Happy New Year!

Buon Anno Nuovo! It is officially 2008 and Brandon and I are thrilled to what this year may bring. We had a great christmas. We celebrated with our italian brothers and sisters till 3 in the morning on christmas eve and then the next day we continued with the celebrations with a long lunch. I crashed at 7pm that night. I have never eaten so much food in my life within a 24 hour period.
New Years was the best in my opinion. We had about 15 people over at our house to bring in the new year together. We had all sorts of anti-pasta, primi, meats, and breads. We are so thankful that we have the space to host our friends. We set up 2 long tables in our living room and everyone was able to fellowship around one make-shift table. We enjoyed our dinner with a backdrop of fireworks through our large windows. When it got closer to midnight, all of us went outside onto our terrace and had the most magnificent firework show we have ever seen. We live in one of the tallest buildings in catania, on the 10th floor, so we had a 360 degree view of what seemed like millions of fireworks shooting up in the air all around us. I think it was a first for everyone there to see that many fireworks. *Check out the video below.* There were times though, where we couldn't leave our apartment due to some pyros who like to shoot fireworks and firecrackers in the streets and off the balconies. On the first of january, the evening news reported several injuries due to fireworks. There were a couple of deaths from people shooting their guns up in the air at midnight.
After the firework show, we ran back in to warm up and some sat around watching a new year entertainment show while I taught a few how to play the game "uno". They got a kick out of drawing a card one after another and ending up with a mini deck in their hand after finding the right card for the stack. We then all gathered around the living room to teach them how to play the game "mafia". They found this very amusing considering they live in the mafia city headquarters. All of this and other various activities continued through 4:30 am. Even our sweet elderly Graziella was one of the last to leave.
As you can tell, we finally have internet in our home. We applied the first week we arrived in Catania, but due to the special christmas package, it was a little backed up. Slowly but surely we're are getting settled into making a house a home. I am getting better in my italian language. And I am grateful the italians are so patient with me. We are setting up english lessons and making curriculum, language level tests, and distribution. Brandon is translating some biblical studies material from a request from some of the men in the church which he is excited to be doing. Continue to pray for our work.

God bless,
Brandon and Kristin Edwards