. The sets were so lifelike that I felt like we were watching a movie filmed in France. Twice they had a night set with stars that looked more real than the usual overcast London skies. I don't often say this, but it was better than the book. I cried twice - both times when Jean Valjean sings a prayer.

So if you have the opportunity to see it, its worth every pence.

Last night was our Advent Celebration service - our opportunity to share with the residents what Christmas is really about before they leave for the holidays. We ended up making it a service about Light in darkness. I was involved by telling the Christmas story using candles and also joined the Brazilians in singing a Brazilian Christmas song. It was a crazy day trying to prepare, but God helped us pull it off and over 20 residents showed up and heard the simple gospel! Praise Him for His faithfulness to bless our meager efforts.

The picture on the right was taken a couple weeks ago at Brighton.

On a sadder note, 5 community members are leaving this month: Pedro, Alan, Beni, Ji-Hye and Kyeong Ah. I'm going to miss them all a lot, but especially Pedro. He has become one of my closest friends here, and its hard to imagine life here without his presence. The bright side is that we are starting to say hello to new people from new countries - Sara arrived last week from Germany, and we are expecting two people from Nepal and one girl from Croatia soon. And much to my delight, we'll be joined by two Brasileros! Thiago (pronounced Chee-ago) comes tomorrow, and Leandro arrives 2 Jan.

Please continue to lift Alice's two friends up in prayer. They both attended the Advent celebration, and are coming with us to a Christmas Choir concert at church on Saturday. It is so good to see God's Word at work in their lives!