Woodington Family, Wewak PNG

A Happy New Year to you and thanks for following our journey.

We have seen some fantastic images of England in the snow which have been sent to us, what fantastic weather. It has been raining hard in Queensland and the Northern Territory where we live. We have had constant monsoonal rains for almost four weeks and with them come power cuts. Attached is Clare cooking Christmas dinner on the gas burner.

Christmas day we had dinner by candle light and the same boxing day and sporadic power ever since. Attached is a picture of Christmas Dinner by candle light – such is the romance!

In contrast to your weather, when the monsoon passes on through here the weather is spectacular, with calm seas and beautiful skies. Attached is a picture of Tristan at the boat ramp in Yirrkala where we live. On Boxing Day I took a small boat out after the storm and found the attached Croc at Cape Arnhem, just along the coast from us.

A happy sad event for us was the departure of our first two wallabies; happy, because we have raised them since death came close to their door, until they ran riot in our house. Sad, because the attached picture is the night we put them on a plane headed for Darwin where a rescue centre has since placed them in a secure environment for them to form a Mob and venture off into the wild in a year or so. Tristan was very attached to Ponty and sad to let his favourite Wallaby go. Clare has diligently fed and nursed them night and day back to excellent health. We have one left, an Antilopine Wallaby, doing very well.

The Christmas Outreach is over. It was an enormous task to reach 20 homelands and the team are pleased for the break. This coming year we are looking to afford a monthly trip into the homelands and a special Easter Festival on the back of the successful Christmas event.

Thanks for your ongoing support and prayers. At the end of the year we will be back in the UK for December over the Christmas period. Christmas time is the only time we get for the children to take time off from school. At Christmas they get almost two months, yet July they only get two weeks.

We look forward to catching up with you this year.

Please pray:

· For Imogen this year as she completes year 12 and wants to continue her education at university which requires a good end of year score.

· For Kiri as she continues her second year at University and takes on several leadership responsibilities on campus.

· For Aaron, as this year is his last at the Christian School which only goes up to year 9, and we are uncertain yet what his options are for 2012

· For Tristan, as last year was not so good at school for him. He would like a better year, especially at Science.

· For our future as a family. We are completing our first four year term in Arnhem Land and we need to raise more long term support to continue here.