圣诞快乐! (Merry Christmas!) I hope you had a joyful Christmas and are looking forward to a happy new year. We had a spectacular Christmas here in X-Town. I can tell you for sure that there was no shortage of Christmas spirit or carbohydrates! The biggest treats included brown sugar bacon and having two cheesy entrees in the same day. (I did receive some other pretty fantastic presents as well, including genuine American Cheez-Its and a panda hat!) We all felt some pangs of missing family for the holidays, but we still enjoyed having some cheerful, restful days to ourselves.
And boy, did we appreciate the days off. The two weeks leading up to Christmas were about the busiest that Felicity and I have had since arriving here. We held not one, but three Christmas parties with various friends. It was a really great opportunity to share with them about God in a new way. We also had some fun and games. (“Pin the nose on Frosty” was a lot of fun to watch!). A few of our friends seemed especially interested in God and the Christmas story, and Felicity and I are really excited to follow up with some of them in the next few weeks. We’re hoping to meet up with them one-on-one before the semester ends in late January; otherwise, we won’t see them until March.
We’ve also been keeping busy with hosting a 7-week Bible study on some of the miracles that Jesus did. It has been a real blessing to see our girls continue to take time out of their schedule to come every week, especially with final exams approaching. These girls are asking really great questions about God, and we’re praying that they will start to see Him do miracles in their lives as well.
As we head into the next few weeks, Felicity and I would really appreciate prayer for a few things:
- That Dad would help arrange our meetings with friends from now till the end of the semester.
- That our friends Li Dan, Vera, Esther and Anna would make decisions to join the family.
- That everyone here in X-Town would be protected from attacks from the enemy. They seem to be escalating lately, and have especially been affecting some of our Asian friends who have decided to follow God.
- For wisdom and direction from God as we figure out our plans for next year! (I can’t believe it, but in just one week our time here will be half way through!)
Thank you so much for your prayer, love, and support! I really hope you have had, and continue to have, a happy holiday season.