THE MASTER’S MISSION

Joe and his friend Cristian before soccer game

 

 

Dear friends and family,

It's hard to believe that Christmas is upon us again.  We hear that our friends up in Ohio will be enjoying a white Christmas this year.  We are enjoying, well, a hot and green Christmas with temperatures approaching the high 80's.  This time of year, it's common practice to give bags of candy to children for a gift.  So tomorrow we will be giving each of the kids at baseball practice a bag of candy, but most importantly we will have the opportunity to tell them of greatest gift of all, the Gift of a Savior in Jesus Christ.

Since we've gotten back to Archidona, we've trying to not only get back in the routine of things, but planning for the future. Here's what's been going on:

• In August we formed an official baseball club so that we would be eligible to receive grants to build fields, buy equipment, etc.  On November 27th, the club was approved.  The name of our baseball club in "La Cruz del Sur" or "The Southern Cross."  The Southern Cross is a beautiful constellation that we can see outside of our front door every evening.  Pray for wisdom as there will be lots of meetings and paperwork as we finalize the club and seek grants for the project. Pray also that "beísbol" would continue to be viable tool for building relationships and pointing others to Christ.
• The church we attend, "Cristo el Único Camino," will be starting a theological training center and I have been asked to be coordinator.  Pray for wisdom as I lead and that God would send the right people to come alongside and help.
• We are looking for a storefront to rent uptown in Archidona where we can give English classes, Bible studies, and children's literacy classes.  In the past, we have done these activities from our home.   However, we are now running out of space.  We have some options available and are hoping to begin in February or so.  In the meantime, I am taking Teaching English as a Foreign Language(TEFL) in order to be better prepared.  Beka finished her class in October from the same institute.
• We continue to raise funds for a new van.  We praise God that we are at over 50% of need funds.  We are hoping to make the purchase in March.