We enjoyed having Don and Chris Dillman with us today. Don is preaching all the service today as I get ready to leave for Israel. I fly out later this afternoon. God gave us a great morning. We have gained some attendees since our carol sing service and hope that they continue to come. It's been a blessing having them there. Don gave us a good challenge this morning from Genesis 22, Abraham's sacrifice (in principle) of his son, Isaac.

Please pray for Katie and the kids in my absence. They are also jumping back into school this week. This is my first trip to Israel and I'm excited about the opportunity. God opened this door for me. Please pray for great benefit spiritually from my time over there. Please also pray for me next Monday as I get to share a 15-20 minute message with our tour group in Engedi. I'm going to preach on Jonathan, the Engedi Encourager.

We enjoyed the first day of the week, of the month and of the year. We had a 10:30 service this morning and then came over to our home for a baptismal service. Lilliana, a lady who was recently saved, and Nelson, our 6 year old were baptized. I'll put some pictures below.

I'm also putting a link to my father's testimony which he shared in Lasalle Peru, IL today. My dad was in a very bad car accident in the early 1970's. He was 26 years old, married with 3 little boys. God took his family that day and dad had severe injuries. Dad has always used this testimony (though very difficult) to show God's almighty grace. If you have time to listen, I know it will be a blessing to those who hear it.

God did something special tonight and gave us the highest attendance service that we've ever had. We had 50 people in attendance this evening. The children did a wonderful job with their songs and everyone enjoyed singing the carols. I preached on reasons why people don't receive God's gift. Please pray for eternal fruit in the hearts of those who heard that message this evening. Thank you for praying for this special night of ministry. God's blessing was evident not just in the numbers but also in the spirit of the service.

Below is a picture from our ministry at The Trust yesterday and our carol service this evening. Tomorrow we have a service at 10:30 and then we are going to enjoy a family Christmas. Have a very Merry Christmas. Thank you for your prayers.

This has been a fun week and ministry begins tonight as we have a special fun church service. We are going to set up our 10 foot tall Christmas tree this evening and decorate the hall for our carol service on Saturday. Tomorrow at 2:00 in the afternoon we have our carol sing at THE TRUST (assisted living facility). Saturday is our Church Carol Sing Service at 6:00. Sunday, Christmas Day, we are having a 10:30 service.

We have prepared the power point for the carol service, made Christmas cookies (Katie and Kay Lee) and will soon be pre-recording the Chrismas carols onto the piano. 

Thank you for the many Christmas gifts, cards and greetings. We are very thankful for your support of our famiy and ministry!

We are excited to be into this ministry week. The Lord gave us a good morning as I preached on the Christmas Story, Luke 2, on "You Can Trust God When...." 

This week is a good busy ministry week. Thursday night (our midweek service) we are going to set up our ten foot tall Christmas tree, decorate, have a special prayer time for the carol service and let the children's choir get one more practice. Friday is a special carol sing service at The Trust (Assisted living facility.) Saturday at 6 is our Carol Sing Service. Sunday we are doing a 10:30 Christmas Day Service. We are excited about this special season of ministry. Thank you for your prayers.

Don and I did flyers today in a village near where they are going to start a church. Please pray that God would give them some conacts through these flyers. God gave them a contact the first day that they put out flyers. She has met with them a few times. Please pray for them as they seek to get started with their new work.

I had a divine appointment after returning. I met a man from Northern Ireland who lives a couple hours from here on the other side of Scotland. Northern Ireland probably has more real believers than anywhere else in the UK. He said that his mom and dad would say that they are born again. He is not. Please pray that God will awaken Andy's heart and bring him to faith in Him. He thanked me for the conversation. I anticipate hearing from him if he ever does take Jesus as His Saviour. He said that he often comes to this side of the country because of his work. 

Thank you for praying for divine appointments!

It was good to have a young woman from the States visit our church this morning. She is from Florida and had heard of our ministry somehow. We're enjoying her company today.

This is our busy Sunday. This afternoon is the Trust Service. I'm going to preach the same message I preached in our church this morning, "How to Find the King" from Matthew 2. This is the passage that shares the journey of the wisemen from the East to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem. We had a good service.

After 6 years we thought it was time to replace our church signs. It is amazing that our roll up banner stand signs had lasted that long.

We are very pleased with the new signs which we got this week. I'll put some pictures below.

The ladies' Christmas tea went very well last night. It was a busy day as Logan had his 11th birthday yesterday as well. It's fun seeing the kids grow up. I feel like I'm shrinking.

Katie always works very hard to give the ladies' a wonderful Christmas party. There was very good attendance last night. It was a particular blessing to have a couple neighbors present. I'll put a picture below of the wonderful treats Katie made for the evening. Thank you for praying for that ministry opportunity.

This is a busy ministry week. Sunday we also have our Trust Service (assisted living facility). I almost decided to study rather than put out flyers this morning. But, I'm glad that I was able to get out. I had a very good divine appointment with a young couple. I gave the young lady a John and Romans. Please pray that she reads it and that God opens her eyes.

Thank you for your prayers for our ministry. They are much appreciated.

PS. The second picture is one order of onion rings from the chip shop next door. If you can't tell how big they are - 4-5 inches accross. The picture illustrates what happens when your neighbor is the chippy and they love your family. :)

Thursday night we had a very encouraging service. We had another little girl visit our church and a young family of four visited as well. We've been praying for God to fill up our chairs and we were excited to make some progress. The family are young believers that we know from our community. They attend another church but decided to visit with us this past Sunday night. Please pray for God to direct their family as He see's fit. There are reasons why we beileve it would be better for them to attend our ministry.

We had good services today. I preached this morning on a portion of Solomon's temple dedication prayer. My message was, "Getting Strangers in Touch with God" from 1 Kings 8:41-43, 60. It's an interesting evangelistic passage from the Old Testament. Tomorrow night is Katie's ladies' Christmas party at our home. Please pray for God's special blessing on that evening. Thank you for your prayers.