Ministry glimpses
Weekend fellowship
As missionaries, we have several churches that we stay in touch with. These churches are like a part of our family – we think about them often, visit when we can, pray for them. We’re excited when we hear good news, and pray when we know the church is going through a difficult time.
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But every once in a while we go to visit a church and wonder – will anyone really remember us? Are they praying? Do they ever look at that letter on their bulletin board?
That’s why it’s such an encouragement to go to a church like Innisfail Baptist Church. We had such a warm welcome, and great conversation with people who were really interested in Mexico and really concerned for us and the Mexican people. We had a wonderful visit, even though it was short, renewed some acquaintances, and fellowshiped with some friends at lunch.
We got home in time to eat a sandwich or two (barely!) and then we went to our own church for the Christmas program. Hannah was a Christmas angel this year. Then we had some more time to fellowship over some home made goodies that people had brought.
It was a great day, looking back, although as you may imagine by the end of the day we were really ready for a long winter’s nap!
There are some more pictures of Hannah in the Christmas program in our photo album.
Handel’s house and ours
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On Friday night, something rare and amazing is going to happen. Shari and I are going to go out, and Hannah and Nathanael are going to stay home (with an adult friend, of course)! The time off and time together for Shari and I has been very lacking. We’re going to go to a concert hall and see the Messiah with some friends, and we’re looking forward to it!
It was 1741 when Handel locked himself in this house in London for 21 days to work on Messiah. He was depressed, and in debt, but at least he had the place to himself!
We love our children. Still, the occasional time when we don’t have to watch them is a blessing. I’ve recently updated our "Get involved!" page to better reflect what a help it would be if someone could help us with Hannah and Nathanael every once in a while. Now that Nathanael’s a little older, maybe that will be a little less scary for some of you. 😉
But another thing that may make it easier is that you don’t even have to babysit for hours by yourself – if someone could even come over and watch them while we’re here, maybe take them outside, that would be a huge help. You see, we have so much to do when it comes to planning and sorting and packing for our move to Mexico, that we could just use some time to work on it together.
Of course, a little time off is nice too, even if it’s only 1/2 an hour for coffee. If you live close, and wouldn’t mind watching the kids for an hour or two, that alone would be heaven-sent!
Many of you are reading this from several hours flying distance away, and this isn’t a practical way for you to help. Don’t feel bad! There are lots of ways to be involved.
Early December update
It’s been a while since I gave you a general overview of what we’ve been up to lately. So, here goes!
Nathanael:
Nathanael is excited about all the Christmas decorations he’s seeing everywhere. He’s enjoying things like colouring, reading (or at least looking at the pictures!), and playing with his toys. He’s learning lots of new words, and even working on some phrases (yesterday he was asking Hannah for a paper – "Hannah paper have-it!") Nathanael’s here now, so here’s what he has to say: uuy i uiuu
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Hannah:
Hannah is also VERY excited about Christmas. She’s been helping with the decorating and gift buying or making and so on. Hannah loooooves to colour, and go places and be with people. In the evenings, we’ve been learning about the Christmas story through Christmas Carols, with this cool book Christmas Carols for a Kids Heart (click the graphic to learn more). The book was an early Christmas present for her. Hannah is also looking forward to furthering her acting career by being an angel in our church Christmas program.
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Jim:
Variety is the name of the game! There’s been paperwork to do as always, and the regular work around the house and errands to do. I’ve been working on my final course before Mexico. For this part of the course I’m reading Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship (click the graphic to learn more), a book I’ve been wanted to read anyway. I’m a little behind where I want to be on the course, so I’m trying to catch up. I’m getting ready to speak this coming Sunday in Innisfail, and I’m working on engagements for the new year. And, of course, we’re all getting ready for Christmas! And the list goes on…
Shari:
As with all of us, there’s lots of variety! Again there has been a lot of paperwork, housework and errands of various flavours. Shari was speaking at our church’s ladies’ Christmas party last week (she talked about Christmas traditions in Mexico, inspiring the last blog entry). She’s getting ready for a wedding she’ll be going to later this month in Oregon. And the list goes on and on…
Well, I’m brushing very broad strokes here. It really is very very busy right now! But we are making progress.
By the way, I’ve updated our donations page to show where our support is at, so that should be accurate at least for a few hours. As you can see, the numbers are all still rising. It looks like some supporters will need to cut back in the new year, so please pray that there will be others to take their place.
On another website note, I’m continuing to repair the categories of the blogs. Now there’s a whole year that you can view by category, so you can check that out using the menu to the right. I was reminded that a year ago we were in the USA, beginning our whirlwind tour across the northern States. About a year ago I was writing these Christmas thoughts about the shepherds.
Speaking of how busy we are, I have some errands to do – the doctor’s, preparing for Sunday, this and that – I’d better run! Thanks for stopping by.
At the Prairie Tab
I got back today from Three Hills, Alberta. Last night I spoke at the prayer meeting of the Prairie Tabernacle congregation. Thanks so all of you who came and prayed with us!
It was too bad – we split off into groups to pray, and by the time I got back to where the first part of the prayer meeting was many people had left. I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to talk to more of you! But thanks again for your prayers. It was great to touch base with a few of you!
I was excited to hear that the Prairie Tab folks have just called a new pastor – Tim Strickland, who will be moving with his wife Caroll and family from Ontario. We’ve been praying for the leadership of the church for a long time, so we praise the Lord for this new person who will be joining the team.
In short, I enjoyed the evening at the prayer meeting, and I came back to Calgary today, to spend some time working on my course, among other things. Never a dull moment!
New believers!
Some pretty exciting things are happening in Mexico. A couple people that I was able to spend some time with when I was there last have made a confession of faith! A missionary friend has been doing some Bible studies with the family, and they’ve been so eager to learn. I know I was certainly encouraged by their openness when I was there! They’re continuing to learn from the Word, and their growth is apparent.
A couple other people I spent time with are open as well, though not believers yet as far as I know. Please continue to pray.
We got another letter from a missionary family we know in Mexico. They were extremely excited to report on some baptisms. A husband, wife and son were among those baptized recently. It’s so great to see God working in families! And a young church is developing where there was nothing before.
I was going to save some of the news for our upcoming newsletter. But hey, you were kind enough to drop by, so you ought to hear the good news first!