2013 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends & Family,

We hope the end of 2013 has you remembering the memories you created in the past year.  That is exactly what we find ourselves doing as we write our letter this year and we want to share some of those memories with you.

What Happened in 2013

January found us volunteering in El Paso, Texas with missionaries on the border of Mexico.  We had just gotten back to the states from taking a huge work & witness team to Northern Mexico.

Volunteering gave us many life experiences and relationships that we wouldn’t have been able to learn anywhere else. We wouldn’t trade this past year for anything.

June found us leading a work & witness team in El Paso without our fellow missionaries.  We learned just how much work it is for the receiving missionaries for a team to come. It was a lot of work but we enjoyed it too.

Isaac was born August 4^th. He gave us a good scare though.  He was an emergency c-section and came out pretty blue, but recovered from that and was gaining weight fast. 

Our volunteer contract with the missionaries ended in August, so we moved back to Minot, ND, where we are serving at Minot First Church of the Nazarene.  Josh is teaching 5^th & 6^th Grade Sunday School and Wednesday Caravan. Deborah is teaching K & 1^st Grade Sunday School and Wednesday Nursery. We’re both directing this year’s Children’s Christmas Play.  We look forward to serving in Minot this coming year. 

Merry Christmas!

Josh Debbie               Esther & Isaac

 

Give Thanks

Giving Thanks. I grew up saying thank you for nearly everything.  At one point, my parents gave points out for doing different things like our chores and being polite - which included saying please and thank you at meal times.  We would celebrate Thanksgiving and then the tradition was to put up Christmas decorations the afternoon after the Thanksgiving meal.  That's when Christmas officially started in our house.

When I entered college, I had roommates who were strongly against Christmas music being played one day before Thanksgiving and some who were against it even before December 1st.  You also had roommates who would have played Christmas music in August if they didn't have roommates who were so much against it. 

Sometimes I have wondered why we are for or against starting Christmas early and last week it hit me.  We were at the mall and noticed the stores getting ready for Christmas already.  Halloween hadn't even passed and they were skipping Thanksgiving and going straight for Christmas.  As Josh and I left, we commented that at least they weren't pretending to be thankful for the things they have. It's true. To anyone who doesn't celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, all it's about is consumerism.  That is why I believe we as Christians should be "anti-Christmas" to some extent and push Thanksgiving for a time.  We need to remind our friends to be thankful for the things and people in their lives.  I am glad to see on facebook that many are sharing one thankful thought a day to do just that.

Our Volunteer Missions site: http://web.nazarene.org/site/TR?pxfid=4870&pg=fund&fr_id=1090

December Updates

Our dearest friends and family,

This will probably be the last update you recieve from us this year.  We're actively getting ready for our trip to Mexico.  We're going to Monclova, Mexico - about 3 hours south of border.  We'll be crossing at Eagle Pass, TX.  We're going with a group from Southern Nazarene University, they have been taking a group into Mexico during Christmas Break for over 20 years.  Our team will be going to an orphanage (it's really more like a temporary home for potential foster kids) and we will be doing fun things with the children there while another team rewires the electrical stuff (to keep the building within state regulations).  We hope to teach the children about the 4 types of love God gives us: Love for God, Love for others, Love for ourselves, and Love for God's creation. We have Bible stories, songs, and crafts planned.  I hope they go well and we'll see if taking pictures are appropriate on site (I hope they are)

The Sunday before we leave, we will be directing, Josh will be narrating the Children's Christmas Play at 1st Church.  We're very excited for this.  The whole church will be in a combined service (English & Spanish churches), so our play will be in both Spanish and English.  We let the kids decide which language they'd like to speak their parts in.  Most of our kids chose to speak in Spanish, but Joseph and Mary are speaking English.  We also have planned a power point to have the opposite translation up for the congregation so everyone will be able to follow along. I'm only sad we didn't have more time to practice with the kids.

This past week we have been brainstorming and doing a lot of creative thinking to come up with something for younger teens or even children who have felt a call into missions or even a general call to serve God.  We have come up with something for young teens for sure and I have something stirring within me that would be geared towards 5th & 6th graders.


Prayer Requests:
1. Our trip into Mexico (Dec. 26 - Jan. 5th) & the other 150 people coming.  Some are driving across the country, others are flying.  Please pray for safe travels and safe crossings into Mexico.
2. We're still looking for work.  Deborah has had a few interviews, please pray that she gets a "we want to hire you" phone call.


We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We miss and love you all! (And we miss the snow!)



Our Volunteer Missions site: http://web.nazarene.org/site/TR?pxfid=4870&pg=fund&fr_id=1090