G’day Praying Partners,
Thank you for your continued prayers on our behalf. We hope that you had a blessed Thanksgiving, taking time to be thankful with all your friends and family. Since we don’t have an “official” thanksgiving celebration here, we just pick a day and celebrate! This past Saturday we had a dozen friends around the table, taking time to share the things God is doing in our lives.
It has been an incredibly busy couple of months – as you can tell from the fact that you haven’t heard from us in a while! We had our church family camp not long after we returned to Australia. All of our church families were able to attend – for which we are very grateful! Rob was able to conduct a baptism at the beach while we were at camp. It was an incredible blessing to be in God’s creation listening to someone share how God had saved them! It was a bit cold on the day, but we were all SO blessed to be a part of the baptism celebration!
On Sunday, December 17, we will be having our Carols by Candlelight service. Please be in prayer for the unsaved people that will attend. Pray that our church family will be faithful to invite friends and family along to hear the true Christmas story!
Jackie had a Christmas Tea/Cookie exchange for the ladies this past Saturday. It’s the first time she’s attempted a cookie exchange in Australia – and it was a BIG hit! You can see pictures of the delicious results on our blog! We are also planning on having a big Christmas Eve service – usually we do it on Christmas day but since it’s on Monday we decided to just celebrate on Sunday. Rob had a phone call yesterday from a woman looking for a Christmas service to bring a couple of Muslim children to – not sure of the details but we invited her to the Carols and Christmas Eve service. This is such a great time of year to naturally share the gospel message. Pray that we would be faithful now – and all year! – to proclaim it!
School is almost out and summer is upon is. That will mean a break from our school ministry. We are so thankful for the opportunities God gives us there! Things take a bit of a break in January – we will use the time to plan for 2018. Can you believe it is almost upon us?!
Praying that you each have a blessed Christmas this year. Our “stockings” are full of God’s blessings in 2017! We are especially thankful for each of you. May you each use this special time of year to share with a dark world the light of the Christmas story! "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." 2 Cor. 9:15
Shining the Light Down Under,
Rob and Jackie
