Merry Christmas!

 In an effort to have a good balance of work and rest, we are not doing a proper blog post this week, but are going to enjoy some relaxation and family time. We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and that God will bless you all in the coming year! 

Merry Christmas!

Christmas English Club

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our Christmas gathering for our English Club was very well attended! Pray that the good news heard would continue to stir in people’s minds and hearts. There were two babies born among our friends (one on Christmas Eve and another on Christmas Day)— praise God for healthy babies and mothers. Our old teammate has had some relief from her pain, allowing her to enjoy the holiday. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to come to Clove Island, but we are very thankful that she was well enough to leave her house and have fun with others on the big island. We had a scary incident this week where our son went to take the trash out and didn’t come back because he was taken into custody for depositing trash at the wrong time of day (a law we didn’t know about and that they have just decided to start enforcing). We are thankful that he doesn’t seem traumatized by it and that we had friends and people speak up for us.  On Christmas afternoon Tom got the gift of sharing the good news quite completely with his friend Muki.  It all started when Muki said, “There is no love in this place,” which led to a great conversation.

Not enough chairs, so put out the mat!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our three teammates are all getting away for a prayer retreat this week and we are also hoping to have some restful days off. This is always harder without leaving the island. Pray that we can have restful and rejuvenating time. On Dec 31st, Megan and our daughter will be leaving to get her back to school. Pray for the logistics of their travel as they will be attempting a same-day connection on the big island. Also pray for our family as we are saying goodbye again! Our colleague had surgery for her detaching retina! As far as we know it went well, but they are still waiting for the pressure in her eye to subside so she can be cleared to travel home to her husband and children. One of our island brothers just had his boys circumcised— there was conflict with the extended family about how that should be done and what kind of ritual/prayers should accompany such an event. Pray for him and our other island brothers and sisters as they navigate raising their children with their extended families and the competing influences in their kids’ lives.