Merry Christmas

Hi everyone, a lot has happened in the past few days. We had a final hurrah, at the Shulgin's house, Masha's brother's family, to celebrate our time in Saint Petersburg. We all enjoyed our pizza and sugar cookies, and relished all of the memories that we had made in our time there.
The next day, we travelled on a train for four hours to Novgorod. The first day there after getting situated, and a tour of the original city, we went to the TB hospital and put on a program for the children. We sang some songs and played some games... It was SUCH A BLAST!! Then, yesterday, (Christmas Eve), we went for a prayer walk and then Masha and I went to the store to get stuff for today. The worst part about this was that I had accidentally left Masha's cell phone in the taxi. Later that night, after the Christmas program, we called the phone and luckily the taxi driver had found it. He was willing to give it back for a small fee, which I gladly paid out of my own pocket. About $10. Then, Masha and I finished packing all of the stockings for today.
Christmas day!!!!! Merry Christmas to you all!!!!! To start, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast, one Tim would be proud of! Eggs, cinnamon toast, bacon and mexican hot chocolate! It was SO delicious! Then, I read from Luke 2. We then opened our stockings after saying something we were each thankful for. Immediately after, we exchanged our White Elephant gifts and when everyone least expected it... I pulled out the suprise gifts the parents sent for them! It shocked them all so much! You guys really hit the nail on the head! This afternoon Masha and I treated the team to ice skating followed by a large dinner prepared soley by Tiffany.
This holiday season has been full of traditions from each of the students lives including Nacho Chips on Christmas Eve and giving thanks before opening stockings. Anyways, I just wanted to thank you all for your prayers and the support that you have given us. We could not have done this without you.

Sincerely,
Kyle

PS Here is one interesting fact about this city that I will leave you with: This city is the oldest in all of present day Russia. 1,150 years old!