JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON

 

Dear friends and family,

 

Greetings from Brazil.  This is the busy month; Church programs, outreaches, services, Christmas parties etc etc. It can get very hectic for all of us. Sometimes it can get so hectic that we forget the true reason why we celebrate Christmas and not like the rest of the world; Holiday season.

 

Jesus is the REASON; He is the One who made it possible for us the have a relationship with the Father. Let’s celebrate Christmas this year!! So thinking of that we want to wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and a healthy, blessed and prosperous 2008.

 

God has been so faithful to us as a family as ministry as well. In the beginning of October we were faced with a tremendous financial challenge. One of the villages communicated that they were not able to pay Lar Feliz their monthly fees anymore.

 

That gave us right then and there a financial Challenge of 71.000 reais or 41.700 dollars. It felt like the Lord had prepared us for it though with the scripture from I Cor 2; 9 where it says;

 

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard,    no mind has conceived
   what God has prepared for those who love Him

 

So we knew that in the midst of this tremendous challenge, God was there and that He promised to take care of us.

We made it a matter of prayer and after that decided to write only those that have been here before. Like always God turned this need in a testimony. From all over the world the gifts were pledged and all the money came in. Thank you God and thanks to all of you who where a part of this.

 

Summer vacation has started and Elisa and Jeremy both passed the year and have now 2 months vacation from school. Hopefully we will be able to do some fun stuff with them during this time. In the middle of January we will be going to the beach for 5 days with some friends. We are looking forward to that.

 

Lar Feliz is full as ever. 64 children are living with us and 7 on the waiting list. We are trying hard to find a place for all the kids during Christmas and New year. That way all the kids will be able to celebrate Christmas and New year in a family and many of the workers can have vacation as well. Pray with us that this time will be a good time. For many of the kids this month is a hard month because of all of their family problems.

 

When we are looking to the New Year, we have lots of plans and idea. In January we will send you some news about that.

 

Finally we want to thank all of you for your prayers and support. Many of you do not realize that without it we would not be able to do what we are doing. Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!

 

God bless,

 

Paul, Jill, Elisa and Jeremy