. . . 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!