December 2017
Our world anticipates the day when we find peace and justice for all mankind. We hold to the hope that one day our world will be reconciled, but the harder we try the more our world seems to spin out of control. So as our world looks to bring peace and justice on their own accord to our world, we remember that peace has already come. That God offered us peace in the form of His very own Son. This was a costly gift, because peace can only come to rebels with a great price. So God gave us the only thing capable of paying our debt, Emmanuel God with us. This is what we celebrate, the long awaited coming of the Peacemaker and Justifier of mankind.
So as we remember the night He came, we can anticipate the day He will return to bring this world its long awaited peace and justice. We will call Him Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace and all will be right.
This message has been at the heart of our outreach this month. Sharing Christ through the Christmas story has given us opportunities to introduce families to the gospel. We have been able to pursue this through Christmas events at our church, Christmas parties in our weekly outreach into refugee camps and through visits with families at their homes. This has given us an opportunity to build deeper relationships with those we have been working with over the past 4 months.
Ministry Update
As we look forward to the coming year, our first six months have reinforced that we are intended to pursue the gospel through relationships. The opportunity for this is tremendous in our place of ministry. People are desperate for relationships in this city. Many of the people we work with left behind everything including their families and friends. The heartache of their stories is written on their faces. They need community to pull them out of their lonely road to nowhere. New friends that will walk alongside them in the darkness ahead. Friends that will point them to someone that walked this same road. Someone that will one day bring an end to the death and destruction they have experienced and will restore peace and justice to their lands and peoples.
We had many opportunities to build relationships this month. Our church family has been working in one of our local refugee camps through the fall, which culminated in a Christmas party on December 15th. We were able to sing gospel saturated carols, share the Christmas story, and give a gift to each child in the camp. This brought much joy to the families and one of the gifts we were able to provide was a book on the Christmas story in the language of the people we are working with. We hope to continue our work in this camp as we move into 2018. We were also able to have a small Christmas party with the boys we work with in Reinickendorf on the 12th. I enjoy working with these boys. They come from rough backgrounds and need a consistent influence in their lives that is encouraging them toward the gospel. Pray with us that they will begin to understand the good news we present to them each week.
Last month I mentioned a family from Syria that we have begun to connect with. The father recently left the family and returned to Syria, leaving the mother and her seven children. We had been searching for a way to begin a relationship with this family when we heard of their story. Thanks to a generous gift from one of our supporting families we were able to visit this family in their home and give the children Christmas presents. The mother told us this was the first time all the children had received a present. These simple gifts from someone over 4500 miles away touched this family and has given us an opportunity to come alongside them. Our hope is to encourage this family and develop a friendship that leads them to the gospel.
As we invite these new friends into our lives, this is our goal. That they will experience the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. We know that their Rescuer is at hand and His love for them is meant to resound in the hearts of tired, weary travelers like these.
So we press into this New Year expectant that the Spirit has just begun to move in this place. God’s story of redemption pierces hearts in the toughest places. From our family to yours we wish you the Merriest Christmas and a New Year filled with anticipating the coming of the Peacemaker, the Justifier, the King of Kings.
Family Update
We had a wonderful month as a family. We are blessed to live in a place that loves Christmas. The Christmas markets and lights around the city are beautiful this time of year. We enjoyed participating in all the events at the girl’s school and alongside our church family. Cherry enjoyed baking with the girls for our different events. We are currently in the States for a couple of weeks spending time with family. This has been a tremendous blessing and has given us time to reflect on the full months behind us and gain perspective for the year ahead. We look forward to connecting with as many of our friends and family as we can while we are here. If you have time in this busy season, please reach out to us. We would love to see you in the coming weeks.
For those of you that gave toward the modifications for our car, we wanted to report that our vehicle has passed inspection and we can now register the vehicle! Your gifts allowed us to cover the costs of these modifications. In fact, we received exactly what we needed for the modifications and the registration of the vehicle. Thank you so much for partnering with our family! We are blessed beyond measure to seek fruit on your behalf. We praise the Lord for how He has taken care of our family this past year. If you do not partner with us regularly, but would like to give a year-end gift the link to our giving page is below. Thank you for your prayers and support.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 15:13
Praise and Prayer
- Praise that our vehicle has passed inspection and we can now use it for ministry and transportation through the winter.
- Please pray for our language studies. I hope to take the fluency test in March, so Cherry can begin classes in April/May.
- Please pray for our us as the relationships we have established will grow in the coming year.
- Please pray for wisdom in planning our outreach opportunities and coordinating visits and teams in the coming year.