Did you ever look at a front-loading clothes washer and wonder, “What would happen if the lock on that door failed as it was full of water?”  Well, I don’t wonder anymore.  There I was cooking my eggs for a nice breakfast, having just thrown laundry in the washer in the corner of the kitchen, when I hear a “woosh” as maybe five gallons of water explodes all over my kitchen floor.

As I stood there among the rising water in my Pirates of the Caribbean slippers, I was frozen in horror, wondering what to do.  I recalled the picture of our downstairs neighbors at our door a few weeks ago because of a leaky pipe in the bathroom, and didn’t want to reprise that scene again.  But thankfully that wasn’t necessary, as our new plastic dust pan works great as a water scoop, and in a few minutes things were under control.  Another fact I’m happy about: I didn’t leave the eggs on the hot stove before I took care of things.  THAT would have been a catastrophe: flaming eggs on the burner, lake of water on the floor.  I guess I could have thrown the eggs into the water if I needed to….

While our washer has seen better days, thankfully the team and I are doing much better!  Thanksgiving was a wonderful for us.  The weekend before the holiday we had over 40 (!) people in our apartment for a big meal, skit about Thanksgiving, and an activity to tell about what we are thankful for.  It’s a special honor for our friends to be a part of such a special holiday, and I have felt a stronger connection with them since then.

Your basic Thanksgiving skit

Lots o friends!

As we move into this Christmas season, would you please ask that these strengthened relationships would be fruitful and help us to go even deeper with our friends?  It was last year, just before Christmas, that our friend Tom came into the family, and I would love to see even more of those decisions being made by our friends this year.

Also, I’d like to ask you to pray for us as a team.  It is always tough to be away from family during the holidays, and for many of my teammates, this is their first year away from home.  Would you please lift us up are we’re missing the people who we love the most?

Thank you so much for standing with me as we reach Asia!  We are believing for great things in this season!  I hope you have a wonderful December!

Ben