G’day Praying Partners,
Is
anyone else saying “where has this month gone”? I can’t believe that Christmas
is almost upon us! The month has flown by and I must apologize for not
reporting earlier concerning all of my health needs. Everything is clear as far
as cancer is concerned. We are praising the Lord for the good report! Thank you
for your prayers on our behalf.
It has
been a busy month. Let’s see if I can sum it up for you! We celebrated
Thanksgiving on December 3 with some friends. It’s always a bit strange for us
to just pick a day to celebrate, but we look forward to taking time to be
thankful for all that God has provided – including the turkey! The school had a
big carnival on the 9th and we (church) had a booth set up with some
games for the kids to play. It was another opportunity to remind people that we
meet at the school. Rob and I were privileged to be invited to the year 6
dinner and graduation. These are kids that we began working with when they were
in year 3 and we began our grandparenting program. It was a special blessing to
us to be able to celebrate with them. Jackie always makes cupcakes for the
graduating class; she brought those by the school on Thursday. It was a smaller
class this year – only 92 cupcakes were needed. (Prayer meeting was at our
house the night before so she had help from some of the ladies at church.) The
kids were so grateful. They had graduation bears for autographing and we were
surrounded by kids asking for our signature. We feel SO incredibly blessed to
be used by God in the school. Jackie did get permission from the father of one
of the girls she works with to continue the relationship even though she’s
graduated. Please pray for wisdom for Jackie as she seeks for opportunities to
share the gospel with her. This Sunday is our Carols by Candlelight service. We
are praying for a full house! Last year we had close to 80 in attendance – many
friends and family members and several unsaved. Pray that God would be
glorified through the service. We will be having breakfast with our church
family on Christmas – this is something we do every year, it just happens to
fall on Sunday this year!
Christmas
is a bit difficult this year – we were spoiled last year with all of our kids
being with us! We pray that your Christmas will be special as you celebrate the
Savior’s birth. I love the reminder that we get this time of year of just what
our God was willing to do to have a relationship with us – incredible! I know
that it sounds trite to say – but Jesus really IS the reason for the season!
May we all take the opportunity to share His love – in practical ways – with
those we meet during this special time. What better gift could we give than the
gospel?
Merry
Christmas to each of you – and thank you for your faithful prayers for us. May
2017 find each of us serving God wherever He has placed us!
Shining
the Light Down Under,
Rob and
Jackie